Tuesday Cardinal Couple - Cards toss Tigers by the tail.

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Lady Cards ring in New Year over Tigers 88-25

Jumping out to a 23-0 lead in the first eight minutes of the game, the University of Louisville women's basketball team left little doubt who would be ringing in the new year with cheer...demolishing the Tennessee State Tigers by 63 points Monday night in the KFC YUM! Center.

The 25 points by TSU tied an all-time low by an opponent against UofL...Louisville holding Centre College to 25 points in 1977. Five Cardinals reached double figures...Monique Reid leading all scorers with 20 points in 18 minutes. Sara Hammond recorded a double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, as did Sherrone Vails with 10 points and ten boards.

The Cards shot a blistering 55.9% (33-59) for the game while holding TSU to 16.7% (9-54).

Starters Megan Deines, Sherrone Vails, Shoni Schimmel, Sara Hammond and Nita Slaughter hit the ground running after the opening tip...Deines scoring on an assist from Shoni just three seconds into the game. A Vails +1, Hammond layup, and Vails jumper had it 9-0 barely three minutes into the game. Slaughter, Schimmel, Reid and Smith got into the act and it was 17-0 Louisville with 14:34 left.

The Tigers finally got on the board with 12:02 left on a Simone Hopes jumper to make it 23-2 and actually played the Cards to a 5-5 tie over the next four minutes before a Hammond jumper in the paint made in 30-7 Louisville. It started a 12-3 Cards run over the final 8:13 of first half that took Louisville into the locker room up 40-10.

Reid had 11 of the Cards points on 5-8 shooting, Hammond and Slaughter added six each, Jude and Vails had five each, Smith three and Shoni and Deines two each. Shelby Harper played but didn't score in the first twenty. Cortnee Walton did not dress because of back pain. Louisville held a 30-2 advantage in the paint and 24-3 in points off turnovers.

We fielded several texts in the first half about the absence of Walton and Asia Taylor from the Cardinal bench during the first half. Both were receiving treatments in the Cardinal locker room. Taylor did return to the bench to watch the second half. She goes in for a checkup today to see if she can be cleared for play and Gibbs is supposed to begin a light running pattern soon to see how her hip holds up.  

The Cards began the second half in almost mirror fashion to the the first, roaring out to a 24-2 run in the first eight minutes...getting two threes by Shoni in the run that saw six Cardinals score. The rout was on... a Jude three made it 74-17 with 8:32 left and Louisville held their biggest lead of the game (69 points) when Shoni nailed a jumper with 4:31 left to make it 86-17.

The Tigers actually outscored Louisville 8-2 the rest of the way...Rachel Allen getting the final bucket of the game to make it 88-25 with 1:03 to go.

Reid finished with 20 on 8-12 shooting, Hammond added 16, Shoni 12, Slaughter and Vails with 10 each. Jude and Smith totaled eight each and Deines finished with four. Harper failed to score in 16 minutes, but only attempted one shot and had two rebounds.

Louisville out-rebounded the Tigers 51-23, scored 33 points off 22 TSU turnovers and went 18-23 from the foul line (78.3%).

Coach Walz was complimentary of the Cards hustle and effort in the contest and how Louisville was able to combat TSU's athleticism with a 33-10 advantage on the defensive boards.

A feel-good win before an appreciative crowd of 9023 in the KFC YUM! Center. The road gets tougher for Louisville beginning Jan. 5th. with a conference-opening trip to DePaul. The Cards play four games in 11 days, three of them on the road...hosting Rutgers on Jan. 8th. at home before trips to Providence and Connecticut.


THINGS WE LIKED.

1) Hustle. Coach Walz's pre-game objective for the Cards was to play hard and they did...putting together runs of 23-0 and 24-2. In the first fifteen minutes of the second half, Louisville outscored TSU 46-7.

2) Assists. 24 tonight for Louisville, showcased by seven from Shoni. She's showing more all-around skills and concern for over-all team success than  we've seen out of the junior in a long time. We hope it continues.

3) Free throws. WE like to see 70%+. Tonight brought 18-23 for 78.3%, which gets a big OK!

4) Hammer-Time! The Mt. Vernon sophomore went 5-6 from the court, 6-6 from the charity stripe, 11 boards, 4 assists and 3 steals. We swear we saw two of her out on the court at times...

5) Yo, Mo! Classic Reid tonight...scoring pretty much any time she desired and playing solid defense. She'll be needed heavily in BIG EAST plays and it looks like she is tuned-up and ready to roll.

THINGS TO WORK ON.

1) Offensive boards. The Cards only had a 18-13 advantage here. Of course, they made 24 more shots than TSU. More crashing after missed shots would help.

2) Three-point accuracy. The Cards went 4-14 (28.6%) from beyond the mark. Shoni WILL find that accuracy in time (2-8 tonight) and Louisville did get 16 second-chance points...several off Shoni misses, but there aren't any Tennessee State's waiting in the BIG EAST.

SUMMARY

It was what most people expected it to be tonight -- a Cardinal blowout. Walz has found eight solid players to inter-change pretty easily with no drop-off in talent level and the aggressive, hustling nature of the team will win one or two close ones on the road this year because of this, if they can maintain it. Walz would have probably played another five players over the last ten minutes if he had them dressed and on the bench. The scary thing is...if Gibbs and Taylor do return...just how powerful and dominating could this squad really be? Everyone saw at least 20 minutes tonight except Reid and Harper and there are currently no "weak" combinations on the court.

Tougher times are coming, but this group has been quite impressive for three games in a row now. Although against competition that's been obviously weaker than what lies ahead, it still shows that there is a wealth of scoring options, a dedication to hustle and plenty of players to share the responsibility and load.

Coach's post game link below. (He didn't have to come give me a ride home, either.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR, CARDINAL COUPLE READERS!

Post game Walz
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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Cards face Tennessee State

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Louisville in final pre-conference game New Year's Eve.

- Brackemyre injures knee.

Jeff Walz's Louisville Cardinal basketball team engages Tennessee State Monday night at 6 p.m. in their final tuneup before BIG EAST conference play begin. The foe is 4-7 on the season, with wins over Cumberland, Samford, Idaho and Lipscomb and losses to South Alabama, Kansas State, UAB, Montana, Montana State, Cleveland State and E. Illinois.

For Louisville, the challenge is to resume the intensity that they showed against Washington State and Wagner. Ten days off for a team is never really something that a coach desires...but through individual workouts and a few team practices...the Cards should be ready to go against a team which has lost four out of their last five.

It's a chance to improve the Cardinal record to 12-2 before heading to Chicago to face dangerous DePaul, always tough Rutgers in the KFC YUM! and pesky Providence on the road all in one week's span, starting January 5th. 

The overall series against the Lady Tigers is 2-2, with Louisville losing to the Nashville school last time out on
Feb. 14th, 1987...78-65. TSU is the fourth Ohio Valley Conference school Louisville has played this season...the Cards winning against Eastern Kentucky, UT-Martin and Austin Peay earlier this season.

The nation's "fiscal cliff" aside, the Cardinals face a cliff of thier own, beginning in early January. Hopefully, they'll have their ropes in place and climbing gear in order to navigate the climb back into the nation's top 10.

We'll have the recap in the Tuesday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE.

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Future Cardinal target Sydney Brackemyre suffered a knee injury Saturday night and will undergo an MRI Monday to determine the extent of the damage. Our thoughts and hopes for a good diagnosis and speedy recovery go out to the top-rated 2014 prospect.

The Clinton-Massie junior has impressed college coaches greatly over the last year and Louisville, Dayton and Michigan are the final three schools in the hunt for her services, according to most reports. Clinton-Massie was playing Wilmington when the injury occured and ended up losing 46-35.

She had 32 points on 11-22 shooting and 13 boards in the semifinals of the Clinton County tournament Thursday night against East Clinton.

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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- UofL vs UofK Recap

Louisville 80 Kentucky 77

-Cards get 6o points from Siva, Smith and Behanan in win.
 

Louisville's Chane Behanan blows a kiss goodbye after his late dunk sealed the deal for UofL

The final score was much closer than the game as a whole. Louisville proved they were the better team, despite the fact that UK nearly clawed back to take a late lead. Louisville's patented defensive pressure forced UK into 14 turnovers, the most important of which led to a Chane Behanan slam with 17 seconds left to seal the game. However, give credit to Ryan Harrow who stayed under control the entire game for the Wildcats and managed to avoid turning the ball over at all. 

The game got off the a fast start with both teams trading punches. Kentucky opened an early 7-4 lead behind and Archie Goodwin and-1 and Nerlens Noel put back. Louisville found a way to answer though, as a Peyton Siva jumper was followed by a Russ Smith defensive board which he took past four UK defenders for an easy lay-up. This gave Louisville an early 8-7 lead at the 15:21 mark.

Louisville continue their mini-run as Russ Smith contorted in the corner to find Wayne Blackshear for an easy dunk. However, Kentucky answered on the other end as Ryan Harrow found Kyle Wiltjer open for a three. Wiltjer drained the three, causing Rick Pitino to call a full timeout at the 13:58 mark with the score tied 10-10. 

The crowd roared as Gorgui Dieng collected an offensive board and finished with a slam dunk to put the Card up 12-10 with 13:48 left in the first half. However, the excitement was short lived as UK went on an 8-0 run capped by an Alex Poythress three pointer to put UK up 18-12.

After this juncture the first half was all UofL, a Peyton Siva lay-up was followed by a Harrell tip-in that forced Calapari to call a full timeout. That timeout was followed by a Russ Smith foul and the official TV timeout. 

Louisville quickly forced three straight UK turnovers, two of which resulted in easy baskets giving Louisville a 20-18 lead with 7:44 remaining. 

Louisville would go on to finish the half on a 16-10 run that saw them take an eight point lead into the half. Peyton Siva hit two threes during said run to really give Louisville major momentum going into halftime. 

End of 1st: Louisville 36 Kentucky 28

Louisville played the majority of the first half without Gorgui Dieng who had to sit with foul trouble. Gorgui played great in his first action since Louisville beat Missouri, but it's obvious he still has a ways to go on the defensive end to get his timing back. Chane Behanan had 11 points to lead the Cards in the first, he scored in  a number of ways and seems to be the Chane Behanan of last March again.

Louisville jumped on Kentucky early, starting the half on a 5-0 run to take a thirteen point lead 41-28 with 18:04 left in the 2nd. Louisville and Kentucky traded punches after that point as the two teams scored on their next 6 possessions. Louisville got the edge though as they took a fourteen point lead, 48-34 into the first official TV timeout of the half.

Louisville pushed their lead out further after a Peyton Siva made free throw was followed by a Russ Smith steal and score. This gave Louisville their largest lead of the game at seventeen points, 51-34. The celebration was short lived though as Kyle Wiltjer hit back-to-back threes to cut the lead back down to eleven, 51-40. This forced a Rick Pitino full timeout with 13:58 left in the 2nd. 

The two teams again traded punches, a Kyle Wiltjer three at the 10:59 mark was followed by a Peyton Siva made jumper to stretch the lead back out to 10, 57-47 with 10:44 left. 

Then the worst case scenario for Louisville happened, Peyton Siva picked up two quick fouls in the span of about 30 seconds. This forced Rick to sit Peyton who now had 4 fouls. After a Chane Behanan dunk pushed the Louisville lead to 61-49 with 9:35 left, Russ Smith picked up his fourth foul. 

Kentucky went on a 12-2 run from this point on, as a Ryan Harrow jumper at the 5:35 mark pulled UK within two points, 63-61. Louisville responded with a 10-3 run which saw them take a nine point lead with 2:20 remaining in the game. 

However, two Peyton Siva free throws were sandwiched in between Goodwin and Mays three pointers. This left the Louisville lead at five points, 75-70 with 1:44 left in the game.

The two teams went scoreless for the next minute before a Nerlens Noel turnover led to a Chane Behanan breakaway slam. This pushed the lead to seven points with only 44 seconds remaining and seemingly sealed the game. 

Archie Goodwin proceeded to drain a three with Peyton Siva providing seemingly great defense. But, Siva was whistled for his fifth foul on the made three. Goodwin made the resulting free throw and this brought the game to 77-74 with 35 seconds left. 

Russ Smith was fouled immediately and made one of two. This gave Kentucky the ball down four with 33 seconds remaining. Chane Behanan jumped the lane on an Archie Goodwin pass, he strode down the court and delivered a one-handed tomahawk that brought the crowd to its feet. A meaningless Archie Goodwin three made the final score 80-77. Louisville got their first win over a John Calapari coached Kentucky team.

-Donny Yaste

Final: Louisville 80 Kentucky 77   

Russ Smith loves waffles and scoring against the Wildcats, he has 51 points combined points in the last two regular season meetings against UK

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Saturday Cardinal Couple - Tennessee State preview

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Game report. Louisville MBB defeats Kentucky 80-77 in Freedom Hall. Cards were up by 17 in second half. Donny Yaste will have the full game report in Sunday's edition of CARDINAL COUPLE )






( Staff columnist Quentin Voigt - AKA Elvis Redbird - brings us a report on Monday
night's opponent for the Louisville WBB team....Tennessee State. He also looks into
a couple of 2014 recruits that Jeff Walz is interested in. )


Coach Larry Inman and his Tennessee State Lady Tigers will attempt to derail the Lady Cardinals at the KFC YUM! Center Monday, Dec. 31st. at 6 p.m. This is, of course, New Year's Eve and the Cards will be looking to ring out the old year with a convincing win -- conference play looms ahead.

Hoping to catch the Cards day-dreaming about New Year's resolutions or revelry is a TSU squad that is 4-7 on the season....losing 76-67 to Eastern Illinois Saturday night. 

Avery Jones, a 6'1" senior, is a graduate of Louisville Manual High School and averages 7.5 p.p.g. for the Tigers. She sees about 20 minutes a game and has a team-best 48.3% from the floor, 70.4% from the charity stripe and grabs four rebound a contest. The only T.S.U. player in double figures is 5'8" senior Jasmine Schuler -- at 10 p.p.g. Schuler dishes out 1.6 assists a game, gets 2.8 rebounds and is the best Tiger from the line with a 78.3%.  Simone Hopes leads State in rebounding with 7.3 a game. T.S.U. averages 55.9 p.p.g., shoots 35.2% from the field, 24.6% from beyond the arc and 68% from the foul line.

I'm looking for the results of this match-up to be similar to the Wagner College outcome. Go Cards!

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Recruiting is always a front-burner issue and (without intentionally stepping on Jenny's toes) ESPN Hoopgurlz has reported that Louisville has offered two girls out of the class of 2014. One candidate hails from the left coast, Sacramento, CA's Ayanna Edwards ( known as 'Shaq'). Walz has seen Ayanna and reportedly feels she would be a great fit for the Lady Cards' program. This junior is already 6'4" and has garnered looks from programs across the country. Currently, she averages 8.6 p.p.g, 6.1 rebounds and has 125+ blocks to her credit. She's very athletic, has all the moves for a post player and is exceptionally strong ( hence the nickname).

From Iowa City H.S. (IA) comes Haley Lorenzen, a 6'3" forward that -- according to her coach Bill McTaggert -- is a stronger player in her junior year and has shown improvement on her footwork. In a recent game, she posted 23 points and 12 rebounds in a 82-67 win over Cedar Rapids.

Both Edwards and Lorenzen are committed to improving their games and have come a long way since their sophomore seasons. We hope they'll continue that journey and end up in the Cardinal Red and Black!

-Elvis Redbird (Quentin Voigt)

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( Today at 4 p.m. is also the annual tilt between the UofL and UK men's basketball teams. It'll take place in the KFC YUM! Center and tickets in the 300 section are reportedly being offered at $300 by scalpers for the sold-out contest.  We, of course, do not encourage our readers to do business with nor do we promote the scandalous scalpers...but that's a pretty penny to pay, in our opinion, for horrible seats at a nationally televised game. Men's hoops guru and recently engaged CARDINAL COUPLE Administrator Donny Yaste will have the recap for us in The Sunday Edition of Cardinal Couple! )

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Cardinal Couple Friday Edition - The "Jeff Slept In" Edition

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Columnist Jeff McAdams gets out of the dentist chair, has another whiff of nitrous oxide and brings us today's column. We have an emerging, abundant interest in Louisville Lacrosse here at the staff and Kellie Young won't know what hit her this spring when we show up with the chimps and Bill the Goat.)


(Apologies for the late posting...I'm not sure how Paulie does it...well, how he does it when he's not off adding to his fruity-drink umbrella collection anyway)

All is quiet on the Cardinal Couple Front

This is the time of year when there's only one Cardinal women's athletics team playing - basketball, of course - the sport that probably draws the most readership here to the CC blog.

Alas for us fans, basketball has been on a bit of break this week.  Nearly all of the players had the opportunity to go home to visit with their families for Christmas.  Hopefully they haven't been totally overindulging and not doing any work...like me.  They are returning to get a few days of practice in before the Tennessee State game on New Year's Eve.

That all means that there isn't much news to share in the UofL Women's Athletics world right now.

2013 is nigh

Jenny shared her new year's resolutions for her involvement with UofL Athletics yesterday.  I made a new year's resolution a number of years ago that I have kept...to not make any more new year's resolutions.  So how about my hopes for the new year, both for myself and others.

A Trip to New Orleans

Of course this one is on the list.  The men's basketball team went in April.  I hear there's a few UofL fans down there right now and into next week, but I'd like to make the trip this coming April for the women's Final Four.  St. Louis was a nice trip, but I think I would enjoy a weekend in New Orleans even more.

Lacrosse Tutorial

I've been to a few Lacrosse games, and came away with a basic understanding of the game, but I'd love to learn about some of the finer points so I can comment intelligently on a game.  Kellie Young, if you're listening, I'd love to see some sort of tutorial or clinic for fans to be able to learn about your game and be better fans.

While we're talking about tutorials or clinics, learning a bit more about Field Hockey would be nice as well.

Social Softball

In general, I'm not much of a fan of the sport of baseball.  Though I do like to go to the park with friends, I won't watch it on TV.  I enjoy watching softball more, though.  Both of them are a great social event as well. I made it to a few games last year, and I hope I can make it to more this year.  For the dog lovers among you, bringing your dog and sitting on the outfield berm is an enjoyable afternoon/evening as well.  If you're lucky Coach Pearsall's dog, Summit, will make an appearance, and apparently, there's a new family member, Sierra, as well.

Soccer and Field Hockey

Obviously, my favorite sport is Volleyball, but in the fall, I like to try to get some chances to check out the Soccer teams (both men and women) as well as Field Hockey.  I only made it to the very end of one Field Hockey game this year...I'm disappointed in myself over that...and I hope to step that up a bit more.

My family gave me some cold-weather UofL gear for Christmas, hopefully I can give it a bit of an opportunity for some use with some late-season games from the soccer and field hockey teams in tournament appearances.

Can't leave out Volleyball

I've made a couple of road-trips for Volleyball the past couple of seasons, and those have been tremendously enjoyable...so I hope to keep that up in the fall.  I'd like to make it to the Big East tournament, and a first and second round NCAA road-trip.  We host a regional in the NCAA Volleyball tournament next year, so that won't be a road-trip, but I've always wanted to visit Seattle!

Post to Cardinal Couple about more than just Volleyball

Sometimes I feel like I'm a broken record talking about Volleyball so much.  Of course its a passion, but there's so much more to enjoy in UofL Athletics.  Hopefully I'll be able to make to some of these other sports a bit more, and learn enough about Field Hockey and Lacrosse to comment intelligently, so I can have more to share with you, our readers, in the coming year.

I've enjoyed writing for CC, and looking forward to more in the coming year.

Go Cards!

( And we enjoy having you on staff, Jeff! Even though you leave volleyball nets in the conference room and Bill the Goat gets hung up in them...which necessitates Timmy the Intern placing calls to 911 and Anne Kordes. Strangely, Kordes always arrives first...)

AND....

(This article about freshman Megan Deines. Enjoy! )

Dynamite Deines


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Thursday Cardinal Couple -- Cardinal Resolutions

( Staff Columnist Jenny O'Bryan returns today with a list of resolutions for 2013. We're going to add a couple here for her...Stay healthy in 2013 and keep our readers informed with the best of Cardinal women's sports! )

Well, it is that time of year again.  Time for most of us to make New Year resolutions, that often fall by the wayside weeks, if not months, in to the New Year.   Over the years, I have become a bit more realistic in my goals for the upcoming year, and with that, have had better, longer lasting success at meeting those goals. 

Last year’s resolution was to do at least one home project a month for at least 6 months.  Any of you that are homeowners know, there is often a never-ending list of things to be done.  Between work, kids activities if you are blessed with them, keeping up with the day to day rigors of dogs, laundry, cleaning, dinner, grocery shopping and yard upkeep, there is not a lot of time left to tackle the bigger projects.  I am happy to say last year I accomplished some great projects that were long overdue.  With one big project a month, it is hardly enough to cut in to the laundry list of things to be done, but this approach made it more manageable for me. 

This past year, thanks to my resolution, I researched, planned, and planted a new tree to replace one that did not make it through the ice storm several years ago.   In keeping with that, the first project included cutting down the aforementioned, medium sized tree that still stood in the front yard, so that a new one could go in.  Against all odds, no one, or the neighbor’s belongings, were injured or damaged in meeting this goal.  An arborist I am not, but it got done.  After a season with a new deck on the back of the house, a huge project was cleaning, water sealing and decorating the new deck.  Many a Cardinal Couple articles were written from that very spot, having accomplished that goal this past year.   Those are a few of the projects knocked off the list last year.  For everyone accomplished, 2-3 more were added.   That same resolution sits atop my New Years list again this year. 

All this leads me to a new resolution to add to my list this year.  Upon reflection, I have come up with a few Cardinal Resolutions.   As many of you regular readers know, basketball seems to be my sport of passion.  Hence, the majority of my Cardinal Resolutions revolve around basketball. 

Follow my team:  I am an avid fan of Cardinal Women’s Basketball.  I never miss a home game.  Last year I traveled to several reasonable away games.  This season, I intend to expand upon that!  A minimum of one away game that requires travel will be attended.  Right now, it is looking like the Notre Dame game, February 11.   Many of the top teams in the country travel well.  While Louisville’s home game attendance ranks second in the country, I am pretty sure not a lot of us travel.  I want to change that.  I am starting that for myself, this season. 

Support my team:  It is easy to be a fan when things are going well.  With injuries to this program the last two seasons, high hopes upon the opening of the season always need to be tempered with reasonable expectations.  Regardless of what is going on with the personnel, I need to support my team, through the wins and especially through the losses.  I am not a coach, and have never been a coach, I remind myself to support my team, and the coaches, they are the experts here, not me as a courtside watcher. 

Watch more high school ball:  The state of Kentucky is loaded with young, upcoming talent.  Not only do I want to get out and see some of that young talent, I want to take in a big AAU Tournament this upcoming summer travel season.  As a fan of the recruiting world, the best way to know the talent is to see it, and I plan to get out and watch some high school ball. 

Learn about lacrosse:  I have never seen a lacrosse game.  I cannot write one intelligent sentence about lacrosse.  I intend to change that.  I am not sure how intelligent my reporting about Lacrosse will be, but I vow to read and learn about lacrosse, and challenge myself to convey that to Cardinal Couple readers.   

Do you have any Cardinal Resolutions you want share?  Email us or comment below.  If you want to join me at Notre Dame, let me know!  I am sure our team would love the support! 

( Editor's Note...Louisville plays at South Bend on Monday, Feb.11th at 9:00 p.m.)

Happy New Year, readers!  May 2013 bring you much peace, health and happiness, and may our Cardinal student athletes continue to excel both in the classroom and on their respective courts!

Holiday Activities, Games and Travel

Cardinal Couple spares no expense as this week they send Sandy to the west coast for coverage of the top game in the country.   CC also plans to provide backup laundry coverage during the trip.

Travel to Stanford v UConn Game

This week not only finds me frantically trying to keep up with this week’s laundry but also packing for a trip to Palo Alto, CA (home of Stanford Women’s Basketball) where hopefully the weather God’s will allow me to arrive in time to watch the UConn @ Stanford women’s basketball game this Saturday where either Stanford’s # 1 national position will be solidified or where Big East member Connecticut will take over the top ranking. 

Currently the trip is in flux as when I went to the Cardinal Couple worldwide office to submit my travel voucher I found that Timmy had cleaned out the travel and candy fundraiser accounts for his next week’s trip to Co-Co’s SEP game being held in the People’s Republic of Domesticated Chimps located somewhere off the coast of Tahiti.  I have been forced to barter for his twin cousin’s staying at my home with my 4 legged kids.  

I hope to provide a first-hand report of the game where it is reported that all 7500 seats have been sold.   Louisville once again finds itself so fortunate to be located in an area where not only basketball but all of women’s sports are so well supported by the community.

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SWIMMING - DIVING

The student athlete of the week is the swim team’s Lindsey Stephens.  She plans to become a physical therapist after graduation.  Her profile can be found at http://www.gocards.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/121412aaa.html.  She is a senior from Louisville, KY and is a member of the Dive Team.

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LACROSSE

This Year’s Lacrosse team has named their team captains.  Coach Kellie Young has announced that the team has again named Katie Oliverio, Monica Negron and Janaye Dzikewich as captains for the 2^nd year.  This year begins the LaCrosse teams 6^th season of play with the first match against Canisius at home on February 10.   I hope their uniforms have a snow suit option.  Go to http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-lacros/spec-rel/122012aaa.html for individual and team information.

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GOLF

Congratulations continue to go to Louisville for our team facilities.  The Tom Musselman Practice Facility, Cardinal Club, has been selected as a 2012 Golf Range Association of America Top 50 Range in the Private Category. 

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BASKETBALL

Make sure your calendars are marked for Louisville’s next game which is at home on New Year ’s Eve.   End your 2012 year in the best possible way which begins at the KFC YUM! Center where at 6:00 pm you can watch the 12^th ranked (11-2) women defeat Tennessee State in the last non-conference game of the season.   After the game you can move on to dinner at one of the downtown eateries while waiting to participate in the downtown festivities and ringing in the New Year.

Merry Christmas Cardinal Couple readers!

XMAS EDITION : CARDINAL COUPLE



MERRY CHRISTMAS READERS!

On the bus for another away game!

It's been an incredible year here at Cardinal Couple and we want to thank all of you for your readership. e-mails, comments and support. It's hard to believe that CARDINAL COUPLE is almost four years old. A site we didn't think would last very long has turned into a site that now gets over 2700 hits a day. A site that now has weekly writers and carried by several news conglomerates and has posted close to 1200 articles. Yes, we are amazed, humbled and very thankful. Never saw it coming.

2012 has been an amazing year for UofL women's sports. Beginning in January, we watched at the UofL women's basketball team held their own against tough BIG EAST competition, made it into the NCAA Tournament and nearly advanced to the Sweet Sixteen...losing a tough battle to Maryland on their home court in College Park, MD.

Arthur Albiero's swimming and diving team took another BIG EAST title and spring brought us the promise of softball, track and field and lacrosse. Who can forget the 55-win season by Sandy Pearsall's club and hosting the NCAA Regionals? Track and field notched another BIG EAST title.

Voleyball's future looks bright!

After the students returned to fall classes, the field hockey and soccer teams had BIG EAST success and volleyball came out and blistered the BIG EAST with the regular season and tournament titles. The NCAA Championships took place at the KFC YUM! Center and Louisville narrowly missed being a Final Four participant.

Cardinal women's athletes battled hard all year in 13 sports and we salute each and every participant for their service to UofL.

Basketball is 1/3 of the way through as we write this and the Cards are rolling on all eight cylinders with a #14 ranking and sparkling 11-2 record.

Columnists Jenny O'Bryan and Jeff McAdams

We're thankful for all the great opportunities we've had to provide Cardinal coverage. We're also grateful for having the best writing staff around over the last three years in Jenny, Sandy, Jeff, Quentin, Mark, David and Donny.

May you have the best of the holiday season and thank you for making this site a joy and pleasure to present and produce each day! We look forward to 2013 and hope you make that journey with us...

Paul & Sonja
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Monday Cardinal Couple - A Big East update

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- BIG EAST ROLLING ALONG IN NON-CONFERENCE SLATE

With the start of BIG EAST conference play less than two weeks away, we thought we'd take a look at how the 15 teams are doing so far. Here's the latest standings:

UConn     10-0                          Georgetown  7-4
Syracuse  11-1                          Pittsburgh    7-4
N.D          9-1                           Marquette     6-5
Villanova  9-1                           St. John        5-5
Louisville 11-2                          Seton Hall     5-5
USF          9-2                           Providence    3-8
DePaul     10-3
Rutgers    8-3
Cincy       7-3



No real surprises at the top of the leaderboards...although Villanova at 9-1 is mildly surprising. They've also held opponents to 50 or less points in seven of their ten games.

Superstar Skylar Diggins returns for Notre Dame

The BIG EAST is 117-50 in games so far and Muffet McGraw recently got her 800th. career win. Agnes Berenato (Pitt) also recorded her 159th. win, tops in Pittsburgh women's basketball history.

After Tennessee State on 12/31/12, the Cards will go into conference play on the road at DePaul on Jan. 5th. Rutgers visits the YUM! Center on Jan 8th., Louisville hits Providence on Jan. 12th. and UConn on the 15th. A tough start to the conference for Louisville...but none of the games in the BIG EAST appear to be easy this season.

Katherine Harry controls the boards for DePaul

Louisville was a combined 1-4 against these four BIG EAST schools in the regular season last year...the lone win coming against DePaul 75-62 in the YUM! Center. DePaul has Brittany Hrynko, Katherine Harry and Anna Martin back from last year's 23-11 squad that made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Cards are on a few days of Christmas break currently. Although there aren't any scheduled practices until a few days after Christmas, Coach Walz and the staff have asked the girls to run and get some shots up while at home. We like the idea that they do get to spend some time with their loved ones this time of year and wish all the Louisville Cardinals...along with our readers...a very Merry Christmas!
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Sunday Cardinal Couple - How much is too much?

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- WHEN DOES IT BECOME A BLOWOUT?

- HAPPY FESTIVUS!

We've had several e-mails here at CARDINAL COUPLE over the last 36 hours that addressed the 106-32 Louisville WBB win over Wagner College Friday night. Most were high praise for how the Cardinal team or specific players played, but a few of them touched on the subject of blow-outs.

When does a game become a blowout? How much is too much? In high school football in some states, they let the clock run continuously when an opponent commands a 42-point lead over the foe. There is no such rule in women's college basketball. Does there need to be?

74 points is a lot to lose by. It obviously isn't much fun for the team on the short end of the score. The team in the lead usually tries to do what they can to soften the blow by putting in their bench players. In Louisville's case Friday night, Jeff Walz had four of those available...but all four have seen considerable action this season. It's wasn't a case where he had 10 players sitting there to choose from, like Rick Pitino has on the Louisville men's squad.

We don't think the Cards purposely "ran the score up" on Wagner...but some of you obviously disagree. Several examples have been pointed out to us...the most common were Vails three with less than a minute to go Megan Deines layup with seconds remaining.

We want to know what you think. What is a blowout? How big a margin is too big. How do you "take your foot off the gas" in a case like Friday night? Please send your e-mails to us at :

cardinalcouple@insightbb.com

or leave a comment in our comments section.

And, Happy Festivus to all! It is the 23rd. of December. Get out the aluminum pole, plan the Festivus dinner tonight, air your grievances and perform the feats of strength!

Festivus for the rest of us. Can the commercialism of Christmas and allow the Festivus miracle to take place...
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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards wallop Wagner 106-32

The University of Louisville womens' basketball squad left the 7876 in attendance at the KFC YUM! Center with tidings of comfort and joy Friday night with a 106-32 pasting of the Wagner Seahawks...placing eight players in double figures in the 74 point win.

Despite being tied with Wagner early on at 5-5, the Lady Cards shook off the cold weather of the first day of winter and went on a first half closing run of 42-7 to go into the locker room up 47-12. The world did not come to an end as the Mayans predicted on 12-21-12...but the Seahawks had suffered through their own personal Armageddon on their first ever trip to the state of Kentucky.

The 106 points were the second highest in UofL womens' basketball history. The Cards have reached 109 twice over the past 37 years...most recently against Coastal Carolina in 1996.

Louisville shot a sizzling 61% from the field (39-64) and even banged in seven threes out of 16 attempts for 47%. The Cards also broke the 70% mark from the charity stripe...making 21 of 27.

Megan Deines led the balanced Cardinal attack with 19 points. Jude Schimmel reached a career high with 15 and eight steals. Sara Hammond added 14...10 of those in the first 20 minutes. Bria Smith continued her hot streak, tossing in 13 on six of seven shooting from the floor and Cortnee Walton came off the bench to impress again with 12. Sheronne Vails contributed 11 and Nita Slaughter tied Shoni Schimmel with 10 points each. Shelby Harper had two points and five assists. Monique Reid did not play, still nursing a sore knee.

Louisville (10-2) utilized full court, trapping pressure to go on the first half blitz against the Seahawks (1-8) but relented in the final twenty minutes and stuck to the half-court offense. Even then, they out-scored Wagner 59-20.

The Cards get a 10-day break before returning the the KFC YUM! Center for a Dec.31st., New Year's Eve game against Tennessee State at 6 p.m.

THINGS WE LIKED

1) Louisville played as close to 40 minutes of intense basketball as they have all season. The passing, recognition and hustle were as good as we've seen of them this year.

2) Free throw shooting. We always point out when the Cards are under 70% at the line, but we're just as quick to compliment when they achieve better. They did last night.

3) Jude Schimmel was last night's spark plug off the bench with her intensity on both ends of the court. Better each game...the younger Schimmel impresses more and more.

4) The aggressive nature of the defensive attack tonight was fun to watch. Tying up ball-handlers, going after loose balls and plenty of steals...all things needed from this team further down the road in conference play.

5) Giving the fans a holiday treat. With the Christmas break coming up and a weak opponent on the court...the potential was there for a less than stellar effort. Didn't happen, these Cards were hungry and thrilled the crowd.

THINGS TO WORK ON

1) Blocking off on the defensive boards. Wagner did manage 12 offensive rebounds against Louisville. Not a major thing, especially in a blowout win, but something to work on.

2) Opening minutes. There were four lead changes in this one early and we'd like to see Louisville erase all doubt of a possible upset or close game from the opening tip against the "Wagner's" of college basketball.

SUMMARY

Another feel-good, fun to watch romp for the Cards as the non-conference schedule draws near to a close. Steals, threes, defense and the thrill of scoring 100+ all made for a great holiday gift to the Cardinal fans. Almost 8000 in attendance for a game close to Christmas, on a cold night and a uninspiring opponent. A balanced effort by Louisville which can only do wonders for the collective confidence of the team as BIG EAST play draws near. We're getting quite impressed with The Hammer's domination in the paint, Jude's steady piloting of the offense and Megan's ability to score big chunks of points in short stretches of time.

These nine (add Mo for ten) are playing well as a unit over the last two games and whether Tia or Asia hit the court again this year or not...the team that is out on the court currently is going to cause a lot of headaches for BIG EAST opponents this season. Syracuse and Pitt totaled less than 70 each on Wagner. If the Cards can continue to create opportunities through their defense on opponents down the road, we can see a high finish in the BIG EAST and deep penetration in the NCAA Tournament.

Post Game Walz
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Cards face Wagner College Friday night

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Game update....Louisville won 106-32. We'll be back later tonight with the full report.)

-Lady Cards and Seahawks meet for first time



Donald Yaste and Mondo Vendo went here

Louisville WBB goes up against Wagner on Friday night at the KFC YUM! Center at 7 p.m. No, it's not the high school located near St. Matthews, off Breckenridge Ln. It's not a collection of players ex-Cardinal Milt Wagner got together for some holiday fun. Not even the famous German opera composer's kin.

Composer Richard Wagner

Wagner College, located on Staten Island in New York, is in the Northeast Conference and has a student body of 2000. They play their home games in the Spiro Sports Center. Whether that's named after former vice-president in the Nixon administration Spiro T. Agnew or not we're not really sure...but we do know it was part of the area hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.

The Seahawks are 1-7 on the season, defeating Columbia 61-47. Notable losses have come at the hands of Pitt (69-35) and Syracuse (66-28). Ironically, both these schools are exiting the BIG EAST for the ACC. Last out, they were defeated on the road 77-54 by New Hampshire. They were 2-27 last year.

They don't exactly strike fear into the hearts of concerned Cardinal fans...I know...but it is the last game for 10 days for Louisville before facing Tennessee State on New Year's eve in the YUM! After that, the Cards dive into conference action with a January 5th. matchup at DePaul.

Wagner's head coach Lisa Cermignano is in her first year with the Seahawks and has several players from the Quebec Province. Canadian Stephanie Blais is a 6'2" sophomore who leads the team in scoring at 11.9 ppg. Fellow Quebecian 6'0" senior Marie-Laurence Archambault contributes 9.5 a game and shoots 45% from beyond the arc. Veronica Fournier adds 7.3 a contest. All three came from College Montmorency.

Louisville (10-2) enters the contest after a 75-39 dismantling of Washington State. The Cards put four in double figures...led by Sara Hammond's 18.

This is the first meeting between the two schools. It's the furthest west the Seahawks have travelled for a game since visiting Evanston, IL. back in 2007.  

What do we expect? Pretty much a blowout. The Seahawks have sunk eight three-pointers in a game on three occasions this year...so guarding the perimeter will be a priority for the Cards. Louisville should be able to get into their favored fast-break, transition offense early and often again the Seahawks and we expect another big outing from the front-line contingent of Vails, Hammond, Walton, and Reid (if Mo can go on the sore knee).

A fun holiday romp for the Cards before spending a few days with family and friends. Provided they take care of business. And, if the world doesn't end sometime today...we'll be back tonight with a post-game report. I wonder if Heaven has Broadband?

(Thanks to Quentin Voigt for a helpful and informative 'scout' on the Seahawks. Not the Seattle ones, either.)

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