Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Valpo to face Lady Cards

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Crusaders face Cards Saturday night in KFC YUM! Center

-Where are we going?

The Valparaiso Crusaders travel down I-65 to face #8 Louisville in the KFC YUM! Center at 7:30 p.m. Saturday night. Valpo (3-5) plays in the Horizon League and is coming off a 82-73 win over IPFW on Tuesday night in Ft. Wayne.

Coach Dorrow

This will be the first meeting ever between the schools in women's college basketball. First-year head coach Tracey Dorrow took the program over in April 2012 after spending 14 years as the head coach at Ferris State University ( no, not Ferris Buehler U).

Valpo has never defeated a BIG EAST team...currently 0-52 against the conference. They did open the season with a win over Indiana University. They were on a five-game losing streak before the win over IPFW...falling to IUPUI, Butler, Duke and W. Illinois on the road and St. Louis at home.

Lange can put up big numbers

Senior forward Gina Lange is one of the scoring threats for the Crusaders and had 18 points against IPFW. Other scoring threats are junior Tabitha Geradot, Shaquira Scott and Charae Richardson.

The Crusaders are tough defenders of the three-pointer. Opponents are shooting just .248 from beyond the arc this season. They also rebound well for a team whose tallest player is just 6'1". They average +3.1 rebounds more than their opponents this year and have grabbed at least 11 offensive rebounds in each of their eight game this season.

So, how will Louisville react in their first game since the loss to UK? Walz has had several days of practice to work on the things that plagued Louisville in the latter part of the second half against Kentucky...namely free throw shooting and the guards getting the ball inside to the bigs. Since Valpo does defend the three well...inside scoring will be a priority and Louisville would be well served to engage the press and create turnovers to get the transition game active early.

The Cards have been notoriously slow starters in a few games this season and this could well be another night of that if they can't get shots to fall early. Offensively, Valpo can't throw much at Jeff Walz's squad that they haven't seen already this year...and with a decided height advantage...if the Cards can take care of the little things like blocking out, going after loose balls and getting second-chance baskets, they should be able to win this one pretty convincingly tonight.

If the guards can solve the Crusaders' defensive pressure, they should be able to get the ball to bigs Monique Reid, Sara Hammond and Shawnta Dyer for close-in opportunities.

We'll be back later tonight (or Sunday morning) with a game recap.

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Had to share this one with you. Someome has some 'xplainin' to do...Lucy!

"this place doesn't look like Charlotte at all. Where are we?"

Got a call this morning from no other than Louisville head football coach Charlie Strong (one of those automated message thingies) He was inviting me to join him on December 27 in Charlotte for the Belk Bowl.

Been there, done that.

Word of advice to the UofL Ticket office. Promoting this event might hurt Sugar Bowl ticket sales. Or, it is a secret, cryptic message from Coach...indicating that he's job-hunting again and considering a job opportunity with one of the Belk Bowk
teams?

We did the Belk Bowl last year. A cold, raw nasty day. Tailgating in 30 degree temperatures and 30 mph winds was brutal.

Advice to Cardinal football fans. If Charlie calls you, decline the offer. New Orleans will be warmer and the stadium is a dome.
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