Friday Cardinal Couple --Slaughter, Schimmel, Softball, Golf and more today!

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Shoni, Nita gain BIG EAST awards

-Softball hosts Red and Black Classic

-Wiley BIG EAST golfer of the week

-BIG EAST WBB Tournament starts today!

-Walz ready for BIG EAST Tournament


Boy, oh boy have we got a lotta stuff for you today in the Friday edition of Cardinal Couple! Grab a seat, hold on and fasten your seat belts....off we go!

Shoni 1st team BIG EAST, Nita second team

Louisville WBB's Shoni Schimmel and Nita Slaughter have been honored for their excellent play this season...Shoni named to the First Team All-BIG EAST squad and Nita Slaughter to the Second Team. Shoni was first team also last year and Nita is on the second squad for the first time.

Shoni leads the Cards in scoring (13.7 ppg) and in assists (3.7). She's also second in free throw percentage (80%). The shifty Schimmel was BIG EAST Player of the Week for her performance against South Florida earlier this season, scoring a career-high 38 points. She was on the pre-season All-BIG EAST first team and also is on the Wade Watch mid-season list.

Nita is third in scoring for the Lady Cards (10.2 ppg) and second in rebounding (5.1 rpg). She's also the leading three-point percentage shooter for Louisville (36.2%). Nita was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on Jan. 28th. and has scored in double figures 16 out of her 18 games.

The BIG EAST Tournament begins today at 4 p.m. and Louisville has their first game at noon Sunday.

(Thanks to Louisville women's basketball assistant S.I.D. Kim Pemberton for the information)

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Softball swings into action today with the Red and Black Classic at Ulmer Stadium. Sandy Pearsall's squad gets four games in three days...Michigan today at 4 p.m., Miami of Ohio Saturday at 2:30 p.m.,Austin Peay Saturday at 5 p.m. and Illinois State Sunday at 3 p.m.

The #13 Cards are offering a few promos, too...to game attendees. Free softball shirts for the first 150 fans Friday, Trading Card #1 giveaway for the first 150 fans Saturday and team autographs after Sunday's contest.

Full schedule of the Red and Black Classic below:

FRIDAY MARCH 8

11 a.m.      Miami (OH) vs Austin Peay
1:30 p.m.   Miami (OH) vs Michigan
4 p.m.        LOUISVILLE vs Michigan

SATURDAY MARCH 9

9:30 a.m.   Illinois State vs Michigan
12 p.m.      Illinois State vs, Austin Peay
2:30 p.m.   LOUISVILLE vs. Miami (OH)
5 p.m.        LOUISVILLE vs. Austin Peay

SUNDAY  MARCH 10

10 a.m.      Miami (OH) vs Austin Peay
12:30 p.m. Miami (OH) vs Illinois State
3 p.m.        LOUISVILLE vs. Illinois State.


Nice of the Classic planners to schedule the Sunday game after the UofL WBB game. Plenty of time to hop in the ol' jalopy and catch softball after the Cards win in the quarterfinals in the BIG EAST Tournament.

Louisville (16-3) also plays WKU on Tuesday, March 12th. at Ulmer.

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CandIce Wiley, a senior starter for UofL women's golf has been named BIG EAST Golfer of the Week! She finished tied for 12th in the Sir Pizza Terrapin Challenge last week. It was her first Top 20 finish of the season.

UofL ended up sixth in the tournament, Wiley leading the way for the Cards with a 223 score. A season low 71 for her in Round 1 with back-to-back 76's in rounds 2 and 3.

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Finally, the BIG EAST Tournament gets underway today at 4 p.m. First game is #13 seed Cincinnati against #12 seed Seton Hall. Pitt and Marquette follow at 6 p.m. and Providence and Georgetown play in the nightcap at 8 p.m.

All are available at no cost on BIGEAST.tv online.

Coach Walz spoke to members of the media Thursday at Cardinal Arena and has a healthy respect for any of the three opponents the Cards might face on Sunday. Walz is happy that the Cards are hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament and urges you to buy your NCAA Tickets to see Louisville play in the KFC YUM! Center.

He also says that Louisville will have to play perfect to defeat Notre Dame if the two match up in the semi-finals. Monique Reid will be available for action and the Cards are leaving out early this morning to fly to Hartford, stopping off in Baltimore to pick up a few fans...(his sly way of telling us that they're on Southwest and not a charter flight.)

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You have until noon to get your picks in for the CARDINAL COUPLE Pick 'Em Contest. As promised, another staff member's picks. Our basketball guru Jenny O'Bryan sees it this way:

Friday:
Seton Hall, Marquette and Georgetown win
Saturday:
St John's, USF, DePaul and Villanova advance
Sunday:
Louisville, Notre Dame, UCONN and Syracuse triumph
Monday:
Notre Dame and UCONN continue
Tuesday:
UCONN takes the Tournament Title.

You can enter at cardinalcouple@insightbb.com or by leaving your picks in the comments section. Make sure and leave your name and a way to reach you if you win. I got one anonymous pick already....fortunately, it has Syracuse winning it all and that, folks...just isn't going to happen.

$25 Chili's Gift Card to the winner!

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Friday Cardinal Couple -- A bigger matter

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FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- UofL WBB "bigs" need to be BIG in next five games.

- Softball opens early in the Jacksonville Classic

                   
                  ********** GAME REPORT **********

Cards up 7-1 in sixth against Bethune-Cookman and still batting. Five run inning so far. Connell tossing a four-hitter. Cards go on to win 8-1 to go to 6-1 on the year.

                       ******** GAME FINAL********

Louisville 8 - Stony Brook 0.  The Cards got a complete game and just three hits  allowed pitching performance from Rachel LeCoq and produced 14 hits in the win this morning. They face Bethune-Cookman at 11:45. We'll have a report on that one later and a full recap of both in the Saturday C.C. edition.

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When you look at the current University of Louisville women's basketball roster, the nine players currently available to Jeff Walz consist of six guards, a center and two forwards. The starting lineup of late has consisted of Sherrone Vails, Bria Smith, Shoni Schimmel, Sara Hammond and Nita Slaughter...the "S" troops, as we like to call them here at CARDINAL COUPLE. The way we see it, Louisville actually has four "bigs" available for front line play currently, with Slaughter...listed as a guard, seeing a lot of time at the "4" or power forward position. Along with Vails, Cortnee Walton and Hammond, they are the "bigs" Walz has available to battle with the front lines of the next five opponents left on the regular season schedule.

DePaul, USF, Villanova, Seton Hall and Syracuse. The first (USF), second (SU) sixth (DePaul), fourteenth (Seton Hall) and fifteenth (Villanova) ranked rebounding teams in the BIG EAST. DePaul, we know from an earlier encounter. Katherine Harry is a rebounder extraordinaire. By far the best missed shot-grabber in the league. USF's Alisha Jenkins has shown she can track down mis-fired attempts as well. Villanova has Laura Sweeney to grab the caroms off the back-board. Syracuse looks to Kayla Alexander, Elashier Hall and Carman Tyson-Thomas to clean the glass. Seton Hall is pretty much rebound-by committee with no one player in the BIG EAST top twenty, like all the players listed above.

How many Louisville players are in the top-twenty in rebounding in the BIG EAST? One. Sara Hammond, 13th. with slightly over six a game.

Not big numbers for the Louisville "bigs". Against BIG EAST competition, Louisville is tenth in the league in rebounding offense and sixth in rebounds allowed. As of 2/7/13, the Cards had a +0.6 margin in rebounding against BIG EAST foes in nine games. Given the lopsided numbers in the Notre Dame game, that's probably no longer a + number.

It's time for the Louisville "bigs" to step up big. If you look at the 200 minutes per team that you have on the court in a game ( 5 players @ 40 per player), Hammond averages 23.8 minutes a game, Slaughter 25.6, Vails 14.6 and Walton 12.6. Since Slaughter spends some time at wing...out of the three main paint players for Louisville, only Hammond sees more than half the game in the paint.

Of course, different factors can come into play in any given game. Hammond is foul prone, yet she leads the team in rebounds. Vails is third in fouls (Smith is second), but plays 10 minutes less a contest than Hammond does.

For Louisville to break the .500 mark (3-2) in the next five games, the "bigs" are going to have to increase efficiency and get some stops inside. Believe it or not, a guard (Smith) lead the team in blocked shots.

There's no doubt that without Taylor, Dyer and Mo available currently for Walz...the three best rebounders on the squad are watching from the bench. It's time for the other "bigs" to step it up. The balance of the season and conference tournament seeding hangs on how well or poorly they perform.

Players are going to miss shots in games...we all know that. Louisville is shooting  45% on the year, which means they miss a little over half the shots they fire up. 

The difference in winning and losing is which team comes up with the ball after they...or the opponent...misses shots. Not surprisingly, in four of the five losses for Walz's team this season, they have been out-rebounded. Kentucky grabbed 37 rebounds, UofL 34. Colorado won the boards battle 44-32. At Hartford, it was Huskies 46-39 on the misses, Notre Dame controlled the backboard 44-23. Only against DePaul have the Cards won the boards battle but lost the game...a stunning 45-32 edge for UofL.

Control the boards, control the game.


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They get things poppin' early down in the Sunshine State.

Louisville softball opens play in the Jacksonville University Softball Classic at the yawning and stretching time of 9:45 a.m. against Stony Brook today. The sluggers go into their next contest right after that with a 11:45 tilt against Bethune-Cookman.

At 4-1, it's been the Cardinal offensive attack that has been the reason for winning. They set a school record with 21 hit against Minnesota on Sunday and plated 16 runs.

Jacksonville is also home of the world's greatest southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Let's hope UofL can fly like Free Bird's over the competition, doesn't Gimme Three Steps to any base-runners and has a safe trip back through Sweet Home Alabama. They'll also play in a Saturday Night Special against Ohio State and Jacksonville...ending on Sunday against Stony Brook again. What's Your Name, Little Girls? Why it's CARDINAL SOFTBALL! Tuesday's Gone...time to win some games! Even a Simple Man can tell that Louisville Softball has more power than LG&E... 

(Apologies for all the Skynyrd song references...listening to their Greatest Hits CD this morning...)


-Paulie

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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Will Irish Eyes be Crying?

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MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

GAME REPORT

It was a smackdown in South Bend...Notre Dame taking a 10-point halftime lead and expanding it to a 93-64 whipping of the Lady Cards Monday night.

As Coach Walz mentioned in the post-game, if you don't rebound, defend or play with toughness...you're not going to win. All three were missing tonight.

We'll have the post-mortem in the Tuesday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE.



- Cards, Irish battle tonight in WBB

(Quentin Voigt brings us his views on the UND v. UofL matchup tonight at 9 p.m. on ESPN2. Paulie follows with comments. Should be a good one!)

The owner of the impish smile, patrolling the sidelines of a game has the ideal name befitting the coach of the Fighting Irish. Although I've never had the chance to interview the legend, Muffet McGraw has never left the top spot on coaches I'd like to do an interview with. The 2001 NCAA Women's Basketball Championship Trophy, runner-up last year, second in all-time wins and a perfect 100% graduation rate in 26 years at South Bend. I could go on and on.

To say she's tough under the lacquered finish requires hyperbole. Her knowledge of the game and will to win have been put hand-in-hand with the yearly battles with Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma. History-making battles.

We're lucky to have her on the sidelines. Coming out of a recruiting trip on September 11, 2001...she was slated to be on one of the airplanes that left Boston and ultimately ended up being hijacked into one of the World Trade Center towers.

She missed that flight. Fate? Divine providence? Sometimes, there are things that happen for a reason.

Her main tour-de-force is Skylar Diggins. All-Everything, Diggins averages 15.8 ppg and is the best guard in the BIG EAST, if not the nation. Natalie Achonwa grabs 9.1 rpg a contest for an Irish squad that rebounds very well. Notre Dame averages 19.6 assists a contest, 79.9 points, has 259 steals and 108 blocked shots. Jewel Loyd is a three-point threat.

I'm looking forward to watching and enjoying this one regardless of the outcome.

-Quentin Voigt

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An epic battle tonight in many aspects. There are questions, yes...so many questions. At least from the fans that are anticipating this matchup. Can the three-headed defensive trio of Bria, Jude and Shelby slow down the "Digs"? Who will counteract Achonwa on the glass? Can the Cards go on the road, in a hostile environment and get a signature win? What color shirt will Jeff Walz wear?

To answer these, one by one...Probably not, nobody, doubtful and white with long sleeves.

So, how do you beat a team that has won 17 straight this season, is 22-1 and is fourth in the nation in scoring margin, third in scoring offense, second in the Associated Press Poll and has lost only once in seven games in the Jeff Walz era at UofL?

You take the air out of the basketball.

You borrow the Villanova vs. Notre Dame game film from Harry Perretta and study it like you're cramming for a mid-term sociology exam. Better yet, you buy the extended DVD version on Blue-Ray which shows how South Florida took them to overtime in a three-point loss and how Connecticut came in and downed them by one at the Joyce Center.

You hope Shoni doesn't have a 3 for 19 night, that Sara can stay out of early foul trouble and Nita shows the consistency she's displayed all season.

The Irish will come at you with unrelenting, hurricane force winds. Diggins, Loyd, McBride, Achonwa, Wright. 
 
Any of these Irish would start anywhere in the nation and all five of them are capable of dropping 20 on you as easy as a chimp peels a banana.

You must weather the storm, create a disturbance of your own and hit free throws and layups (if you get any.)

You walk in with confidence. You are on a business trip. You don't get caught up in the 9,000 or so that will be cheering against you. You remained focused and composed. And...you pray.

The Irish came into the KFC YUM! Center last year and broke open a close first half with a 68-52 win. Gone are Peters, Novosel and Mallory, who accounted for 30 of those points...but the Cards shot a paltry 31% in that contest and went 2-16 from beyond the arc.

Louisville's last win over UND came during the magical 2008-09 season when they knocked off the Irish 71-66 in South Bend.

The whole women's basketball world will be watching tonight, courtesy of the four letter network's deuce channel providing the broadcast. Beth Mowins, who we like here at C.C., has the call. If Bonita Spence shows up as a ref on the court...I'm heading to Mulligans to drown my sorrows. If it's Dee Kanter, I'll send her an extra whistle via rush courier...

Are you ready, Lady Cards?

-Paulie


( We'll have a summation of the results after the contest here at CARDINAL COUPLE tonight and Sandy Walker takes a holiday from the laundry and will have a full-game report in the Tuesday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. Go Cards! )

Pitt takes another hit -- Cards 78 - Panthers 45

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

GAME REPORT

- Five in double figures in 33-point Cardinal win

- Brackemyre says..."Yes" to Louisville!

- Softball sweeps in Vegas: Day Two

Louisville used balanced scoring, led by Shoni Schimmel's 22 points, to put Pitt away early and win 78-45 in the KFC YUM! Center Saturday afternoon in front of 10733 fans. The Cards used an early 17-5 run to take away any Pitt hopes of pulling off an upset. The win puts Louisville at 20-4 overall and 8-2 in the BIG EAST.

Starters: The "S" troops (Shoni, Sara, Sherrone, Slaughter and Smith) opened the game for Louisville, scored off the opening tip on a Nita Slaughter layup and never trailed in the contest. With the score 4-3 after a 3-ball by Pitt's Brianna Kiesel, the Cards held the Panthers to just one basket and three free throws in the next nine minutes to lead 21-8 with 9:58 left in the first half.

After Kiesel's three, Sara Hammond connected on a jumper, Bria Smith cashed in on a layup and Sherrone Vails scored inside to make it 10-5 with 16:28 remaining and head Pitt coach Agnus Berenato called a thirty-second time out to talk about it. The conversation did not solve much...back-to-back layups by Shoni and Bria had it at 14-5 and Berenato stopped action again for another discussion. (Shoni's assist to Bria for her score was a nifty, behind-the-head, no-look pass that only Shoni could have pulled off.) A Shoni jumper, score from Megan Deines and three by Jude Schimmel made it 21-7 at the media timeout with 11:51 to go.

Shoni scored the next five points for Louisville and the Cards led 29-14 when Bria hit again with 6:11 on the clock. A free throw from Shoni, layup by Hammond, layup by Deines and then Hammond again inside had Louisville enjoying a 36-14 advantage with 2:46 showing until the half. The Panthers did outscore Louisville 6-3 the rest of the way and Louisville went to the locker room holding a 39-20 edge.

Shoni led the way in the first twenty with 14 points on 5-8 shooting. Hammond and Smith followed with six, Jude contributed five, Denies was good for 4 and Slaughter and Vails added two each. Shelby Harper and  Cortnee Walton played but did not score...Walton did grab four rebounds in 10 minutes of first-half action.

The Cards began the final twenty in red-hot fashion, going on a 18-5 run in the first five and one half minutes. A  Hammond free throw got the scoring started, Smith followed with a layup, Deines buried a three and Hammond added two more charity tosses to give the Cards a 48-23 edge just three minutes into action. Shoni scored inside and a Slaughter three put Louisville ahead by 30...layups from Slaughter and Deines had Louisville ahead 57-25. A Smith jumper doubled the score on Pitt at 70-35 with 7:46 to go and the Cards largest lead came at 72-35 a minute later after a Smith free throw.

From there on, it was just a matter of how much Louisville would win by. Deines looked good in hitting all three of her trifecta attempts in the second half and Slaughter put in eight second-half points as the Cards tried different combinations over the final minutes. Pitt did outscore the Cards 10-6 in the final 6:25 of the second half.  

Final....Louisville 78- Pitt 45

Shoni ended up with 22, Deines 17, Smith 11, Slaughter and Hammond 10 each to reach double figures. Jude added five points, Vails finished with two and Harper one. The birthday girl Walton had five rebounds, a steal and some very good defense but ended 0-3 from floor and 0-2 from the line.

Louisville lost the boards battle 34-32 to the Panthers, but went 30-63 from the floor (47.6%)...compared to 16-45 shooting for Agnus' girls (35.6%). The Cards won the points off turnovers battle 27-9 and committed just 11 miscues while forcing Pitt into 26. 14 steals for Louisville, but only 10-17 at the foul line.

Pitt was without leading scorer Asia Logan (separated shoulder) and season-starting point guard Brittany Gordon (foot).

6'11" center Marvadene "Bubbles" Anderson is on a red-shirt and did not make the trip. I was severely disappointed over this. A brief conversation with a couple of Pitt players in the pre-game warm-ups garnered me an invitation to the Peterson Event Center next year to watch "Bubbles" play. I may take champagne.

WHAT WE LIKED

1) Teamwork. The Cards had 18 assists and just 11 turnovers. The days of standing around and dribbling the ball waiting for something to happen appear to be over.

Photo by Charlie Springer - UofL Card Game

2) Sold on Schimmel. Shoni has been spectacular over the last several games and today's numbers (22 points, six assists, two turnovers, two steals and four boards) show us she's no longer just a shooter. We feel it's because of Bria's increased time at the point. Shoni says it's just hard work. Whatever the reason, we'll have another, and another, and...more please.

3) Deines delivers. 7-11 from the field and no longer running the court with the deer-in-the-headlights look. She's moving on offense. She's having fun out there (just ask her) and it shows.

THINGS TO WORK ON


1) Free throws. 58.8% today. The Cards are 11th. in the league in this stat. Smith's 1-4 indicates to us she needs to spend more time practicing the freebies. She might stop by and pick up Walton on the way to the gym, too. (0-2).

2) Wide open shots. If there was a stat in the BIG EAST for blown layups and wide open shots under basket, the Cards would be the going-away leader. If Walz had a dollar for each time...you get the point. Close-in, layups..gotta make those.

3) Front-line rebounding. Starters Vails, Slaughter and Hammond combined for only 10 today. The same number Shoni and Bria had. We feel Walton may have just assumed the role of the Cards best interior rebounder (that isn't injured). She had five today.

SUMMATION

A win that needed to be accomplished in convincing fashion and job done within the scope of successfulness. If the Cards were looking ahead to Norte Dame Monday night, it wasn't showing. Jeff Walz just asks for his players to play good and how they are taught in practice. They did that today, except at the free throw line and on some "how did she miss that?" wide open looks and layups. 

Pitt is hurting. A shame, really...the program was once a tough opponent under Agnus. Having two starters out didn't help today, but the body of work is 0 for 10 in the BIG EAST this year. They were young last year, they're still pretty young this year...but it's beginning to look like they're putting in an early bid for doormat of the ACC, in addition to the BIG EAST title they already share in that category with Cincinnati.



Post Game Walz below. The Ho-Jo Show returns for another yeoman performance, getting in all the questions for Walz but one...before the video below stopped unexpectedly.

 Coach Walz Discusses Win Over Pitt


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Good news for the WBB squad in another area, too. Ohio prep star Sydney Brackemyer has committed verbally to the Cards. The junior is going to be a force here. A great "get" for Louisville. Welcome aboard, SYD!

The Clinton-Massie hoopster is currently sidelined with a ACL knee injury but expected back full force for her senior year. Louisville beat out Dayton and Michigan for her services...the 2014 recruiting class is off to a great start...  
 
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The softball Cards took two in the Sportco Classic in Las Vegas on Saturday...downing DePaul 8-2 and uphending UCF 5-3.

DEPAUL/LOUISVILLE

This one started rather slow...scoreless after three innings with DePaul ace Kristen Verdun and Cardinal transfer Rachel LeCoq hooked up in a pitcher's duel.

The Cards broke loose in the fourth inning, though...with a six-run barrage. After Taner Fowler started the inning with and walk and Jordy Trimble reached on an error, Whitney Arion's bunt single got Fowler to the plate on a throwing error. A walk to Krista Mann loaded the bases and a walk to JSW (our new name for Jasmien Smithson-Willett) brought home Trimble. Kayla Soles then poked a deep triple, clearing the bases an it was 5-0 Cards. Katie Keller tripled also, scoring Soles and Louisville had a 6-0 lead.

The Cards added one in the sixth. Maggie Ruckenbrod doubled, Chrisanna Roberts came in to pinch run and scored on a Keller ground-out.

DePaul countered with two runs, but the Cards added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Trimble doubled and two wild pitches got her to the plate.

LeCoq went the distance for UofL, allowing six hits, and two unearned runs.

UCF/LOUISVILLE


Louisville struck early in the nightcap...getting three first inning runs. Alicja Wolny had a two-RBI double and Whitney Arion doubled the senior first-baseman home.

UCF's Haley Barraco tied the contest at 3-3 in the top of the fifth with a two-run "tocuh 'em all" off Cardinal starting pitcher Caralisa Connell.

Keller returned the favor, though, in the sixth with a solo shot over the left field fence to give UofL a 4-3 lead.

Louisville added a run in the top of the seventh when Ruckenbrod doubled, was lifted for JSW to pinch-run and Soles smashed a double to get the freshman to the plate for a 5-3 Cardinal advantage.

"Carl" gets the win...allowing five hits and fanning eight UCF batters in seven innings.

The Cards face Minnesota tomorrow.

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Friday Cardinal Couple -- Stats and more on BIG EAST WBB.

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Statistical leaders in the BIG EAST WBB

-Softball swings into action

It's been awhile since we've run the numbers here at CARDINAL COUPLE on BIG EAST WBB, so here goes:

CONFERENCE STANDINGS

Notre Dame 9-0                       USF       4-4
Connecticut 8-1                       Rutgers 4-4
Louisville    7-2                        Seton Hall 3-6
Syracuse     7-2                        Marquette 3-6
DePaul        6-3                        Providence 3-6
Villanova     5-4                        Pittsburgh  0-9
St. John's    4-4                        Cincinnati   0-9
Georgetown 4-5

Who's hot?  Notre Dame. On a 16-game win streak and heads to Seton Hall next. Skylar Diggins is now over 2000 points in her career. The Fighting Irish are 6-1 against ranked opponents this season. Some rebuilding year...

Who's not? Pitt and Cincy. Losers in their last nine.

Surprise? Seton Hall. Didn't figure they'd get three wins in the conference for the entire season. They've matched that already.


OVERALL CONFERENCE TEAM STATS (As of 1/30/13)

Scoring Offense:  Connecticut 82.5  (Louisville 73.6 - 5th)
Scoring Defense:  Connecticut 46.5  (Louisville 52.8 - 4th)
Scoring Margin:    Connecticut +36.0 (Louisville +20.8 - 3rd)
Free Throw Pct:  Notre Dame .810 (Louisville .685 - 10th)
Field Goal Pct:    Connecticut .494 (Louisville .456 - 3rd)
FG Pct Defense:  Connecticut .302 (Louisville .373 - 8th)
3-Point FG Pct:   Connecticut .370 (Louisville .332 - 3rd)
3-Point FG Def:   Syracuse .272      (Louisville .277 - 2nd)
Rebounds:          USF 912               (Louisville 863 - 4th)
Rebounds allowed: Connecticut 626 (Louisville 722 - 9th)
Rebounding margin: Connecticut +11.7 (Louisville +6.4 5th)
Blocked shots:  St. John's 117         (Louisville 74 - 9th.)
Assists:               Connecticut 427   (Louisville 330 - 4th)
Steals:                Louisville 286
Turnover margin  Connecticut +6.5  (Louisville 6.2 - 2nd)


Cardinals that rank in the top 20 of individual stats:

Scoring: Shoni Schimmel 13.7 ppg (19th)
Rebounds: Sara Hammond 6.7 rpg (13th)
Field Goal %: Monique Reid .552 (4th), Hammond .511(12th)
Assists: S.Schimmel 3.3 apg (14th)
Free Throw %: Hammond .750 (14th)
3-point%: S.Schimmel .363 (8th), Nita Slaughter .357 (9th)
3-pointer made: S.Schimmel 57 (4th)
Steals: Bria Smith 2.3 a game (9th)

The Cards are second in the BIG EAST in attendance with 9424 a game at home. UConn barely ahead here with 9585 a game at home. Average attendance for both home and away game has Louisville third...with 5757. Notre Dame leads with 6652 and UConn is at 6606.

Shoni's 38 points against USF ties Sugar Rodgers as a season high in the BIG EAST. Since Sugar got hers against Yale and Louisville held her to six...we give Shoni the nod here. The Louisville vs. Kentucky game is the second highest attended with a BIG EAST team (15486). DePaul vs. UK drew 18488.

The Cards return to action Saturday @ 2 pm with (9-13, 0-9) Pitt coming to the KFC YUM! Center. We'll have a preview of it in Saturday CARDINAL COUPLE and a report of the action later that night.


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Softball swings into action today with two games in the SportCo Classic in Las Vegas. Here's the three-day, five-game slate:

FRIDAY

Cards vs. Texas Tech  2:15 p.m. (All times EST)
Cards vs. UNLV  6:45 p.m.

SATURDAY

Cards vs. DePaul  noon
Cards vs. UCF  4:30

SUNDAY

Cards vs. Minnesota  1:15 p.m.

Sandy Pearsall's charges are #18 in the nation and have more power in their lineup than the law should allow.  They return four players that hit for over .300 last year and had a team batting average of .309.

As Sandy Pearsall mentioned in our exclusive interview with her...pitching is the question mark a lot of opponents have when it comes to looking at this squad. Caralisa "Carl" Connell is the lone returnee from a staff that won 55 games last season. She also won the "Most Popular Louisville women's athlete poll" here at Cardinal Couple.

We have seen yeoman efforts on the mound for Louisville in years past. Aja Sherman, Kat Bishop, Kristen Wadwell, Tori Collins. We feel confident that "Carl" will join these illustrious names in Cardinal Softball Pitching history.

Good luck in the desert, Softball sluggers!

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Finally, former Cardinal WBB great Angel McCoughtry has re-signed with the Atlanta Dream. Terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.
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Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Lady Cards 74- 60 over Hoyas

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Cards sour Sugar... Improve to 7-2 in BIG EAST

-Volleyball Banquet at PNC Plaza

30 minutes can be a very long time sometimes. In basketball minutes, it can be an eternity. The University of Louisville women's basketball team held BIG EAST leading scorer Sugar Rodgers scoreless for 30 minutes yesterday afternoon in a 74-60 win over the Georgetown Hoyas in the KFC YUM! Center in front of 10549 fans.

No Sugar tonight in my coffee, no Sugar tonight in my tea...to borrow a phrase from The Guess Who. 

Going 0-7 in the first half and 0-4 in the second half before she connected on a jumper with 10:51 left in the game and Louisville leading 55-40...Rodgers was held to six points on 2-17 shooting by the guard trio of Bria Smith, Jude Schimmel and Shelby Harper.

Pass the Splenda, there wasn't any Sugar in the KFC YUM! Center Saturday afternoon.

Coach Walz's pregame instructions and practices sessions had a very simple theme leading up to this game. Don't allow her to get the ball and guard her more closely than the Army guards the gold in Fort Knox if she does.

It worked. Georgetown shot 33.8% for the game. Sugar 12%.

This one was won for the Cards in the first four minutes of the second half. Leading 33-29 at the break, the Cards sprinted off to a 13-3 run to start second half play and led 46-32 when Sara Hammond scored in the paint with 16:02 left. A Shoni three 30 seconds later made it 49-34 Cards and Georgetown would get no closer than nine the rest of the way.

Keying the run was Shoni, who drilled two threes and had nine points in a two minute stretch.   

Nita Slaughter with a huge effort tonight, 22 points on 6-13 shooting (five of those threes) and a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. The Cards shot 77.3% from the charity stripe...toss out Cortnee Walton's 3-6 performance and Louisville goes an amazing 14 for 16.

That's the kind of stat that takes you deep into success in tournaments.

Shoni Schimmel with a slow start hitting just one of ten attempts from the field in the first half...but shooters are going to shoot and the junior ended up with 15 points and a team high seven assists. She was nonchalant about it in the post game:  

"My shots weren't falling early so I just started finding people open whose shots were falling. It was a team effort."

With Sugar salted away, sophomore forward Brittany Horne picked up the scoring yoke for the Hoyas in the first half with nine points. When Sugar still wasn't melting in the final half, freshman guard Katie McCormick grabbed the orb and produced 18 second half points for Keith Brown's 13-9 squad. McCormick, returning from a knee injury that had her on the bench for the first 11 games this year, led the Hoyas with 21 for the game. She had scored just 18 points all season. 

 6'6" center Sydney Wilson was the other Georgetown player to hit double digits with 11. She must have missed at least 10 shots from two feet or closer in, though. Does anyone use the box behind the rim on the backboard anymore?

Sara Hammond was the third double digit performer with a double-double...10 points and 11 grabs. Megan Deines added nine, Jude Schimmel seven, Bria Smith four, Cortnee Walton three and Sherrone Vails and Shelby Harper two each.

Louisville outrebounded the Hoyas 48-43. The Cards forced 16 G.U. turnovers while committing 16 of their own. Louisville won the points in the paint battle 28-24.

It wasn't pretty in the early going...Lousville and Georgetown both missing easy shots and only 26 total points had been scored in the first ten minutes. Georgetown actually led the Cards 16-10 with 9:11 left in the first stanza before UofL went on a 9-2 run to take the lead at 19-18 when Slaughter hit her second three of the half with 7:17 showing on the clock.

The Cards never trailed again.

On a afternoon where the roads had been salted several hours earlier because of an overnight snow...the Sugar remained in the cupboard and Louisville gets a sweet win....thanks to some sticky defense and Slaughter and Shoni shooting.

With Howie Lindsey and Jody Demling in attendance, the "Ho and Jo Show" was back and they asked 90% of the post game media questions for Coach Walz. Would hate to get in front of those two boys at a buffet...LINK BELOW.

POST GAME WALZ

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A crowd of over 250 packed the PNC Plaza Saturday night for the 2013 Louisville Volleyball banquet. Sean Moth served as emcee for the event that gave a few a scare when the fire alarms went off shortly after dinner was served.

Fortunately, it was a false alarm and the crowd was later entertained by the affable Anne Kordes' season in review speech and a hilarious video that featured Kordes playing freshman Katie George and George portraying Kordes.

The G.P.A. Award went to Emily Juhl and Cardinal Award was presented to UofL FCA chaplain Chris Morgan. Alumnae of the year went to Kelly Gillooly.

Kordes' keynote address covered her appreciation and association with all the players, staff and backers that have made Cardinal Volleyball the unqualified smash hit it's turned into since she arrived three years ago. She's also quite the comedian...sending the crowd into gales of laughter when she shared personal stories with players, friends and staff.

We want to meet "the Betty's"...

She has a heartfelt and deep relationship with those who make Cardinal Volleyball what it is today and it's easy to see why Julie Herrmann went after her and brought her here from the head coaching job at St. Louis.

Good times. Player Courtney Robison from Sheperdsville, KY. sat at our table with us and the D.S. who transferred her from West Virgina after one season was a friendly and charming host. Later we found out about her lifelong friendship with Katie George. Robison is the team driver and pushing catalyst. She also has two personalities, according to Kordes...so I guess we actually had two players at the table with us.

Our thanks to Louisville Volleyball for allowing us to cover the event and it was a class evening and a lot of fun!

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