Louisville women's basketball at Syracuse tonight -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS SEEK 12TH IN A ROW AT ORANGE TONIGHT


It seems like forever since the University of Louisville women's basketball team has played, doesn't it? Cardinal fans will get a game tonight...finally...and it should be a doozie...as they face Syracuse in Syracuse at 7 p.m.

This one has so many plot lines it could be a mini-series on AMC. Walz vs. "Q". Syracuse's strength at home vs. the Cards 11 game win streak. The second best team in the nation in steals against the 11th. ranked squad in turnover margin. Add your own sub-plots...it seems like every time these two schools meet it's a prime-time event.

"JEFF'S COMING TO TOWN? I LOVE IT WHEN HE VISITS!"

Forget that the Orange were bombarded out of South Bend by an Irish squad in a 90-62 game where SU shot only 28% from the floor. Quentin Hillsman's squad (14-5, 4-2) will pose a tough test for the Cards from three-point range...where they're eighth in the nation at 9.4 per game and on the offensive boards (fifth in the nation with 19.1 a contest). 

The Cards will need to keep track of Alexis Peterson (14.2 ppg), Brianna Butler (13.2), Briana Day (10.7) and Brittany Sykes (no relation to Paulie) who is capable of double-digits anytime she takes the court. Cornelia Fondren will present problems for the Cards in the paint. 

Add in the fact that Jeff Walz has never defeated Hillsman in Syracuse and the Orange might be looking for a little revenge after the Cards peeled the Orange 78-58 last year in the KFC YUM! Center -- it leads up to a match-up where the Cards can't afford any early or mid-game stretches where the ball isn't going through the cylinder. 

If the Cards are to improve to 15-5 and 7-0 in the ACC, they'll need the usual crew to turn in quality performances. The M&M girls need not melt in this one. Myisha Hines-Allen leads Louisville with 15.1 ppg and also 7.6 grabs per game. Mariya Moore, the ACC Player of the Week, is at 14.7 ppg a contest and tonight would be a great time for Briahanna Jackson to break out of her mini-slump and equal the 12.7 she's averaging a contest. 

A strong leadership from the point by Arica Carter and Asia Durr will be essential tonight and if the duo could pop in a few threes each...it might bring the Orange out of their suffocating zone and allow Cortnee Walton to do work inside. 

We hope this avoids becoming the "foul-fest" we watched in the Holiday Gym eight days ago against NC State. The Cards will have a considerably tougher time over-coming a double digit deficit against Hillsman's hoopsters...so a hot Cardinal team for all four periods is of the utmost importance. 

Then...there is the Carrier Dome. It holds 32,000. We'll be surprised if it gets 3200 pass through those cavernous door. The huge facility can create shooting backdrop difficulties....especially for the long-range bomber types...

No visitor has scored more than 62 points this year in there...

Syracuse has had their ups-and-downs this season. Blowing out Duke and Virginia Tech but losing to UNC and Notre Dame. Losses to top ten Maryland and top 25 Arizona State are understandable but falling to staggering Tennessee raises a few questions.

Which Orange will show up tonight? For Louisville's sake, we can only hope it's the one that faced Notre Dame...

(One of our earliest headers for the website) 

The game, as always, will be available on Cards Radio 790 AM. We reported that it would be on ESPN 3 on our radio show (it was on the Syracuse website as such) but it now looks like it'll be shown on the RSN Network now. For Louisvillians...that's Fox Sports South. Worldwide will have the recap for you here at the site whenever he deems it time to post it. 

paulie
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