Manual, Marion County advance in KHSAA Girls Tourney

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SATURDAY with the COUPLE:


-Semifinals set for KY. Girls Basketball Tournament


-Softball kicks off Red and Black Classic today


-Pitino's guys knock off Notre Dame advance to title game


-CARDINAL COUPLE "Pick Em" NCAA WBB Challenge


-Time to Spring forward...


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Marion County rolled past Hopkinsville in the quarterfinals yesterday in Bowling Green 67-30 to advance to the Kentucky High School Girls State Tournament semi-finals. Makayla Epps and Patrice Tonge had 18 each in the win. The Lady Knights finished the first half on a 10-0 run and the rout was on. They led by 40 early in the final quarter and are now on a 14 game win streak. Marion County gets Lincoln County today for a chance to go to the finals tonight. 


--Lincoln County earned their shot at the semi-finals with a 72-59 win over Magoffin County. They led by 10 in the first quarter but Magoffin County rallied to make it 40-36. Magoffin's leading scorer Jamie Castle had a shot blocked with a chance to cut it to two and hit the floor hard, spraining an ankle. She had to be carried off the court, finishing with 18 points. Emily Fox led Lincoln with 21.


Player to keep track of: 8th. grader Jazzy Howard had 21 points for Magoffin County in the loss.

--Louisville Manual demolished Montgomery County 71-33 in  quarterfinal action. Balanced scoring for the Crimsons...Kara Wright was one of three in double figures with 13 points. The Crimsons led by 14 at half and by 40 with a minute left in the game. They advance to play Lexington Paul Dunbar today...who ruined the chances for an all-Louisville semi-final match-up by knocking off Louisville Butler 70-52.


--Lexington Paul Dunbar took control early in this quarter-final contest and got 21 points from Morgan McEldowney (16 in the first half) in their win over the Bearettes. Louisville Butler could only manage 32.1% from the floor in their 10th. loss of the season. Danielle Lawrence finished with 16 in a losing effort. 


They wrap it up today in Bowling Green with two morning sessions (Marion County vs Lincoln County and Manual vs. Paul Dunbar) and the final tonight. Marion County defeated Lincoln 63-35 in regular season play. We'd love to see a Marion County vs. Manual rematch...they faced off back in January and the Lady Knights escaped with a 63-61 win over Manual...Makayla Epps and Kyvin Goodin-Rogers had 16 each for Marion County in the two-point thriller. 


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Cardinal softball hosts the Red and Black Tournament starting today at Ulmer Stadium. The Louisville sluggers will play four games in three days...starting with an 11:00 a.m. first pitch against St. Louis this morning.


Sandy Pearsall's diamond dwellers are 15-0 on the season and are 16/17 in the polls. Kristin Austin leads the team with a .469 batting average. The senior outfielder had five triple and three doubles on the season. She's followed closely by sophomore Taner Fowler at .440. Fowler has launched five over the fence this year -- a team high -- and driven in 16 runs. 

Louisville pitching this year just may be the best in Pearsall's 12 years as Cardinal skipper. The combined staff of Torrid Tory Collins, Caralisa Connell and Chelsea Leonard have an ERA of 1.23, seven shutouts, 140 strikeouts an a no-hitter to their credit. 


St. Louis (11-9) comes into today's game after going 1-3 in the Missouri Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament. They lost to Missouri, Missouri-Kansas City and Missouri State by a combined score of 21-2. They did manage a win over SEMO 5-4 in eight innings. 


First pitch at 11 a.m. The Cards play again at 1 p.m. against Michigan (15-5). The Wolverines are 15-1 lifetime against Louisville and won in Ulmer last year 2-0. Time for a little payback, ladies! 


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NO! Not the Pitino again! 

WE don't normally go here, but...


Congratulations to the University of Louisville men's basketball team and their win over Notre Dame last night! The men advance to the finals of the BIG EAST Tournament to play arch-rival Cincinnati tonight. 


Are we back in Conference USA? 


UC defeated #2 in the nation Syracuse to reach the final...in overtime. UC head coach was a Pitino assistant before landing his first head coaching job at Murray State. WE always like to refer to him as Rick's "mini-me". 

Mick and wife appear interested in something.
Maybe an Austin Powers movie? 

"It's a hard, hard life..."

Cronin came to Louisville after serving as Bobby Huggins assistant at UC. From Cincinnati, Mick's dad Mutt Cronin was a legendary and successful high school and AAU coach in the area for years. The Cronin move to Louisville raised a few eyebrows, but Cronin claims he and "Hugs" are still good friends. Cronin finally made it back home when he accepted the head coaching position (I almost typed 'head job' in here but...hey, I did anyway!) and this is UC's first appearance in the BIG EAST Tournament title game. The Bearcats did defeat Louisville earlier in the season at Cincinnati 60-56. 

Good luck CARDS! 


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Selection Monday will provide us with the match-ups in the NCAA Women's College Basketball Tournament. That doesn't mean that you have to wait until then to sign up for the CARDINAL COUPLE Pick 'Em Challenge, though! 


YAHOO! Sports is where our group's bracket (CARDINAL COUPLE) is...and it's really quite easy to sign up and be a part of it. You can even register with your Facebook, Google or Yahoo information automatically, if you want.


When you do, keep in mind that our Group ID is 814 and our password is ladycards. 

Can you predict the future of NCAA WBB hoops? 

Under the auspices of Commissioner Schneider, blessings of Paul & Sonja and supervision of Bill the Goat, we feel that you'll revel in excitement as the rounds progress and you are locked in friendly competition with other CARDINAL COUPLE readers and foreign dignitaries. 


Link to get you there below. Whaddya waiting for? Get over there, pronto...amigos! 


CARDINAL COUPLE WBB Challenge


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Just a friendly reminder from your insomniac friends here at  CARDINAL COUPLE. Remember to set you clocks ahead one hour before you go to bed. It's that time of year again. Or do it next week, in a month or so...whatever. They're your clocks, your call. We have the staff Chimps busily at work as we type this...identifying clock locations, accuracy and ownership throughout the entire CARDINAL COUPLE complex and auxiliary facilities area. (At least that's what we sent them out to do...results may vary).
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