Getting to know...Esther Monny Niamke....Dream fall to Lynx.

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Monday, MONDAY, MONDAY...(at Cardinal Couple)

-Esther Monny Niamke

-Dream stumble at home against Lynx

Esther Monny Niamke will compete
for a guard spot with the Lady Cards.

One of the University of Louisville's women's basketball newcomers for 2011-12 will be Esther Monny Niamke. We're going with this version of her name (we've seen it several ways) until UofL comes up with the official 2011-12 roster and then we'll see how it's listed there. No matter what you call her, she's been an impact player in France for several years and will compete for a guard position this fall for the Lady Cards.

We found this article about her on ladyhoop.com and wanted to share it with our readers:

(On pregame rituals)

"I do not have things I can describe as ritual because I do not often do in the same order and I hate routine! But there are still a lot of things I do before a game: sleep, shower, music, getting taped up, prayer and then...voila!

(How would your teammates describe you?)

"They tell me I am the funniest girl they know. Whatever I do, I like to say that 'I kill!'. They also tell me I'm crazy and I set the mood. 

(Do you remember your first French Euro game?)

"It was in Bourges...two years ago. I hit a three pointer right off."

(Hobbies outside of basketball)

"While I love cooking, watching films and TV series (when I have the time), dancing, cycling, listening to information and messing with my teammates! I love spending my time on U.S. sites on-line and listening to U.S. radio stations. I'm always in search of the latest U.S. sounds (re-mixes, mix tapes and freestyles). Love reading U.S. books, too."

(What players with whom would you love to play against or with?)

"I would have liked to play with Lisa Leslie and Dawn Staley. Also Cappie Poindexter, Sylvia Fowles and Tamika Catchings. And, of course...my future UofL teammates!" 

Looks like the Lady Cards have a very well-spoken, experienced and lively one coming aboard in Ms. Niamke.

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Seems like the Atlanta Dream can't catch a break lately. They started a five game home-stand Sunday in Philips Arena...but the opener was against Atlanta hometown girl Maya Moore and the Minnesota Lynx.

It was a joyous return for the former Collins Hill High School star...the Lynx dispatched of the Dream fairly easily...77-64. Moore had twelve points and eight boards in the win.

"It was just really exciting to be back in Georgia where I have so many good basketball memories. Last November I was in town to play Georgia Tech with Connecticut but it's a different feeling as a pro. It's a different group as far as the fans that come out, so hopefully the people who haven't gotten to watch me, my team or the WNBA will want to come back."

Moore celebrates the Minnesota (5-1) win
over the Atlanta Dream (1-5).

Angel McCoughtry had 10 points in the loss for Atlanta. Angel drew the assignment on Moore defensively, not the first time the two have gone up against each other. They were both in a Las Vegas training camp in mid-May for the U.S. National team and Moore and McCoughtry battled in the BIG EAST for a couple of years.

The Dream started poorly and trailed by 23 at one point in the first half before trimming the margin to 10 shortly before halftime.

Courtney Paris, who was signed to a Dream temporary contract when Sancho Lyttle left to play for the Spain team in Euroball Womens 2011, scored seven points and grabbed four rebounds in her debut. Head Atlanta coach Marynell Meadows commented on Paris:

"There's two ways to look at it when you bring in a player like Paris. She could come in here and beat somebody out...or other teams are going to have an opportunity to look at her. She's got a chance to get back in the league again."

The same could be said about the Dream. They've got a chance to get back in the league, as far as win-loss ratio goes with four more at home...but even if they sweep the remaining four...it puts them at .500 for the season. Lindsay Harding seems to be getting a little more comfortable in the Atlanta offense...with a Dream game high 14 points Sunday...but the talented point guard needs to "up" the learning curve in a hurry if the Dream are to contend for back-to-back Eastern Division titles...
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Sparks spank Lynx...Ballard, PRP advance in girls softball...Ky. All-Stars to scrimmage twice

SLEEP IN...IT'S SATURDAY AT CARDINAL COUPLE!

Maya Moore's debut in the
WNBA a losing one...but she
led all scorers with 21 points.

-Parker leads Sparks past Lynx in WNBA season opener

-Ballard, PRP headed to the Sweet Sixteen

-Ky. Girls All-Stars will scrimmage twice

The WNBA season kicked off last night with the LA Sparks vs.
Minnesota Lynx. Candace Parker vs. Maya Moore. For awhile, it looked like the Maya Moore show, with the Lynx leading by 10 in the third quarter.

Then, the queen of the league took the throne and the promising princess learned that UConn success doesn't always translate into WNBA wins.
Spurred by three straight Noelle Quinn three's and a Parker layup, the Sparks used a 11 point run late in the third to take a 59-57 lead and never looked back. The 82-74 win was largely led by the hot-shooting Quinn and Parker's 19 points.

Candace Parker, sidelined last year with a shoulder injury and subsequent operation, is back. The WNBA should be plenty worried....

The Atlanta Dream gets their season underway Sunday at 3 p.m..hosting the New York Liberty. Kia Vaughn vs. Angel McCoughtry. All we need is C Viv. Stringer on the sidelines scowling and Jeff Walz in his black sweater vest....OOPS, check that...Angel is day-to-day with the knee sprain and probably won't play.

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Sara Hammond will lead the
Kentucky All-Stars against
the Indiana All-Stars.

The Kentucky All-Star Girls will have a couple of scrimmages next week before taking on the Hoosiers. They'll face two talented groups of Kentucky junior all-stars....Tuesday at Eastern High School and Wednesday at Mercer County. The Tuesday face-off will feature juniors from around the Louisville area and standouts April Wilson, Christine Roush and Sydney Moss will lead the juniors against the seniors. The Wednesday scrimmage will pit talented juniors Bre Elder, Sydney Brown and Megan Pittman on the junior squad against the All-Star team. The 12 who will represent Kentucky in the annual clash against Indiana are listed below with college choices beside their names.

#1 Sara Hammond (UofL)

#2 Carla Booth (Eastern Kentucky)

#3 Averee Fields (West Virginia)

#4 Danay Fothergill (Western Kentucky)

#5 Chastity Gooch (Western Kentucky)

#6 Natallie Greenwell (Morehead State)

#7 Mechael Guess (Pittsburgh-volleyball)

#8 Juliann Miller (Evansville)

#9 Maddie Peabody (Lafayette)

#10 Caprisha Rogers (Wallters State)

#11 Kristen Stanback (Austin Peay)

#12 Lauren Tibbs (Marquette)

WE think this group has an excellent chance to sweep the Hoosier in the two contests next weekend. Hammond, Fields, Tibbs and Greenwell are all quality DI prospects who will  have a major impact at their future colleges. Mecheal Guess is a leaper who will play volleyball at Pitt...but don't be surprised if Pitt women's basketball coach Agnus Berenato isn't hanging around the locker room with a basketball practice jersey in hand for Guess....

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Louisville PRP and Louisville Ballard have emerged victorious from the softball regionals and will be two of the sixteen teams to compete in the state Girls softball tournament in Owensboro beginning next Thursday.
Ballard punched their ticket with a 9-1 rout of Eastern to win the 7th region...but their biggest win might have been the day before when the upended perennial softball power Mercy Academy to reach the finals.

PRP won a 7-6 thriller to earn the 6th region title and trip to state over Butler. The Butler Bears had the bases loaded, no outs in the bottom of the seventh but relief pitcher Savannah Mercer pitched her way out of the jam...which ended with a spectacular double play when Baleigh Bell flied out to left with one out and pinch runner Destinei Hollis was thrown out at the plate after tagging for the final out.

Softball enthusiast Ken Richards was at the game and told CARDINAL COUPLE:

"(Left fielder) Rachel Fox fired a perfect throw from left to nail Hollis at the plate. I feel bad for the Butler girls...but it seemed to me that Hollis got a jump on the attempt to score...leaving the bag before the ball to Fox was caught."

The Panthers will face Montgomery County in the first round of the Sweet Sixteen at 5 p.m. Thursday. Ballard gets Letcher County Central at 7 p.m.
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Second half surge sends Huskies past Cards 78-55

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Moore and Hartley's 50 points doom Cards

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UConn used a 17-5 early second half run to bury Louisville and outscored the Cards 47-29 in the final twenty minutes to go to 16-1, 6-0 in the BIG EAST in front of a sold out XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut this afternoon. #2 Connecticut broke open a 39-34 game with 15 minutes remaining the the second half and led the Cards 56-39 with 7:46 left in the game. Maya Moore (pictured right) led all scorers with 26 points.

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The Cards battled hard against UConn early on, leading

several times early in the contest. Their final lead came after a Keisha Hines basket to make it 9-7 six minutes into the contest. Connecticut went on a 7-0 run to gain the lead for good and led 29-18 with 3:42 remaining in the first half before a 8-2 half ending Cardinal rally made it 31-26 at the end of first half action. The Cards were aided by Maya Moore going to the bench with 5:16 remaining in the half. Moore still led the Huskies with 14 first half points. The Cards used balanced scoring to stay within reach against UConn...Tia Gibbs with two 3-pointers and six points and Keisha Hines and Shoni Schimmel with five each.

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Louisville hung with Geno's squad early in the final stanza and after a Shoni Schimmel jumper with 15 minutes left in the game was back within five at 39-34. Moore and Hartley took over after that, though...scoring 15 of the next 19 Huskies points. The Cards would steadily fade the remainder of the contest...trailing 61-44 when Keisha Hines fouled out with 5:51 left in the game. UConn led 73-49 after a Hartley jumper with 2:53 remaining and played out the rest of the game with reserves to notch the win.

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Louisville was led by Shoni Schimmel's 15 points. Gibbs and Hines had nine each for the Cards and Charmaine Tay added seven from off the bench. Becky Burke and Asia Taylor contributed five each. Monique Reid was held to four points on 1-11 shooting...the first time this year she has failed to reach double figures in a game.

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UConn starter Tiffany Hayes left the contest at the 18:30 mark in the first half following a collision on the court and did not return for the Huskies. Maybe a rueful blessing for the Cards, since Hayes has been one of the main Huskies catalysts this season. We hope she's OK.

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Louisville falls to 12-7, 3-2 with the road loss. The Cards once again found out that 40 minutes of solid basketball is needed to win in the tough BIG EAST. Costly turnovers, missed defensive assignments and blown scoring opportunities plagued the Cards during the Huskies 17-5 second half run that spanned nearly eight minutes...and Hines going to the bench a couple of minutes later pretty much sealed the door on any late Louisville rally. UConn outscored the Cards 20-11 after the senior LADY CARDS center left the game.

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A week of preparation for Walz's bunch before their next game...a visit from Cincinnati next Saturday at 2 p.m. in the YUM Center. Despite the lopsided final score, the Cards can gather some positive things from the defeat...especially from the first half...when Louisville's outside shooting and interior play gave UConn fits at times. Next objective: to put the good traits together against a Bearcat team that has improved leaps and bound since the Cards defeated them in Cincinnati back on December 15th.

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Jim Kelch handled the broadcast duites by himself for CARDS RADIO this afternoon, except for a few occasional comments by Lady Cards staffer Liz Sherwood, a former UConn grad. As usual, cool as a cucumber and showing grace under pressure...Kelch delivered another top notch play by play recount on 101.7 WKRD FM...since the men were on 790 AM today. It's one tough channel to get a clear broadcast on unless you happen to live next door to the transmitter...and coupled with watching the men on TV...I'm as worn out as the Cards after this one. Congrats to Pitino's crew...pulling out an amazing come from behind win over Marquette in the YUM this afternoon. NO MORE SAME DAY, OVERLAPPING GAMES FOR THE MEN AND WOMEN, TOM JURICH!!PLEASE....Between a scratchy radio signal and television feed that kept cutting in and out during the first half...plus the 11 a.m. start...I feel like I've put in 12 hours already in the middle of the afternoon....

Field Hockey Cards fall to IU 3-2 in overtime

WELCOME TO HUMP DAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE

The Wednesday reports:

-#8 Field Hockey falls to Hoosiers

-Naismeth watch list for NCAAWBB

-Taurasi bares it for ESPN

The good news for UofL Field Hockey fans is that Pam Bustin's team climbed two spots in the national rankings to #8. The not so good news is the loss in Bloomington to IU in overtime...3-2.

Amber Thomas, pictured right, scored both of Louisville's goals...leading the Cards to a 2-1 advantage in the second half. Louisville played the Hoosiers close in the first half, allowing just a penalty corner score by Brenna Moeljadi. The Cardinal offense couldn't find the net in the first 45 minutes, though...despite a 3-2 advantage in shots on goal.

Thomas got her first tally off a penalty corner when Hayley Turner had a shot rejected by IU goalie Alex Mann but Thomas collected the rebound and sent the ball into the net. Just a couple of minutes later, Thomas gave Louisville the lead on a penalty corner...deflecting a Tuli Lim attempt and knocking in into the back of the cage.

IU tied the game with no time remaining in regulation off of a penalty corner play resulting in Moeljadi's second score of the afternoon. Louisville missed two shots on goal in the overtime and took the loss when Corey Brautigam advanced to the circle and got one by Cards goalie Erin Conrad.

Louisville outshot the Hoosiers 19-10 in the match and held a 10-5 advantage in corners. Stepping up big for IU was Mann..who had 10 saves.

The Cards continue the road trip with a BIG EAST match against Rutgers on Oct. 9th. and then #3 Princeton on the 10th.

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30 women's college basketball players have been named to the Naismeth Watch List...which signifies the best in NCAA hoops. Surprisingly, junior UofL wing Monique Reid did not make the list. The Cards will face 12 of the 30 this year, and the BIG EAST has 5 players selected for the honor.

Danielle Adams, a former UofL target now at Texas A&M got selected and UK center Victoria Dunlap appears there also. UofL will face two selections when they begin the regular season in the KFC YUM! Center when Tennessee visits...Angie Bjorklund and Shekinna Strickland. The twin towers of Xavier...Amber Harris and Ta'shia Phillips got picked as well. BIG EAST nominees Maya Moore, Tiffany Hayes (Connecticut), Skylar Diggins (Notre Dame), Deirdre Naughton (DePaul) and Sugar Rodgers (Georgetown) will also face the Cards in the upcoming season.

The list is a good one but I'm still not convinced that Reid isn't one of the top 30 players in the nation. The good thing is that she's a junior and has all season to earn her way on the selection roster for her senior year.

The Lady Cards are busy at work with practice and CARDINAL COUPLE will be on campus Wednesday to watch practice and get a few quotes and photos. No...I'm not going to try and post up Asia Taylor and take her to the hoop. Mama didn't raise no fool....

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ESPN the Magazine hits the newsstands Friday and pictured above left is one of two possible cover photos that are being considered. Yes, it's Diana Taurasi, former Connecticut and current Phoenix WNBA player. Heck of a job there by the stylists and such to make Di look much different that she does when she's advancing the rock on the hardwood. The other cover being considered is a shot of Taurasi standing...holding a basketball that is strategically placed. The photo is by Sheryl Neilds, ESPN..and one would assume that she gets paid quite well for the work she does.

Publicity for the upcoming piece boasts that readers will see Taurasi in "a whole new light" after reading the article. This observer already does...just by seeing the photo. And, no...that isn't a spider crawling up her thigh...it's a tat. At least it isn't a caricature of Geno...

Amazing what can be done with lighting, hairstyling and makeup these days, isn't it?

UConn takes title game

No upset for you, Stanford!





It was not as thrilling or exciting as the men's championship game Monday night, but the UConn Huskies overcame a horrible first half and put the hammer on the Stanford Cardinal last night in San Antonio. Let's face it, how many of us were hoodwinked into believing that the Cardinal, the Tree...whatever you want to call the Stanford squad would put together a final twenty minutes against Geno's kids like they managed in the first twenty?

It turned into the Maya Moore show in the second half and the junior showed why she is the best player in women's college basketball. 23 points, 11 boards and the spark that started the Connecticut engine after halftime.

For what Moore does on the court, there is no better player right now in the college women's game. Argue Brittany Griner's post domination if you want, they fell to the Huskies in the semis. Moore put the Huskies on her shoulders, lifted them from a 12 point first half effort, down by eight and carried them to a 6 point lead before the popcorn in the microwave had cooled. No fear. Congrats to our Big East fellow school.


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Speaking of Stanford, what is up with that psychadelic tree that they have as a mascot? I did a little research on it, turns out that each year students submit designs and ideas for how the tree mascot should look and the winner gets to build their own tree and be the mascot for a year. Imagine if we did that with our Speed School students and the Cardinal Bird? This year's "tree" looks like something that came off the set of "The Wizard of OZ". And Jane Appel looks like Dorothy, right?
OK..never mind. Just keep in mind that Tiger Woods is a Stanford grad.

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Don't forget Cardinal softball tonight at 6 p.m. vs. the Kentucky Wildcats. The rain isn't supposed to come in until later, so get out there and support the Lady Cards on the diamond in this rivalry game. Need a little payback for the trouncing UK put on the guys yesterday in Lexington. Last night was quite a workout for the remote control, switching back and forth from Cardinal baseball, the NCAA Women's Championship game and my Tuesday night favorite...NCIS. I swear I had a dream that Gibbs was playing point guard for UConn in the title game against the Baseball Cards.

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Got a nice e-mail from future Lady Card basketball player Quaneisha McCurdy. The 6'6" junior post player that stars for Northwest High School in Dalton, Georgia is getting a reputation as a supreme shot blocker and will be one of the best players south of the Mason-Dixon line during her senior year. Was talking about Brittany Griner's shot blocking ability in the middle and McCurdy responded:

"They haven't seen nothing yet."

What we like to hear. Have a great AAU season, tear them up in 2010-11 at Northwest and get up here to Louisville!

Written by Sonja 4/7/10