Cards roll past Portland 95-48

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GAME DAY REPORTS

-Louisville flies over Pilots by 47 points

-Volleyball sweeps Bearcats in three games

Balanced scoring for Cards in Sunday win

Louisville women's basketball had five players in double figures and scored 49 points off turnovers in a convincing 95-48 win over Portland Sunday afternoon in the KFC YUM! Center. Shoni Schimmel led all scorers with 16 points for the Cards, who go to 2-0 on the season.

Louisville assumed command of this one early and ripped out to a 15-2 lead in the first five and one half minutes of the first half against Portland. The Cards were in command 21-5 when Monique Reid entered the game with 12 minutes left and promptly scored the first time she touched the ball The Cards led by 22 in the first half...at 35-13 with 7:18 to go...after a Bria Smith basket and free throw and by 23 at the halftime buzzer...when Megan Deines hit a jumper to beat the horn.

Louisville held a 31-2 advantage in points off turnovers after 20 minutes and had 26 points in the paint. Walz played all 11 Cardinals available and all but Cortnee Walton scored in the firs half...Shoni leading the way with nine. 

The Cards steadily increased the lead during the second half...going up 54-28 after a Shoni layup with 18:19 left, 59-30 when Deines drained a three at the 15:59 mark and 71-34 after two Smith free throws and 11:27 left. With 11 minutes left, the starters were done for the day, except for Deines who returned briefly. Reid scored her final hoop to make it 79-37 with nine minutes left, a Sherrone Vails layup doubled the score at 84-42 with five minutes remaining on the clock and Walton closed out the Cardinal scoring
with 29 second to go...for the Cards biggest lead at 95-46.

Besides Shoni's 16 points, Bria Smith had 15, Sheronne Vails 13, Megan Deines 12, and Shawnta Dyer 10. Reid and Sara Hammond finished with 6 each, Shelby Harper and Nita Slaughter 5, Cortnee Walton 4 and Jude ended up with three.

No Cardinal played more than 23 minutes (Hammond and Jude) and everyone had at least 11 minutes
except for Mo...(why take a chance with the knee against Portland, right?) who saw 7 minutes.  

Louisville won the assist battle 15-13 (Shoni and Megan 4 each), led in rebounding 40-29 (Sara 9 and Nita 8) and went a spectacular 19-22 from the foul stripe.

FIVE THINGS WE LIKED

-- Thirteen turnovers. The team goal was to stay under 15. The Cards had 10 in the first half...so mission accomplished with just three in the final twenty minutes.

-- 19-22 free throw shooting. 86.4% which Walz will take any day. Shawnta Dyer perfect with 6-6, Bria Smith 5-5 and Sheronne Vails 5-6. Shelby Harper 3-4.

-- Second chance execution. It had been a concern of Walz's after the A&M game and the Cards responded with a 21-4 advantage in the stat. Both Vails and Hammond strong on the offensive boards.

-- No let up. Louisville increased the 23 point half-time lead to 47, even with the bench (if there is such a thing on this team this year) playing the final 11 of the 2nd. half.

-- Bria the thief. Led Louisville with six steals. Good confidence builder for her today...she also shot 5-8 from the field, including a couple of nice mid-range jumpers. 

FIVE THINGS TO WORK ON

-- The trifecta. Six players tried them, four hit them but 6-21 (28%) needs to get better. Shelby's 0-3 and Nita's 1-4 numbers from beyond the arc came during "garbage time"...but that's when they should be the easiest.

-- 40% shooting from the foe. 19-47 for 40.4%. It isn't a big stat to get all-worked up about...but take Annika Holopainen's 4-12 and Kari Luttingen's 3-10 out of the picture and it is a much higher accuracy.

-- Missed opportunities. Too many put-backs, layups and close-in opportunities not finding the mark. Louisville did shoot 47.9% for the game...but Hammond and Reid could have had at least six more points each by sinking "gimmies". 


-- Attendance. Disappointing to us....with only 6423 in attendance. We know this will pick up as the season progresses, but a Sunday afternoon game should bring in 10,000 +. Yes, I know...the men were playing at 4 p.m. and Volleyball played at the exact same time...but doesn't that create a great double header opportunity for Cardinal fans to experience the YUM? C'mon fans, get your bodies in the seats!

-- Defensive rebounding. Cards lose that battle 20-19. They also put up 73 shots, compared to 47 for Portland...but no one for Louisville had more than three defensive boards except Nita Slaughter. 


FINAL ANALYSIS

This is the type of game that is so fun to attend. Cards scoring in bunches, great defensive plays and smiles on the players' faces. Remember, Louisville only beat Portland by 19 last year...so the improvement is obvious for Jeff Walz's team. No player combinations seemed to bog the team down this afternoon and Shoni put on one of her classic shows...so a good time was had by all. Her no-look flip-back for two off a missed Bria Smith shot was jaw-dropping and the three-pointer showed up for her today. Louisville won't win the rest of them by 47 this year and the distribution of minutes probably won't be as equal the rest of the season...so it was a "good time had by all" (except Portland...) and a great early Sunday afternoon..

Stat to note: The Cards guards (Deines, Smith, Shoni, Jude, Shelby, Nita) shot 21-42 for 50%. Take out Nita's 2-9 effort and Shelby's 1-4 and they are 18-29...which is 62%.

Post Game Walz

Jeff's comments following the win. Coach discuss layups, Vails, turnovers, Mo and playing time. LINK BELOW

Post game comments




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Louisville Volleyball sweeps Cincinnati in three sets...wins BIG EAST regular season title

Lola Arslanbekova and Gwen Rucker with 23 kills between them and the Cards end the regular season with a 25-18, 25-15, 26-24 sweep of the Cincinnati Bearcats.

Thanks to Marquette's three set sweep of Notre Dame Sunday afternoon (25-16, 25-17, 25-22), the VolleyCards are the BIG EAST regular season champs.

The Cards jumped out to a 15-10 lead in the first set and led by Lola's eight kills, took the game with .484 hitting. Louisville withstood a U.C. run that cut the Cardinal lead to 22-17 and took three of the final four points to go up 1-0 in the match.

Anne Kordes' crew broke a 9-9 tie in the second set with a 6-0 run and outscored Cincy 10-5 the rest of the way to win by ten. Tanya Lukeyanenko delivering five kills and Emily Juhl adding four for the hot-hitting Cards.

UC made a battle of it in the final game, leading 10-6 early on. They also overcame a 17-14 Cardinal lead to take the lead at 21-20. The Cards got to match point at 24-21, but the Bearcats tied it with three straight points. Successive kills by Lola and Brooke Mattingly gave the Cards a narrow two-point victory, though...and the match.

The Cards will have the #1 seed in the BIG EAST tournament that begins in Milwaukee this Friday. Louisville ends the regular season 25-3 and 14-1 in the BIG EAST.

Louisville will face St. John's first in quarterfinal action on Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the BIG EAST Tournament. The game will be shown on ESPNU. Louisville defeated St. John's at Queens, NY earlier in the regular season 3-2.
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