Cards defeat St. John's 57-54

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDIAC CARDS SURVIVE ST.JOHN'S GUARDS 57-54

-Slaughter's 22 lead Louisville past Red Storm

-Volleyball banquet Saturday

St. Margaret Mary first-graders deliver the National Anthem.

Louisville WBB used a 8-0 run over a five minute stretch late in the second half to overcome a three point deficit and go up by five in defeating the St. John's Red Storm Sunday afternoon in the KFC YUM! Center before 11543 fans.

Down 52-49 after a Nadirah McKenith layup with 5:46 to go, the Cards held the Red Storm scoreless until Shenneika Smith hit two free throws after Sara Hammond's fifth foul with 42 seconds left to make it 57-54 Louisville. During the run, Sara Hammond connected on four free throws, Nita Slaughter two from the charity stripe and a Bria Smith layup made it 57-52 with 1:45 left on the clock. St. John's missed two three-point attempts in the final nine seconds and the Cards survive by three.

Guards McKenith, Smith and freshman guard Aliyyah  Handford combined for 50 of the 54 St. John's points.

Bonita Spence checks to see if she's holding a basketball or
leftover Halloween pumpkin

Coach Walz started the "S" troops again for Louisville, Bria Smith, Sara Hammond, Shoni Schimmel, Sherrone Vails and Nita Slaughter and the combination battled St. John's closely for the first eight minutes of the first half...the Cards leading 14-12 after two Slaughter free throws at the 12:25 mark. Jude Schimmel, Cortnee Walton and Megan Deines entered the game and the tight battle continued...neither team getting more than a two point edge until back-to-back buckets from Deines and Hammond gave Louisville a 22-17 edge with 6:33 on the clock.

SJU outscored the Cards 7-3 over the next five minutes, though...to draw within one at 25-24 after McKenith hit a layup with 1:26 remaining. A Slaughter free throw with 41 seconds left was the final score of the half and Louisville clung to a perilous 28-26 advantage after twenty minutes.

Slaughter had seven points to lead the Cards in the half, followed by Hammond with six, Deines and Shoni with four each. Bria added three and Vails and Walton contributed two each. Shelby Harper and Jude played but did not score. Redshirt senior Monique Reid, on crutches on the sideline with an injured knee, did not play. 

Handford led the Red Storm with 15 points, mostly on easy drives past the Louisville defense. Only three St. John's players scored in the first twenty, McKenith adding seven and Smith four. The Cards shot 35.7% (10-28) but did make 8-10 free throws and forced seven SJU turnovers. Each team took four trifecta attempts, St. John getting one from McKenith to drop. Louisville was 0 for Shoni and Bria.

The Cards needed to find a way to keep the speedy Handford from scoring inside in the final twenty and they did a excellent job, limiting her to just one point...but Shenneika Smith picked up the slack and totaled 19 of the Red Storm's 28 second half points.

The Cards started the final half by getting buckets from Hammond and Slaughter, but Walz substituted Jude in for Shoni after just two minutes when Smith got back to back layups for SJU to make it 32-30 Cards. Louisville lost the lead when Amber Thompson hit her only jumper of the game a minute later. The teams went back and forth for the next eight minutes, neither able to gain more than a two point advantage...and when Shoni returned with 9:04 to go, it was 45-43 Red Storm.

The back and forth trend continued...Slaughter providing the Louisville offense and Smith doing the same for St. John's With 6:15 left, Slaughter cut the Red Storm lead to 50-49 with a layup...but McKenith returned the favor to set up the Cards frantic finish and win. SJU committed two unforced turnovers in the final 2:48 and hit only one of four shots. Had to groan a bit when Shoni took to the lane and tried a questionable running, off-balance layup that
SJU's Smith swatted away. Why not just hold the ball with a three point lead and 30 seconds left?

Still...it's a win, though, and the Cards go to 17-4 and 5-2 in the BIG EAST.

Slaughter led the Cards with 22 points and five rebounds, going 10 of11 from the free throw line. Hammond ended up with 14 and eight grabs. Bria Smith finished with seven, Deines six, Shoni four and Vails and Walton two each. Jude and Shelby did not score. For Slaughter, it was her second-highest point total since her arrival on campus...getting 23 against Gardner-Webb last year.

Referee Al Titus decides he wants in my picture. I cut his head off.

Shenneika Smith led the Red Storm with 23, Handford had 16, McKenith 11 and Brianna Brown and Thompson added two each.

Louisville shot 37.5% (18-48), St John's 44.9% (22-49). The Cards narrowly outrebounded SJU 32-31 and went 21-25 from the line. The Cards committed a low nine turnovers but scored only one point off them. In a closely contested affair, there were 13 lead changes and 11 ties. Only 19 threes in the 40 minutes, St. John hitting three of their twelve, the Cards 0-7.

THINGS WE LIKED

1) How much sweeter could Nita have been? Consistency has been her name the last six or so games and she shone far above the rest today. With Mo out indefinitely, she's the co-force at the "four" with Hammond and no longer just a three point shooter.

Bonita comes over to see if I want to play catch during a
timeout. I passed on the offer. She'd probably call a "T" on me.

2) Inside denied. The SJU front line scored just two points all night. The Red Storm guards did pick up the slack with their slashing drives and barely outscored the Cards in the paint 26-24. Still, 66 minutes out of 200 possible played by the opponents' front line and 1-6 shooting? We'll take it.

3) Battling back. The 8-0 run late showed a lot of character. No turnovers, clutch free-throw shooting (which we also loved at 21-25) and defense.

THINGS TO WORK ON

1) Threes. 0-7. Can't remember the last time Louisville didn't hit a three in a game. Threes weren't the priority today, especially with SJU's quick guards bottling up the shooters, but an "0-fer" always looks bad, bad, bad.

2) Stopping the easy, inside score. It was almost like a looping reel. See a SJU guard drive, see Louisville fail to stop her, see SJU score. Granted...SJU has three great guards...but interior stoppage must occur.

3) Rebounding. Out-rebounding the worst rebounding team in the BIG EAST by just one on your home court isn't going to get you any trophies. The Cards front line grabbed 19 of the 32..but only six offensive ones.

SUMMARY

We have to admit when we saw Bonita Spence on the court to referee the game, we almost turned and went for the East exit. But, despite a few obvious missed calls and an interesting end-of-first half exchange between her and Walz...the crew didn't stink as badly as feared. Only 30 fouls total in the game and 17 of them on the Red Storm. Hated to see Hammond foul out, especially when two of her five were "phantom" calls...but no other Card had more than two.

Louie's mascot friends help celebrate his birthday!

This game was won by Slaughter and Hammond late (they had 15 of Louisville's 29 second half points) and free throw excellence by the Cards today. A gut-check win over a team that has the best guard trio Louisville will face all season. It saddens us that Monique Reid is yet again hobbled...you could take injured Cards Shawnta Dyer, Tia Gibbs, Asia Taylor, Reid and add any other Card on the roster and have a heck of a starting lineup. A part of the game, though...and the (for now) nine remaining healthy players will need to bond together and carry on.

Coach's post-game comments below. This week, Bob Domine helped J.J. and I carry the question load. Once again, I baffle Jeff on the opening question. It's a tradition.

POST GAME WALZ


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The University of Louisville Volleyball banquet will be held Saturday, Feb 2nd. at the PNC Plaza @ Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and the festivities are scheuled to kick-off at 6:30 p.m.

Unlike the spring sports banquets that preview the upcoming season, the Volleyball banquet is a celebration of the completed season.

Unfortunately, last we heard...seniors Gwen Rucker, Lola Arslanbeckova and Kaitlynn James will not be in attendance. They are out playing professionally and (according to CARDINAL COUPLE Volleyball guru Jeff McAdams) doing quite well.

The rest of the team and coaching staff will be there, though...so it's a great time to mix and mingle with the stars of tomorrow and the Cardinal Volleyball fans.

Tickets are $40 and we know Jeff will be there. CARDINAL COUPLE Co-Owners Paul and Sonja have made contact about media coverage...no reply yet, so we'll see if the response is a quick kill or a prolonged volley.

If you are interested in attending, here's the contact info:

Christy Waltrip
Special Events, Louisville Athletics
chirsty@gocards.com
502.852.0706

Louisville WBB plays Georgetown at 2 p.m. that day in the KFC YUM! Center...so why not make it a women's sports day and attend BOTH events?

Banquets are a great way to meet other UofL fans and also learn a lot about the programs. And, you usually get to sit at the table with one of the players, who are always eager to tell you about the squad and share stories with you. We'll never forget our first Softball banquet when we met this skinny, freshman California high school player who was brimming with confidence and hopes for her career at UofL.

That was Chelsea Bemis and she turned out to be one of the best to ever step to the plate at UofL.

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Second half spurt sends St. John's past Lady Cards

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CARDINAL COUPLE GAME REPORT:

-Louisville gets "Mac attacked" in 72-64 loss

Eugenia McPherson had 16 points and Nadirah McKenith added 15 to lead the St. John's Red Storm past Louisville in the Carnesecca Arena Sunday afternoon by eight points. The Red Storm utilized a 16-6 second half run over seven minutes to turn a 43-43 tie into a 59-49 advantage with 4:39 left. The Cards would get no closer than six the rest of the way.

STARTERS

Shoni, Bria Smith, Asia Taylor, Sherrone Vails, Becky Burke.

The Lady Cards came out strong to open today's game, zipping out to a 5-0 lead in the first 2:30...all on Bria Smith scores. It was the largest lead Louisville would have all day. St. John's would respond with a 8-0 run of their own, though taking a 8-5 advantage after McPherson cashed in on two free throws with 15:37 left in the first half. The Lady Cards would battle back...a Shoni putback, Shawnta Dyer inside score and Bria Smith steal and layup gave the Lady Cards a 13-10 advantage at 13:10.

Bria had 11 in the
first half for UofL

And...that's the way the first half continued to go. St. John's tied it at 13-13, Becky Burke drilled a three to put Louisville back up. The Cards trailed 20-16 at the 6:51 mark, but back-to-back threes from Burke and Jude Schimmel put them back up by two with five minutes to go. A Smith steal and lay-in made it 24-20 Cards. Once again, here came the Red Storm, though...outscoring Louisville 8-3 over the final four minutes to take a 28-27 lead to the locker room. 

Louisville had 11 first half points from Bria...Burke had 6 on two 3-pointers and Jude contributed five off the bench to lead the Cards. Shenneika Smith's defense on Shoni had her limited to just two first half points and 1-7 shooting.

Louisville and St. John's both shot 11-28 from the floor for 39.3% shooting, both squads had seven turnovers and St. John's led the rebounding battle 20-16. Louisville's guards had 24 of the team's 27 points and Walz played everyone but Shelby Harper in the first twenty minutes.

The Lady Cards were missing layups and inside shots, standing around on offense and if it wasn't for Louisville's 8-2 advantage on points off turnovers, the margin could have been greater. Still, UofL was in it, on the road and battling. 

Becky Burke got Louisville back into the lead with a 3-ball ten seconds into the second half but SJU tied it up seconds later. The teams went back and forth for the first five minutes of action, the Johnnies going up 41-37 when Mary Nwachokwu scored inside at 14:10. Bria and Cierra Warren hit back to back jumpers to tie it, though and Shawnta Dyer took a pass from Shoni and scored to knot it at 43-43 with 12:12 on the clock.

That's when the wheels fell off the wagon for the Lady Cards.

A McPherson basket and free throw put St. John's up to stay. Da'Shena Stevens connected on two charity tosses to make it 48-43. Bria sank two foul line tosses to cut it to three...but the teams traded hoops and a Stevens jumper with 7:47 remaining started St. John's on a 7-0 run that pushed them to a 57-49 advantage when Shenneika Smith hit her second three of the season to give SJU a 57-49 margin with 5:08 on the clock.

Bria Smith picked up her 5th foul at 4:39 to go and Nwachokwu hit both free throws to make it 59-49. Warren countered with two straight scores inside for the Lady Cards and a Shoni drive got UofL within six at 61-55...but the Cards couldn't stop the Red Storm defensively and three straight SJU scoring possessions had Louisville on the short end of a 67-55 score with less than a minute to go. The Lady Cards started pressing, got scores from Jude and two from Burke to cut it to 68-61 with 30 seconds left..but the Red Storm hit their free throws the rest of the way and led 72-61 before a meaningless buzzer beating three by Burke made the final 72-64.

Burke led the Lady Cards with 19 points and was 5 for 8 from beyond the arc. Bria Smith ended with 17 to complete the Lady Cards in double figures. Shoni  and Warren had eight each, Jude finished with seven, Shawnta Dyer contributed four and Nita Slaughter ended up with one. Taylor, Vails, Harper and Hammond all played but did not score.

Besides the "Macs" in double figures for SJU, Smith had 11 for them and Stevens had 9 points and 10 grabs. St. John shot 44% for the game, Louisville
finished at 40%. The Cards were 6-18 from trifecta land, went 8-12 from the stripe (compared to SJU's 17-27) and had 15 turnovers.

The Cards weren't aggressive enough on defense over the final 12 minutes and Shoni never got into a rhythm due to the stellar defense Smith played on her. Rebounding today was a particular woe...Louisville losing the boards battle 43-33 to the athletic Red Storm.

A somber Jeff Walz touched on a few areas in post game comments, expressing his disappointment in the Lady Cards second half performance, particularly in team defense and defensive rebounding. He wasn't pleased with the Cards passing and assist numbers either and planned on reviewing the game film and doing some teaching when the Cards practice Monday. 

And...it's a Lady Cards team that had the opportunity to get a key, early season conference road win against an experienced and improving foe...but couldn't stop the slashing, penetrating Red Storm when it came to crunch time.

Louisville (13-3) returns to play Wednesday night against USF....who knocked off a good Providence team yesterday. The Lady Cards need to turn it around quickly...a nice overall performance by returning freshman Bria Smith today in front of probably less than 1000 fans....but a road loss that could have been prevented with a little more solid defense, board effort and inside play. Out of Louisville's 64 points...51 came from the guards.

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Congratulations to CARDINAL COUPLE Special Correspondent David Watson who wins the $25 Panera Card with his pick of 71-70 St. John's in the contest. He was one of only five to pick the Red Storm. Gee, we got a smart staff!

(We wish he'd been way off today, though...)

We'll do it again for the Wednesday contest against USF. Just e-mail your score and team you think will win to us at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com
Entries in before tipoff Wednesday night, please. We got a close one at 1:45 p.m. today that came in second but was too late and not elgibile.

Get the winner right and get closest to the final score and nab a $25 Panera Gift Card. We'll run the contest as long as the supply of cards holds out...
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