Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- Lady Cards roll past UCF

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WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Balanced attack leads Louisville to 94-73 win

(Cardinal Couple staff columnist Jenny O'Bryan on the Cardinal victory...)

Louisville Women’s Basketball took to the court in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in the inaugural Hardwood Tournament of Hope Tuesday evening against future Big East opponent University of Central Florida.  The Cardinals started out of the gate with the lead and never looked back.   The Cardinals won easily with a final score of 94-73.  

The team is off to a 4-0 start and looks to go 5-0 tomorrow when they take on Gonzaga University...who defeated Missouri State 80-68 in the game following the Cardinals' win.

The Cardinals also scored 90+ points for the 3^rd consecutive game for only the second time in school history!  The record is four consecutive games with 90+ points and that was during the 1991 season.   The Cards will look to tie that record tomorrow evening at 9:30 E.S.T. 

Coach Walz started the same five for this game that he has all season long...S. Schimmel, Dyer, Deines, Smith and Hammond.  Reid was first off the bench.  Walz subbed liberally during the first half.   The Cardinals gave up 33 first half points and ran an up-tempo game scoring in transition and pushing the ball in to the paint.   Post players were running the court well and were the beneficiaries of several long outlet passes for easy transition buckets. 

The second half was started with the same five, though most of the second half saw a combination of Vails, Slaughter, J. Schimmel, Harper and Walton, with Deines and Hammond also in on that combination.  All Cardinals played and all scored.  With the commanding lead Coach Walz was able to give his starting 5 plenty of rest presumably to save their legs for the upcoming next two games.    

What I liked:

<    -- Offense, offense and offense!  The Cardinals had balanced scoring with 5 Cardinals in double figures, led by Sara Hammond with 15 points.  Every Cardinal scored!

<    -- Post players running the floor and getting transition buckets.   The post players were fast and active, UCF could not keep up with them.  With deep reserves at each position, Coach Walz was able to run, while keeping his team rested.

<    --  Assists!  Cardinals are getting better at making the extra pass to set up the assist!  Coach Walz has been harping on this for 2 years (at least I have been hearing it for the last 2 years in post game interviews)  and it seems to be sinking in.  24 assists on 37 made baskets.

Areas to improve:

<    -- Cardinals continue to have woes at the free throw line.  Cardinals went 14-24.  Big games are decided down the stretch and at the line.  Cardinals need to continue to improve this stat.

<    -- Turnovers!  20 turnovers.  This stat will kill us in the Big East.  The Cardinals will make a great play to get a steal, only to throw it away on an errant pass.  Every possession needs to be valued. 

<    -- The biggest problem of the evening was terrible defense on the dribble penetration.  As good as the offense was the half court defense was bad.  Cardinals seemed to have no answer for the dribble penetration.  I could not see the game, but what I heard was not pleasant.  Coach Walz mentioned this as well in his post game interview.  Expect the Cards to improve mightily in this area. 

Overall, the Cardinals won easily and were able to rest the starters for most of the second half.  Rested players going in to Wednesday’s game is important as the Zags will be a very tough opponent. At least this one isn't in Spokane. 

Good luck to our Ladies tonight as they take on Gonzaga in the Hardwood Tournament of Hope at 9:30 E.S.T.  Cardinal fans can listen in on 790 WKRD radio in the Louisville area or at CARDS TV for a fee.  

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In other first round games in Puerto Vallarta, Oregon State won a close one against UC Santa Barbara 49-46 and Winthrop pulled off the upset by downing Mississippi State 61-59. Beside the Louisville vs. Gonzaga matchup, the other Wednesday games feature:

-UCF vs. Missouri State
-Mississippi State vs. UC Santa Barbara
-Oregon State vs Winthrop

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(Editor's Note...While we still lament the fact that these aren't available on television or the internet for viewing, it's always a pleasure to listen to the radio call of the broadcast from Matt Andrews and A.J. One thing I like to do when I listen to a radio play-by-play is close my eyes once in a while and see if I can visualize the action in my mind. With Andrews' call, it's an easy thing to do...I can see Bria charging with the ball into the paint and dishing it off to Shawnta or Monique for an easy score. Or Nita Slaughter clearing the boards and getting the rock out to Shoni for the transition fast-break. It's said a picture is worth a thousand words...the accurate descriptions from A.J. on a sequence that leads to a score (or turnover) help create that picture mentally when no view is available...

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It's been all the buzz on other sites and the sports radio...so we'll address it briefly here. Is Louisville headed to the ACC or Big 12?

With the exit of Rutgers to the BIG 10, the BIG EAST continues to take hit after hit in football. And, make no mistake...these conference re-aligments are about two, and two things only:

Football and money.

We're a UofL womens' sports site here. It's what we do. We're going to side with Jeff Walz and his opinion on all this conference stuff. WE don't care...as long as the Lady Cards basketball team and the other Cardinal womens' sports squad can suit up and play games. Whether the opponents are UConn and Rutgers..Duke or UNC..Oklahoma or Baylor.. it is out of the hands of women's sports and we're just going to let the football guys, networks and bank accounts fight it out while continue to concentrate on what we do here....providing you with daily updates on UofL womens' sports and keeping a watchful eye on Timmy the Intern.

It's what's for dinner... it is what it is and it's probably going to change way more than once....so, carry on boys and call us when you're done...
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