Cardinal Couple

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


-BIG EAST Second Round Updates


-Lady Cards face Villanova tonight in BIG EAST Tournament


-Softball defeats MTSU in Tennessee Classic


-Lacrosse cancelled because of weather


(First of all, we hope our readers made out OK with all the tornadoes and high winds that swept through Louisville and surrounding areas yesterday. The pictures of the twisters that hit Henryville, Pekin and Chelsney, IN. were just downright terrifying. To our readership base up there...hope you are safe.)




SECOND ROUND UPDATES


GAME FOUR:


2nd half
The ugliest game of the tournament so far... by far. Rutgers managed to tie it at 28 with 11:37 to go. They struggled to the lead 33-32 at the eight minute mark. It was 47-43 Rutgers with 58 seconds to go...but Rutgers hit 5 out of 6 free throws to win 52-43. They get the Huskies tomorrow. Monique Oliver is a beast in the paint. Katherine
Plouffe about the only bright spot for the Golden Eagles.


1st half
Marquette pulling off the upset so far 22-16. Rutgers shooting like my grandma. I missed most of it, writing up the Louisville article. I didn't miss much. 


GAME THREE:


LOUISVILLE 63 - VILLANOVA 47


2nd half
Louisville needed to establish an inside game and stop the three. They did. Starting with a Shoni off-balance three to begin the half, the Lady Cards went on a 9-2 run to lead 38-31 with 16:37 left. It was over. With Asia Taylor getting 13 second half points and Shawnta Dyer 9...Louisville held Villanova to 18 second half points, no threes and won going away 63-47. Shoni led Louisville with 20 points. The Cards get St.John's tomorrow. 


We have a full report on this one in our Game Report article. 


BIG BLUE BOO HOO...The Kentucky Wildcats WBB fall out of the SEC Tournament to LSU 72-61.


1st half
It's a three fest in this one. Despite the low score at half (29-29) 11 threes through the hoop so far...seven for Villanova and four for the Cards. A back and forth affair...Louisville led from the 10:00 minute mark until 1:14 when a Laura Sweeney three gave the Wildcats a 29-26 lead. Shoni countered with a buzzer-beating three to tie it at the half. Louisville being led by Shoni with 15 and Becky Burke with 10. Shelby Harper seeing significant time in the first half as the Cards went with four guards to counter the Villanova three-barrage.


It's a barn-burner in the XL. Stay tuned. Dennis DeMayo..Louisville fans favorite ref has this one. Rut row.


GAME TWO:


DEPAUL vs. USF


2nd half
DePaul pushed the lead out to 11 early in the second half and was never seriously challenged by the Bulls. Two things to know about this one...


1) Anna Martin had 33 points. She's feeling it. She had 36 in the final regular season game. 


2) DePaul advances to play Notre Dame. 


Final 76-62. Could have been worse but the Blue Demons played at at pedestrian pace in the second. Probably wise, they'll be running for their lives tomorrow.


Observations:  Doug Bruno (DePaul head coach) bears a faint resemblance to a young Bob Keeshan (Captain Kangaroo). If you're under 50, never mind. 


Jose Fernandez (USF head coach) could pass for Andy Kaufman's brother. Google Andy if you don't know who he is and enjoy the videos. A great comedian gone way too soon.   


1st half
Runs dominated the first 10 minutes of the first half. 


DePaul started out gangbusters with a 11-0 run to start the game over the first 3 1/2 minutes. South Florida responded with a 17-4 run to take a 17-15 lead after an Inga Orekhova  jumper. It's was DePaul's turn...their 10-2 run had it 25-19 Blue Demons with 9:47 left. The two played fairly even after that...DePaul maintaining a 40-34 lead at the break. Anna Martin with 17 already and Katherine Harry eight points and seven grabs. Jasmine Wynne and "The Russian rocket" Orekhova (12 points) trying to keep the Bulls in it. They're without starter Sasha Bernard, who suffered an ACL injury near the end of last night's game against Pitt. 


DePaul ruling the boards, it's a Bonita Spence refereeing crew...so it's being called tight. South Florida has a lot of work to do if they want to advance. 


GAME ONE: 

WEST VIRGINIA 63 - SYRACUSE 48


2nd half
Syracuse was getting better play out of Alexander and Hemingway to start the half but West Virginia continued to rule inside. It was 41-25 after three minutes. Iasha Hemingway left the game for the locker room with 15:50 to go and returned to bench with her left thigh wrapped in ice. The 'Cuse tried to chip away at the WVU lead and did get within eight at 45-37 and 8:57 left...but would get no closer the rest of the way. Hemingway did return to the game with 3:54 left...but the Mountaineers held a 10 point lead at the time and led by 17 late before settling for the 15 point win. Too much Dunning and Bussie for "Q" to deal with...he reached a melancholy state late and just stared  at the court in dismay and disappointment. The "Eers" get Georgetown tomorrow. 


1st half
Syracuse struck first and went up 4-0 but the Mountaineers responded with a 13-2 run. Fouls plaguing the Orange...Alexander and Leary with three and Hemingway with two in the first twenty. The Orange got it back to within four with 3:27 to go at 25-21...but the Mountaineers went on a 7-0 run to end the half. Score: West Virginia 32-Syracuse 21. 


-"Q" is back, working the refs (Bob Enterline and Kathy Lynch) with his old fervor. Best facial expressions in the BIG EAST....and a classic head-down-on-the-scorer's-table- move. Well played, sir! 
- Good TV crew today...Beth Mowins, Brooke Weisbrod and Allison Williams. Thank goodness! IF I would have had to hear yesterday's guy quip "No" after a missed shot one more time...I would have had to smash the lap-top over my Denny Crum bobble-head
-Kayla Alexander scoreless after twenty
-West Virginia pounding the 'Cuse zone inside. Bussie and Dunning gettin' busy.


 High seed looks safe, so far...but twenty more to go. 


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(For a full update of yesterday's first round BIG EAST action...check out Friday's column. It's long...so be prepared.)


BIG EAST DAY 1 RESULTS:


#12 Syracuse 57 - #13 Providence 47
#9 USF 60 - #16 Pittsburgh 59
#10 Villanova 61 - #15 Seton Hall 60
#14 Marquette 54 - #11 Cincinnati 51


(The Day 1 Pick 'Em results are over on the left hand side of the site...at the very top.)

Cards need to step up the defense pressure tonight.

Here comes Nova. Darn lucky to advance to Day 2 of BIG EAST tournament action...but sometimes luck is an essential part of the game. They overcame a Seton Hall 13-point first half leaf and eight-point lead late in the second half to win by one over an inspired Jasmine Crew and the Pirates.


Tonight's game will be shown locally on WHAS - Channel 432 and 11.2.   They're saying the broadcast will start at 7 p.m. The game is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. according to the Big East official site. Typical mis-communication between the BIG EAST and the media. Stanley...meet Ollie.


Sara Nagger, BIG EAST Director of Communication, stepped in a pile of it yesterday when she introduced superb Syracuse star and All BIG EAST selection Kayla Alexander as Kayla Anderson yesterday in the post-game presser. The look between Alexander and Iasha Hemingway after the flub was...priceless. Alexander is a All-BIG EAST 1st team selection. Might want to get to know her, "Snagger"...


Can't wait to see what she does with Shoni, Becky and Jeff tonight after the game. We're going with Shoni Stewart, Becky Brewer and Jeff Walden....


LOUISVILLE v VILLANOVA  


You know what the Wildcats try to do. Take the air out of the ball with the patient, 3-point oriented half-court offensive sets.


As I heard commented about them yesterday...


"they're a bunch of disciplined, white, Catholic girls who value each possession and take the speed and fast break elements of basketball and throw them in the garbage can."


Someone else's words...not ours. Villanova does play with more discipline than most teams in the BIG EAST though. They also finished tenth in the BIG EAST. Results may vary.


They do like the 3-pointer and they have a roster full of players who can shoot it. Sweeney, Burford, Kane, Pearson, Roberts can all hurt you. Sweeney is the cog that makes the wheel turn. Seton Hall did a good job of pressuring her last night and she spent a lot of time sitting. 

Paint production will
be essential tonight.

Eerily similar to last year's BIG EAST tournament. Villanova,  a #14 seed, defeats Providence in overtime 52-50. They face #6 seed Louisville in the second round. The Cards prevailed 69-47. We hope for similar results. Missing from that Louisville team from last year are Hines, Reid and Gibbs. The Cards will need the all-around exemplar play of Shoni, the 3-ball frenzy of Burke and Slaughter, the slash and dash mechanics of Smith and the group-hug effort of Dyer, Taylor, Vails and Hammond in the paint...if they wish to take on St. John's on Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. Whatever Shelby and Jude can toss in will be appreciated and accepted.


Louisville defeated the Wildcats 62-58 earlier this season in the KFC YUM! Center. Sophomore Schimmel had 18 in the win, Sweeney 18 for the Wildcats. It was...a slow-down, half-court, plodding type of game. We dread, but expect to see the same tonight at 6 p.m. 


Villanova will be tired after the epic battle against Seton Hall yesterday. We'd love to see the Lady Cards use a fast-break, pressing, transition approach to tonight's game and establish an early lead and build on it. 


It's the BIG EAST tournament, though. Anything is possible.


Villanova's head coach Harry Peretta on tonight's match-up against the Cards.


"Well, I think we have to play smarter. We have to be able to block out and release a little sooner. Use our mental capacity against really good athletes. Sometimes, your physical ability is not enough. You need to have a mental ability to know..like..'Hey, where is this kid going? Maybe I can box you a little sooner' Things like that. Little things that no one really understands."


(Wow. Thanks for that Harry...is it a basketball game or a round-table discussion on economic trends in the 21st. century? Good 'ol Harry. Always thought provoking and cerebral... It's always those little things that get you...right?)
  
TV we know of tonight is on WHAS 11.2 and 432 locally. It's also on the BIG EAST Channel. You can access it on your computer. 


WE'LL also have halftime and second half summations of all four games tonight, just like yesterday. Plus, a full report on the UofL game. Keep checking back with CARDINAL COUPLE throughout the day to get the knowledge...


Link below for BIG EAST TV.
BIG EAST TV

(We have a summation of the results of DAY ONE in the Pick 'Em contest over on the left side of the site for you. The staff chimps went over the entries, laughing hysterically at times and covering each submission in banana pudding and feeding them to Bill the Goat.)




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Louisville Softball improved to 13-0 yesterday in the Tennessee Classic with a 10-1 romp over Middle Tennessee State University. Tori Collins went the distance, allowing just four hits and fanning five. 

Tori Collins goes to 7-0 with the
four-hit shutout.

The Blue Raiders got on the board first in the top of the second inning on a solo homer blast by Kelsey Woodruff. That just woke up the sleeping Red and Black giant.  
The Cards got home runs from Taner Fowler, Alicja Wolny and Whitney Arion in the bottom of the second to go up 4-1. Louisville added three more runs next inning. Katie Keller reached on a fielder's choice. She scored on a Wolny double. Katelyn Mann singled home Wolny. Fowler singled and scored to make it 7-1 Lady Cards.

Fowler went 3-3 yesterday
with a homer.

The Lady Cards added their final three runs in the fourth. Jennifer Esteban singled and Kristin Austin beat out a infield hit. Keller drove both home with a double and scored on a Fowler infield single. 


The Cards were originally scheduled to play the Dutch National Team also yesterday. Don't know what happened there...but the MTSU game's start was delayed two hours because of weather. We're guessing it got scratched because of weather. The Tennessee official softball site shows five games today and five Sunday. Louisville is scheduled for Memphis today, no game against Tennessee as previously scheduled and Boston University on Sunday.


The Cards face Memphis today at 5:30 p.m. 


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The Louisville lacrosse match against Denver was cancelled yesterday because of impending weather concerns. And, it got nasty out there later in the day, so...a good call based on player and spectator safety concerns. 
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