Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Boogie with Bulls

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

GAME REPORT

Louisville breaks a 66-66 tie with back-to-back threes from Shoni Schimmel and Nita Slaughter and hangs on to win 78-75. Shoni with a career high 38 in the game and career high eight three-pointers. Jenny will have more on this "Cardiac" win later...

-Boogie With the Bulls tonight

(Quentin Voigt provides the scout on the University of Louisville women's basketball team's next opponent...a visit to Tampa and game against the South Florida Bulls.)

Wednesday, January 30th. 7 p.m. brings the next test for Jeff Walz's Lady Cards...a showdown in the Sun Dome in Tampa against Jose Fernandez's USF Bulls.

These Bulls are 14-5 on the season and 3-3 in BIG EAST play. Conference losses have come against Notre Dame in Tampa, a four point win by UND in overtime. USF has also fallen on the road to DePaul by 16 and at Villanova by three.

USF's Andrell Smith

Players to watch for USF included the Smith sisters Andrea and Andrell. Andrea averages 17.7 ppg and Andrell contributes 15.9 ppg. Inga Orekhova is good for 11.6 for the team and all three are deadly from long range. The front line features Caitlin Rowe and Akita MacDonald, both 6'4" and they and freshman Alisha Jenkins are the major rebounders for Fernandez's squad.

The Smiths and Rowe came from Gulf Coast Community College, where they won the National Junior Community College title in the 2009-10 season.

Last time out, USF handled Marquette 58-48 in the SunDome on Saturday. Freshman guard Courtney Williams had 10 points in the win and Jenkins grabbed 11 rebounds.

The Russian Rocket - Inga Orekhova

Like Louisville, when USF gets on a run, they're hard to handle. I look at this one as a very close contest and predict the Cards win by three.

-Quentin Voigt

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USF is a dangerous, dangerous team. The Russian rocket Orekhova can bury you from deep. The Smith's are hard-nosed, aggressive ballers that can score from anywhere. Louisville trailed USF last year at halftime and was fortunate to go on a late run in the YUM! to win 63-57. Sheronne Vails and Cierra Warren combined for 24 points last year against them. Warren, of course...is gone. There's still an APB out on Vails, according to some, too.

UofL's Andrell Smith

Louisville is headed into an arena that holds 10,000 but has only managed to get an average of 1100 in for games. Wouldn't surprise us if that isn't doubled tonight...Louisville does have a sizable fan base in the area and opponents do love to come  out and cheer against the Cards when they come to town.

Just in case any football fans have wandered over here and are confused...the Andrell Smith USF guard and Andrell Smith UofL wide receiver aren't related. They're both excellent at their respective sports, though

How does Louisville pull off the win in hostile territory? Honestly, I don't think they do tonight. The Bulls came darn close to knocking off Notre Dame in the Sun Dome.

But, if they do win on the road, they'll need super efforts out of Bria and Shoni, along with a return of the Vails from last year and a strong Sara effort. We know we can count on Nita for a big game. I do hope it's a big enough effort to get the Cards a win. Really, I do.

I hate to say it, hope I'm dead wrong...but I'm calling "Bull" on this one. USF by 6. Prove me wrong, please.

You might be able to watch this one on BullsVision for a fee. It's unclear whether the video or just the audio is being offered over there. Sign up at the official USF sports site. We'll probably just give AJ and Matt a listen on WKJK 1080 or gocards.com.

I may switch over and give USF Bulls women's basketball play-by-play guy Alex Perlman a listen. He's one of the best young announcers in the business. Even if he attended Syracuse and looks like attorney Cary Agos on "The Good Wife". (Which has Sonja enamored with him...)

Coach Walz talks about stealing wins on the road in the BIG EAST. If the Cards can pull this heist off, the team's picture should be posted in all the post offices...because it will be the theft of the century. Let's hope Al Capone, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson are sitting on the Cardinal bench. "Theft in Tampa". Let's hope so.

Jenny will be by to do the recap later tonight or tomorrow.

-Paulie
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