A Win over UVA, and Pedalling for a Cure

Basketball Gets it Done vs Virginia

Much like Courtney Williams in the USF game, Faith Randolph was going to get her points.  The goal is to make her take more shots to get them, and much like the Cards did against Williams and the Bulls, they made Randolph take as many field goals as she would get points.  Doing that while largely holding the rest of the team to single digit point totals, Breyana Mason had 11,  was what it took to get UofL the win over Virginia, 74-59.

UofL got the job done with what is becoming a fairly familiar formula.  The M&Ms had their usual dependable games, with Myisha Hines-Allen having a particularly good game with 22 points and 11 rebounds.  Then UofL depends on someone, and we're never quite sure who it's going to be, to step up and also have a good game.  Last night it was mostly Asia Durr, with 15 points, though it should be pointed out that Briahanna Jackson tallied a pretty respectable 11.

Photo by Charlie Springer - UofL Card Game

The Cards continue to play unselfish basketball, with Mariya Moore and Taja Cole both giving it up five times for assists, with Briahanna Jackson with another four.

A 37-33 Louisville halftime lead was paced by 16 Moore points. Hines-Allen carried the weight of the scoring in the final half with 19 for the Cards. UofL put the Cavs away for good in the final period, out-scoring them 22-14...12 of Hines-Allen's second half points came in those ending 10 minutes. 

THE FRED REPORT

Fred Gwynne aka Herman Munster

Free Throws?  Yeah, just don't ask.  Under 60% from the charity stripe, is it possible to award an anti-"F" for this one?  The only individual free throw shooting worth a darn was Hines-Allen who went four of five; and Taja Cole, who collected on both of her attempts.

Rebounds get a great big ol' pink (it was Breast Cancer Awareness night) "R",with the final tally 41-27.  Unfortunately, those only turned into eight 2nd chance points, which can't make Coach Walz a happy camper.  The Hoo's turned their 27 into 15 points, for comparison.

The Cards are looking better at dropping the easy ones, but there are still a number of simple ones that aren't finding the bottom of the net.  UofL took the points in the paint category 28-24, so there's a slight edge there, and a pretty good total, but I still saw a number that didn't drop that really should've, so I'm only giving a lower-case "e" on this one.

Photo by Charlie Springer -- UofL Card Game

There's a similar sort of conundrum for the Defense category.  The stats from both teams are remarkably similar with both turning the ball over 13 times, seven of those being steals, and turning those TOs into 15 points.  The only advantage UofL came away with in these categories was in blocked shots, with four to UVA's two.  The good news here is in the fast break points, which the Cards dominated nine to none.  I think we have to go with a lower-case "d", on this as well.

What We Liked

Photo by Charlie Springer -- UofL Card Game

• The M&M's are solidly in the groove.  As you all have been commenting, we've got two solid contributors, but we're all suffering a little bit of heartburn seeing who is going to be a third, and hopefully a fourth.
• Slowly, but surely, Asia Durr is awakening as the threat that we all thought she could be coming out of high school.  She still is not playing nearly aggressively enough for Coach Walz's...or my...liking, and still passes up some fantastic shooting opportunities, but her numbers continue to be good, and she is starting to take some shots that she would've passed up three weeks ago.  Progress is good, though more is needed.

Photo by Charlie Springer -- UofL Card Game

The Cards head out on the road for a game at Boston College at 1pm on Sunday, and then to sunny Miami for a Thursday night game at 7pm.  They return home for Not Senior Day (since there are no seniors on the team) on Sunday the 28th at 12:30 to play the second half of the home and home with Pitt.

Pedal for the Cure

If you followed me tweeting as @CardCoupleRadio last night, you heard a lot about the "Pedal for the Cure", a promotion and fund-raiser that UofL did during the game as part of the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Game festivities.

The Pedal for the Cure pitted two teams against each other on stationary bikes.  Each team had 4 competitors, and each competitor pedaled for the duration of one of the quarters.  The competitors were drawn from UofL coaches, and former student-athletes.  The team that put the most miles on the bike won, with spectators urged to contribute money to the box of the team that they thought would win.

The 1st quarter pitted former Soccer great Christine "Ex" Exeter for Team Red, vs former Lacrosse great and current Community Relations Assistant, Monica Negron for Team Black.  Both tallied just over 11 miles, with the soccer program claiming a slight 1/10th of a mile lead.  It would be the last lead Team Red had.  The 2nd quarter saw Team Red put forward Baseball Coach Dan McDonnell with Team Black putting up Men's Soccer Coach Ken Lolla.  Lolla claimed an extra third of a mile over the Baseball Skipper putting Team Black up by about .2 of a mile. 

"Wake Up, Coach! It's GO time!" 

After halftime, a Field Hockey matchup was up.  Coach Justine Sowry, the Aussie, for Team Red, vs the Kiwi, Victoria "Vic" Stratton for Team Black.  When queried during halftime if she could keep up with Vic, Coach Sowry answered simply, "No." 

Sowry did complete a respectable 13 1/2 miles but Stratton impressively topped 15.  That left Team Red with a good sized hole to climb out of.

The 4th quarter was a Volleyball matchup.  Team Red put forward setter extraordinaire, beauty queen, and TV reporter Katie George, while Team Black put forward Volleyball coach Anne Kordes.  If you know these two, you know that neither of them was going to leave with anything left in the tank in competing with the other.  Impressively, Coach Kordes edged out George by a few tenths of a mile to cement the win for Team Black.  Commenting on the win, Kordes said, "I thought we were just going to pedal tricycles around the court!"

The Pedal for the Cure was clever, and a lot of fun.  I hope it returns again next year.

jmca
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