Saturday Cardinal Couple --Hoops win, Volleyball loss

Basketball Wins, Volleyball Loses

Basketball Defeats Marist

The first half looked like more of the same for the Women's Basketball squad against Marist. Competitive play overall, and close scores, but slowly slipping behind the opponent, punctuated by moments of, "What were you thinking?" Ultimately, though, the Cards would get it done by a score of 65-53.

26% shooting in the first half is not going to win any awards, but some consolation was to be found in 40% shooting from beyond the arc, and very good free throw shooting at 90%, 9 out of 10. Continuing another theme from earlier games, Marist had 10 turnovers, but UofL only scored 4 points off of those turnovers in the first half.

In the second half, things started to gel a little bit. Field Goal shooting was improved each quarter; 25%, 30%, 45%, and 65% in the 4th quarter. Point off of turnovers increased each quarter as well; 2, 2, 6, and 12 in the 4th quarter while the number of turnovers on Marist stayed roughly the same, 6, 4, 7, and 7.

Points leaders in the game for the Cards were Myisha Hines-Allen with 18, Briahanna Jackson with 14, and Mariya Moore with 11. Jackson and Moore both dished up some good assist numbers with 6 and 4 respectively. Also, proving once again that height isn't the only criteria for a basketball player, the rebound leader for the team was Briahanna Jackson, pulling down 8. On a side note, Cardinal Couple favorite Sydney Brackemyre got her first points as a Cardinal by sinking both of her free throws. We also saw Dakota Weatherford get her first minutes as a Cardinal, pulling down a rebound and yoinking a pair of steals off of Marist.

The victory over Marist and Purdue's victory over LSU means we get to pull out that classis UofL cheer tonight. Go! Cards! Beat! Purdue! The game will be at 7:30 and will also be streamed on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at7z22647qQ.

Volleyball Drops the Season Finale

Volleyball closed out the regular season at Syracuse, and the Orange were flying high, quite literally. The 'Cuse beat the Cards 25-23, 25-22, 25-15 in a match that features some of the worst play by the Cards since they played Kentucky.

The story of the game can be summed up in just a few stats. The Cards committed 9 service errors, and Syracuse outblocked the Cards 12-6.

Against such impressive blocking (an attribute to be expected from any Leonid Yelin coached team), the Cards only hit .145 for the match, although Syracuse didn't set any record for great hitting either at only .229.

Defensively, the Cards did reasonably well, with Molly Sauer showing why she was Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year in the ACC by digging up 22 shots. Janelle Jenkins dug a respectable 13, and Aniah Philo continues to be strong on defense with 9 digs.

Offensively, there's not much joy and excitement here. Erin Fairs and Aniah Philo both had 10 kills, but Erin did so quite inefficiently with only a .050 hitting percentage, while Aniah tallied a respectable, if not spectacular .227. Janelle Jenkins did contribute offensively as well, with 8 kills for .219 hitting. The middle was fairly quiet with 5 kills for Tess Clark for .250, and 6 for Maggie DeJong for .200.

The Cards now wait to see where they get placed in the NCAA tournament. The goal for the season had been to host first and second rounds matches at the KFC Yum! Center, and that goal is not likely to come to pass at this point with the loss to Syracuse. The Cards were already expecting to be on the bubble for hosting even if they won out the season. A bid to the tournament is almost assured. There's even still a chance of getting the ACC's automatic qualifier bid. The way this works out is that we are now tied in the ACC standings with UNC at 2 losses. If I understand the tie-breaker rules in the ACC correctly, UNC would get the AQ because they have the victory over us. However, UNC still has a match to play, this afternoon, against a middle-of-the-ACC-pack Duke team. This match is at Duke, so this is a very dangerous match for UNC. The match is on ESPN3 at 1pm.

-- JMcA