Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse falls at Loyola

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Lacrosse loses at Loyola

-Rowing ranked #18

-Worrell, Kylliainen with top 10 finishes in NCAA

-Softball heads to Oklahoma

-CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO

Louisville Lacrosse registered a strong first half against Loyola (MD) Friday night but took the loss 11-6 in BIG EAST Lacrosse
action. The Cards fall to 7-2, 0-1 and Loyola improves to 3-5, 1-0.

Louisville started strong...Erica Eipp scoring just 33 seconds into the contest and Eipp added a second score at the 23:43 mark. UofL increased the margin to 3-0 after Katie Oliverio found the back of the net just a minute and 12 seconds later.

Loyola responded with two straight scores, though, and the Cards didn't find the net again until Cardinal leading scorer Nikki Boltja connected to make it 4-2 with 6:11 left in the first half. Boltja would close out the Cards scoring with her second goal 3:41 before halftime. UofL took a 5-3 lead into the locker room after 30 minutes.

The Greyhounds began the second half strong and ran off six straight goals on UofL to lead 8-5 with 17:42 to play. Cortnee Daley got the Cards within two at 8-6 with eight minutes to play...but Loyola registered the final three goals of the contest to down the Cards by five in the BIG EAST opener for both teams.

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The Louisville rowing squad has broken into the top 20 in the nation, getting a #18 ranking by the CRCA/USRowing Coaches Poll. It's the third highest ranking in Cardinal Rowing history.

The Cards competed well in the the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational...winning four races overall and challenging #1 Virginia and #14 Notre Dame in Varsity Four and Varsity Eight contests last weekend.

The Row-Cards return to action on the road (or water, I guess)against Tennessee on March 30th.

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Louisville women's swimming with a strong showing in the NCAA Championships in Day Two of action in Indianapolis.

Freshman Kelsi Worrell finished fourth in the 100-fly and Tanja Kylliainen recorded a 10th place time in the 400-IM. She was matched against an NCAA champion and two swimmers from the 2012 Olympics.

The 800-free relay team of Breann McDowell, Lindsay La Porte, Krissie Brandenburg and Abigail Chin narrowed missed setting a school record in the event with a great time of 7:18:33.

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Softball heads to #1 in the nation Oklahoma (27-1) for a three game series this weekend. Against always-tough BIG 12 competition, the Cards will play a doubleheader against the Sooners on Saturday beginning at 3 p.m. and a single game Sunday.

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Saturday CARDINAL COUPLE Radio Hour will take a look at the NCAA Women's Tournament that begins Saturday morning and have recaps on lacrosse, softball and also interviews from the Monday Selection Show at the KFC YUM! Center. It'll be a busy Saturday...Paulie will be headed down to the KFC YUM! Center after the show to try and get a few interviews at the shoot-arounds for all four teams in Louisville for the Sunday and Tuesday games.

Unfortunately, the practice sessions are not open to the fans like they are in the NCAA Men's Tournament. WE think this is a silly and stupid rule. Why not let the fans in to observe? Even with a ticket, if nothing else. We hope the NCAA Women's Committee will change this archaic rule next year.

And, you still have time to get your tickets for the LADY CARDS game against MTSU on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Why not head down to the KFC YUM! Center Ticket Office and secure your seats today? Last report was that about 6000 seats had been sold. Let's fill that lower bowl in red, Cardinal fans!

You also have time to get your entry in for the CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA Women's Basketball Pick 'Em Contest. First game is 11 a.m. EDT. Leave your picks in the comments section or e-mail them to:

cardinalcouple@insightbb.com

WE had a question from a reader who entered but does not have a Chili's nearby. (We ARE giving a $25 Chili's Gift Card to the winner.) They wanted to know what they could have instead. We came up with several options. Here's the top ten alternatives.

1) A signed copy of Jeff McAdams singing "Danny Boy" with the Dixon Brothers Merl and Daryl and Bill The Goat.
2) Two tickets to Paradise, compliments of Eddie Money
3) A couple of plastic ducks that Sonja brought home from a recent wedding reception.
4) $25 worth of script...good at the CARDINAL COUPLE store
5) A $25 gift card to Panera. I'll talk Bread Boy into one.
6) An hour-long rebroadcast of CARDINAL COUPLE Radio (in Latin).
7. Timmy the Intern washes your car.
8. A $25 gift card to BP.
9. MArkie MArk spends an hour with you discussing hair grooming and economic indicators for 2013-14.
10. Unlimited use of one of the "bouncies" at the next UofL fan event.

NO REASON TO DELAY! Get that entry in pronto!

Paulie


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Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Tournament and Softball

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-NCAA Women's Championship Pick 'Em Guide (or...How I stopped worrying and learned to love the 'Madness')

-Softball Cards defeat Iowa 6-4

A picture of a bracket

One of the most common complaints I hear (besides not remembering to spray wash my own undergarments and that I snore) is from people who would enter a NCAA Women's Basketball Pick 'Em contest...but aren't real familiar with the teams. Not even Coach Walz is familiar with all the teams. Request denied, sir! Fill out a bracket.

So, today...I will offer sage wisdom, prudent decisions, a few upsets and uncalled-for advice on how you, too, can have a satisfying NCAA Women's Tournament Bracket Pick 'Em. Remember, one man's lock is another man's upset...so don't be afraid to go out on a limb from time-to-time.

Paulie's Rule #1 - Your FINAL FOUR SHOULD READ: Baylor, Stanford, Notre Dame and Connecticut. Anything else is just wishful or moronic thinking.

Paulie's Rule #2 - Play CLOSE attention to where teams are playing the early rounds. Besides the four mentioned above, the majority of NCAA Women's Basketball teams don't do very well too far from home. It's a "village" thing.

OKLAHOMA CITY REGION

Put Baylor in as winning and work your way backwards. Who will they face? The logical (and popular) pick seems to be Tennessee. This is a good "Great Eight" start...but you might want to consider Syracuse and UCLA in place of Tennessee.

I am not scared of Prairie View, Princeton, Liberty, Central Michigan, Stetson, or Oral Roberts. ( I am maybe scared of oral surgery...or wearing a stetson in public.) Creighton may be a dark-horse candidate to uphend Syracuse and Middle Tennessee is a good, not great team. So is Louisville, according to Jeff Walz. I went with Baylor, Louisville, UCLA and Syracuse as the four teams to advance out of the first and second rounds. Yes, Tennessee is playing in Knoxville (let the hate e-mails begin) but I was very impressed with Syracuse this season and like their toughness. I also like pretty balloons and the Three Stooges.

SPOKANE REGION

Write in Stanford (in pencil) as the FINAL FOUR participant in this region but take a close look at these four contenders. South Florida, Villanova, LSU and California. Warch Gonzaga, because they are playing in Spokane (their home town) They'll survive the first round against a good, not great Iowa State squad. They could even advance against a middle-of-the-pack Georgia team who is travelling a long way to be in Spokane.

No fear of Green Bay (unless Aaron Rodgers decides to play), Tulsa, Montana, CalPoly or Fresno State. A great match-up in the first round here is Texas Tech, at home in Lubbock, playing South Florida. But, South Florida went on the road and defeated Louisville in front of the 10,000 rowdy UofL fans. I doubt there will be that many in Lubbock...unless they offer free barbecue.

I have Stanford, Gonzaga, LSU (playing their first two in Baton Rouge) and California in the regional in Spokane. I think Stanford will probably survive...but it wouldn't surprise me to see South Florida or California advance to New Orleans. If Cal-Poly gets there, I'll buy every reader a new laptop...(with Jeff's VISA Card). Pending approval.

NORFOLK REGION

You know the routine. Write in Notre Dame as the winner in the bracket and also scribble in Texas A&M as the team they beat to get there. There are other excellent teams in this region, but they won't advance. Colorado will fall to the Irish. Duke will barely lose to A&M. DePaul will give Duke a test..but lose in the second round. Unless they have cloned Anna Martin and both the clone and the original play. 

Dead zombies...UT Martin (no realation to Anna), Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota St., Chattanooga, Wichita State and Hampton. (I do like the Hampton breakfast bar, though.) I'd love to see Doug Bruno's DePaul squad down Coach Joanie P's Blue Devils and almost picked them. Could be a upset special. I ended up with Notre Dame, Colorado (who beat Louisville in the regular season), Texas A&M and Duke as the teams meeting in Norfolk. Irish eyes will be smiling.

BRIDGEPORT REGION

It's a shame Connecticut has to do such extensive travelling to make the final four. Storrs and then Bridgeport. Maybe they'll go by way of Bristol. Most are liking Kentucky to play them in the final of the GENO Bridgeport regional. I'll offer St. John's, Delaware and maybe even Dayton as possibles to see April Fools Day still alive in Bridgeport. Kentucky did not win the SEC Tournament. That honor went to Texas A&M. Kentucky travels to play in Queens, NY to open the first and second rounds. St. John's is from Queens. I agree with CARDINAL COUPLE reader Joe Hill on one thing...my "uber, outrageous, what's he thinking?"  upset special is St. John's over Kentucky. (Quick, bring my meds!)

Teams that won't need long hotel reservations are Idaho ( a shame they had to travel across country to play UConn) St. Joseph's ( who will need baby aspirin after meeting Vandy), Marist, Quinnipiac, Albany and Navy. The first round match up with Dayton and St. John's will be classic. Delaware and North Carolina will be a close one, too. I have Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware and St. John's going to Bridgeport. The Huskies raise a leg on the Terrapins and Red Storm and trot off to New Orleans.  

FINAL FOUR

I'm leaving you on your own here. I can't spoon-feed everything to you, you know. Baylor won it all last year. Notre Dame came in second. Go from there and good luck in your selections.  Both teams have their best player back.

The CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA Women's Tournament Pick 'Em closes on Saturday, March 23rd. when the first game begins at 11 A.M. All picks need to be in by then. Leave your choices in the comments section or e-mail them to:

cardinalcouple@insightbb.com

Good luck, we hope you play and remember for the tie-breaker you need to give us TOTAL NUMBER OF POINTS you think will be scored in the final game. First prize in a $25 Chili's Gift Card. If there isn't a Chili's in the area you live in...move immediately. Or, if you win...just let us know. We'll think of something to substitute. Maybe Bill the Goat's latest CD. Or an afternoon of watching Quentin throw paper wads at a trash can. A guest spot on our radio show.

Also, remember to put your name on your entry. Duh!!



"Whaddya mean Syracuse has no guards? Sir, you are a
moron! And your socks don't match!"

(You can get brackets to fill out at NCAA.com and the Courier-Journal has a nice one in the Tuesday edition. ESPN.com has them, too.) If you want to e-mail your bracket directly us, that's fine...be advised that IF we don't send a confirmation to you that we got it, we may have not received it. We are quite technology challenged.)

Games begin Saturday, March 23rd. at 11 a.m. EDT. The contest is purely for entertainment purposes and Cardinal Couple is a non-profit entity. That ought to keep the CC laywers happy campers.

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Louisville softball bounced back from the Monday loss to Iowa with a Tuesday win at Ulmer Stadium over the visitors 6-4. The Cards found the bats early in this one...touching the Hawkeyes for four first inning runs.

Katie Keller singled and eventually scored when Whitney Arion was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to make it 1-0. Taner Fowler cleared the bags with a deep double and Louisville was up 4-0.

UofL increased the margin to 6-0 in the fifth inning, picking up two runs on just one hit. Jordy Trimble was safe at first on a Hawkeye fielding error and Alicja Wolny was walked. Trimble touched home on a Maggie Ruckenbrod single and Wolny followed when Arion reached on a fielder's choice.

The Hawkeyes fought back late...two runs in the sixth brought in Caralisa Connell to relieve starter Rachel LeCoq. Iowa added two more runs in the seventh but could not fully close the gap. Le Gran Le Coq gets the win and is now 10-2.

Louisville (24-4) takes on Indiana today at 6 p.m.at Ulmer. TV available on this one in case you can't attend...WHAS 11.2 and the accompanying Insight and Comcast numbers...whatever they are. The BIG 10 tour continues.

Paulie

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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse wins at Drexel

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


 TOURNAMENT NEWS:  Louisville WBB is a #5 seed in the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament and will face #12 seed Middle Tennessee on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. in the KFC YUM! Center. The other teams headed to Louisville are #4 seed Purdue and #13 seed Liberty. Jenny O'Bryan will have much more on this in the TUESDAY Edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. Get your tickets!


-Lacrosse goes to 7-1 with 9-8 win at Drexel

-Rowing gets four wins at Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational

-Soggy softball stats

-Selection show tonight at KFC YUM! Center for Lady Cards

The University of Louisville lacrosse team once again overcame the elements and a worthy opponent with a 9-8 win over Drexel in Philadelphia Sunday.

The Cards started strong with freshman Kay Morissette scoring the first three goals of the game in the first eight minutes of play...a "hat trick" in hockey terms...to give the Cards a nice early advantage. The Dragons were not going to let Louisville dominate them on their home turf, however, and responded with three straight scores to knot the contest.

Monica Negron and Katie Oliverio returned the favor for UofL to give the Cards a 5-3 advantage with ten minutes left in the first half. Drexel roared back with three in a row to take a 6-5 advantage into the end of the first half.

Morissette found the back of the net six minutes into the second half to tie the contest and just 34 seconds later...fellow freshman Erica Eipp connected to give Louisville a 7-6 lead. Drexel countered with a score to tie it at the 22:18 mark.

Morissette had four goals for the Cards in the win.

Eipp broke free to regain the lead for Louisville and Colleen O' Malley added a goal with 10:39 left that had Louisville leading 9-7. The Dragons scored their final goal to draw within one with 7:10 showing on the clock. Solid ball control by the Cards prevented any Drexel scoring opportunities the rest of the way.

Freshmen Eipp and Morissette accounted for seven of the nine Louisville scores. The Cards held a 23-12 advantage on shots.

At 7-1, this is the best start in Louisville Lacrosse history and ties the best eight game stretch in Cardinal history also. The 2011 squad had a 7-1 stretch also.

Louisville returns to the road for a BIG EAST conference match for a 6 p.m. tussle against #11 Loyola (MD) on Friday, March 22nd. 

( Jeff McAdams has written a moving article about the tragic Seton Hill lacrosse deaths and posted a link to it in our Sunday comments sections. Please take the time to read it. Our hearts go out to the Seton Hill Lacrosse community and fans over this tragic and saddening loss of three lives.)

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Louisville rowing has started the spring season and kicked it off with the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational on Melton Hill Lake in Oak Ridge, TN. The two day event capped a week long spring-training for the team and saw Louisville compete against Virginia and West Virginia on Saturday morning, Duke and Eastern Michigan Saturday afternoon and Notre Dame, Kansas, Buffalo and Miami (FL) on Sunday.

Virginia is the 2012 NCAA Champs and Notre Dame won the BIG EAST championships in 2012.

The Cards won four races in the Saturday afternoon sessions. Duke won the other two. 

Louisville had five seconds in six events Saturday morning. Although the Cards did not beat Virginia in any of the morning events, they did beat West Virginia in all six.

On Sunday, the girls had four runner-up finishes in six events. Notre Dame won four events and Kansas the other two.

The Cards will return to Melton Hill on Saturday, March 30th to face Tennessee.

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Even though Louisville Softball got rained out Sunday and it's not looking promising for today...we managed to get some statistics for you on the Cardinals season so far. Louisville is 23-3 on the season and 11-0 in Ulmer Stadium.

BATTING

Batting Average                Hits                 RBI's

1. Katie Keller .476       1. Keller 35         1. Keller 27
2. Alicja Wolny . 444     2. Wolny 32         2. Ruckenbrod 25
3. Maggie R. .408          3. Maggie R. 31    3. Wolny 21


Runs Scored                      Home Runs       Walks

1. Keller 35                   1. Keller 7           1. Wolny 19
2. Wolny 22                   2. Wolny 6           2. Keller 16
3. Jordan Trimble 20     3. Maggie R. 4      3. (four with 8)


PITCHING

                        ERA    W/L   Games   Starts   BB   Strikeouts

Rachel LeCoq     1.07   9-1        16        11       11      42
Caralisa Connell 2.02   14-2      20        15       46     101
Smithson-Willet 99.00  0-0         1          0        0        0

Louisville is batting .344 on the season while holding opponents to .216 and has hit 24 home runs.

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Join Cardinal fans and the team tonight at the KFC YUM! Center for the NCAA Selection Show Viewing party. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show begins at 7 p.m. Bouncies for the kids and face painting also!

Coach Jeff Walz will do his weekly radio show with Matt Andrews there as well...beginning at 7 p.m.

Should be a fun family-oriented event tonight. Several CARDINAL COUPLE columnists will be there as well and Jenny O'Bryan...back in Louisville after failing to make the Indiana Fever WNBA team...will have coverage in the Tuesday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. 

Jeff and Jenny will attempt to keep track of Paulie
as he roams the KFC YUM! Center with a recording devicei...
the odds are he gives them the slip and ends up in trouble.

We'll also be roaming the stands and court to get fan and (hopefully) player and coaching reactions that we'll play on the Saturday radio show.  

This event has come a long way from the days when it took place in the Parrish House. Where will Louisville be seeded and who will be the opponents headed to Louisville for the 1st and 2nd rounds of action?

If you can't attend, the Selection Show will be on ESPN at 7 p.m. this evening.

Also, congrats to the UofL men's basketball team...a #1 seed, headed to Lexington for Thursday opening NCAA Action and the #1 see out of all 68 teams! Way to go, guys!

Paulie

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Monday Cardinal Couple: Game Reports -- WBB strong second half downs DePaul....

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


********GAME REPORTS*******

-Smith's 21 leads Louisville WBB in 81-55 win.

-Softball shuts out Stony Brook in final day at Jacksonville

The University of Louisville women's basketball squad broke open a close game at halftime by starting the second half on a 10-3 run in the first three minutes and cruised to a 26-point crushing of DePaul Sunday afternoon in the KFC YUM! Center in front of 10,906 fans.

Sara Hammond had 13 of her 17 points in the final 20 minutes and Bria Smith went 13-15 from the free throw line as Louisville improves to 21-5 and 9-3 in the BIG EAST.

Louisville got off to a hot start and led 10-2 after the first six minutes of the game. The Cards had pushed the advantage to 19-7 with 9:44 remaining on a Monique Reid free throw...Reid making her appearance to the court at the 10:30 mark to a roaring approval from the crowd. Smith had ten of Louisville's first 19 points and was making free-throws, to the delight of her coach and the crowd.

Louisville took their biggest first half lead at 23-9 after two more Smith free throws with 7:36 on the clock. DePaul, though, wasn't throwing in the towel and responded with a seven-minute 14-4 run that pulled them within four at 27-23 after two Megan Podkowa free throws. The Cards got a layup from Hammond with two seconds left in the half to take a 29-23 lead to the locker room.

Ref Al Titus always likes making cameos in my pics...

Smith had 14 points, six rebounds and was 8-9 from the charity stripe in her best twenty minutes of the season. Sherrone Vails was a perfect 3-3 from the field for six points and Hammond had four points and six rebounds in 12 minutes. Nita Slaughter and Shoni Schimmel contributed two each and Mo made a free throw. All but Shelby Harper played. The Cards were 0-9 from three-point range, shot 31.3% in the first half but had held DePaul to 6-32 shooting (18.8%) and was 1-14 from beyond the arc.

Walz called a specific play to get Shoni untracked at the start of the second half and she responded with a three only 13 seconds into the final stanza. The Cards pushed the nine-point lead to 46-31 after a Reid layup at the 15:45 mark...and the rout was on.

A Hammond layup made it 57-38 with 9:45 to go. Hammond canned a jumper to stretch the Louisville lead to 68-42 with 6:11 on the scoreboard and the Cards led by 30 after a Vails layup with 2:43 showing to push the score to 77-47. Vails and Cortnee Walton added layups the rest of the way and the Cards won going away 81-55.

Smith's 21 led all scorers. Hammond finished with 17 and 13 boards for a double-double. Vails also reached double digits in scoring with ten points. It was good to see Mo back in action...finishing with eight points. She left the game at the 12:37 mark after hitting a layup and noticeably limping...but she was fine, according to Coach Walz in the post-game presser. Slaughter added nine points, Shoni eight and Walton four. Harper and Jude had two each. Megan Deines played six minutes but did not score.

Louisville finished 29-67 (43.3%) but was 1-17 from trifecta-land. They out-rebounded the Blue Demons 50-45 and won the points-in-the-paint battle convincingly 50-10. They forced 13 DePaul turnovers and had seven steals.

DePaul was led by freshman guard Chanise Jenkins' 16 and Megan Podkowa, another freshman added 14. Senior standout Katherine Harry had eight points, all in the first half and 13 boards. Doug Bruno was without the services of leading scorer Anna Martin (knee).

WHAT WE LIKED

1) Free throws! Cards were 22-28 for 78.6%. Bria's 13-15 was impressive (we like this Bria Smith). Only Reid had less than stellar line appearance with 3-5.

2) Points in the paint. 50-10. We thought it was a mis-print at first...but the Cards were getting Smith and Hammond plenty of great looks inside and Mo was connecting, also, before she left.

3) Assists to turnovers. The Cards dished out 18 assists (Shoni seven) and made only 9 turnovers. Coach Walz is happy when the assists out-number the turnovers. We like Coach Walz happy...

4) Doug Bruno. Despite losing by 26, Coach came to the post game presser and gave excellent answers to numerous questions for over 17 minutes.

(Cliff notes here....He misses Anna Martin daily and isn't sure when she'll be back. It's day-to-day with the knee. He thinks Bria Smith and Mo are great, he's thankful to have been a part of the BIG EAST for eight years and trusts in the university leaders and administration to chart a successful course for DePaul Athletics in the future. He loves the YUM! Center. He thinks the BIG EAST is the best conference in women's basketball and he wondered if anyone saw THE WHO Saturday Night in the KFC YUM! Center.)

Great guy, that Doug is...funny at times but also very passionate about his team, his profession and women's basketball. One of the good guys in WBB.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVING

1) Threes. Shoni was 1-7. Four other players combined for 0-10. Neither team was impressive from deep...DePaul was 4-29. It wasn't all attributable to defense, either. Maybe THE WHO'S appearance in the YUM! Saturday night messed up the atmosphere or air patterns in the arena...

2) Second chance points. Louisville lost this category 16 to 11. Louisville could use a Katherine Harry inside. The Cards do go up strong with follow-up shots, but they aren't very accurate most of the time. Trailing DePaul guards were getting easy put-backs.

3) First-half lag. Louisville led by 14 in the first half with 7:36 to go. They were lucky to lead by six at the half. Not a factor in the whole scheme of things today...Louisville won big...but something to work on.

SUMMATION


The Cards took care of business at home and in a large way. A big difference from this one and the six-point loss in Chi-Town in January. Getting Mo back seemed to boost the crowd and the team's spirit. Seeing Bria have a big game against a quality opponent is refreshing.

I was surprised they handled DePaul the way they did in the second half. Bruno misses the fire in Anna Martin immensely. As a fan mentioned to me before the game...it's good to see ten players out there again for UofL. Especially Mo. She's been through it lately and she was back to having a good time today.

Cards hosts USF Wednesday night. 7 p.m tip.

Coach Walz post-game comments below. You can find Bria Smith, Sara Hammond and Doug Bruno's abbreviated post-game remarks at courier-journal.com 


POST GAME WALZ



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The University of Louisville softball team shut out Stony Brook 5-0 to improve to 8-2 Sunday in the Jacksonville University Softball Tournament. A big day for senior Jordy Trimble, going 2 for 3 with three runs. Rachel LeCoq drew the starting assignment and picks up her second shutout of the season.

The Cards plated their first run in the second inning when Trimble, who attended Louisville Manual High School, got to first safely on a Stony Brook error and scored when Hannah Kiyohara (Sonja's favorite player) singled her home.

Louisville tacked on two runs in the fourth. Trimble and Kayla Soles started the inning with singles and Kiyohara drew a base on balls to load the bags with Cardinals. A walk to Jennifer Esteban plated Trimble and, with two outs, Kiyohara scored on a Stony Brook wild pitch.

UofL made it 5-0 in the fifth...Trimble smashing a double to left-center and Soles delivering her first home run of the season. Soles had a big game as well for Sandy Pearsall...2 for 3 with RBI's and a run scored.

Le Coq allowed only five SeaWolf hits and did not walk anyone.

The Cards return home and face Kent State at 2:30 p.m. Friday.



-Paulie

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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 - 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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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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