Louisville women's basketball -- Cards squeeze Orange 84-77 MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DURR, HINES-ALLEN COMBINE FOR 46 VS SYRACUSE

You could call them the "road warriors". 

The University of Louisville women's basketball team has won 13 games in a row on the road. That ties the best road win streak in program history.

Yesterday, in their 84-77 win at Syracuse, two familiar faces were both "being Mel Gibson" at times... (referencing the 1981 cult classic movie Road Warriors)...driving the Cardinal Cannonball through the ginormous but nearly-empty Carrier Dome to a victory that took awhile to emerge. Durr with 27 and Hines-Allen adding 19 points and 11 rebounds in the squeezing of the Orange Sunday afternoon. 

The Road Warriors professional wrestling team comes to mind as well. Imagine, if you will, "Nite-nite and DOOO-BLAY" in the outfits pictured above...

Hiya ! Orange you glad to see me? 

If you like action-packed, non-stop frenetic paces -- the first quarter was right up your alley. Louisville and Quentin Hillsman's crew hit the accelerator early. Jasmine Jones had six of the Cards first twelve points but 'The Cuse" countered with 16 to take a four point lead halfway through the opening period. It would be Syracuse's largest lead of the affair, Louisville rallying back to get within two at 23-21 to end the first quarter.. 

Good teams go on runs and the Cards are no stranger to those. The pace slowed down considerably in the second period and Louisville edged ahead with 7-2 opening run to hold a 28-25 lead with 5:11 until halftime.

A significant part of the momentum came from Sydney Zambrotta. She nailed two threes and Walz's Warriors went into the halftime break holding a 40-35 edge over the home team. Zambrotta's eight points, playing in her home state, were her biggest scoring outpit since UT-Martin back in December. She was "dialed in" and a spark. Maybe she's "dome friendly"?

What would happen in the halftime "chats"? 

Louisville came out with a full tank of gas and sped to a 49-35 lead with a 9-0 run in the first three minutes. The AM show (Asia and Myisha) was on the air and the broadcast was coming in clear. The period ended up 26-16 in favor of the women in black jerseys and pink numbers (a nice look for the Cards, right?) and this one was pretty much over at 66-51 with ten minutes to go. 

The fourth quarter brought the 2575 in attendance a couple of thrills near the end of the game, when Syracuse flirted with cutting the Cards lead to single digits. They also saw a rare sighting of the elusive "Sam Fuehring three ball" ...where she looked at Walz, he nodded his approval to shoot and she drained it. Magical powers in that man...

The Orange did muster a 10-3 closing run to draw them within seven but the outcome was never in doubt and a disheveled Quentin Hillsman (coat long since gone, tie abandoned  and shirt-tail out) walked the sidelines one last time to congratulate Coach Walz on the win and Durr on reaching the 1500-point mark for her career.

Stylish yet tasteful? Or Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz redux? 

He may have even asked Louisville coach Sam Purcell where he got the pink shoes adorning his feet, Sam's way of paying homage to Play 4 Kay Day. 

"What you gonna do in those shoes?" 

(Mandatory musical reference time...) 

From the Eagles. A Paulie post-game Internet exchange with Purcell confirmed that they are size 11's and available for parties, events and social occasions for a "yet undetermined fee". (He's got a wife and three kids...prices subject to market conditions and availability.) Sammy gonna get paid when he can. 



"THOSE SHOES" The Eagles

Cards win, Cards win! 24-1 and back to the 'Ville' for a Wednesday visit with Clemson and Mike the Tiger...who usually wears orange shoes but probably won't make the trip. 

LINK: 

Highlights (mostly Syracuse's) from yesterday 


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JULIE GOES TO ROAM THE DOME

Columnist Julie Sullivan was one of the 2575 on hand for the pre-Super Bowl warm up and shares her thoughts in the report below: 

Having been to the Carrier Dome for both football and men's basketball, it was a different experience being there for the women's game. Attendance was listed at 2575 and that seemed accurate. Even though seating was very close to the court, the cavernous dome muffled and muted the crowd. It was a reminder of what a great facility The KFC YUM! Center is and the great crowds that show up there.

A furtive glance to see if Sam "Pink Shoes" Purcell
is within ear-shot. 

Coach Walz, always an ambassador for the sport, spent considerable time during his post-game presser praising the very young Syracuse team. He hoped Louisville wouldn't have to face them in Greensboro in the ACC Tournament. Walz offered high praise for point guard Tiana Mangakahia, saying as a fan of the game, he would show up just to watch her and expressed disbelief that more fans are not coming out to support a very talented group of young women. 

Tiana had 20 points against Louisville and added 10 assists. She also had 10 turnovers...which gave her a dubious "triple-double" for the event. She also could be a "body double" or stand-in for Cardinal great Becky Burke...the two bear a remarkable resemblance to each other, which makes one wonder what else Walz has been doing in his "mad scientist" laboratory besides concocting "win" potions and practicing facial expressions? 

"No, I did not lend Sam those shoes." Next question? 

I had a "Paulie-in-Bloomington" like adventure, playing seek-and-find with my press credentials. I was sent to three different places to obtain them before a wonderful gentleman in Access Control directed me to the proper place which turned out to be the first place I tried. They DID spell my name right. I never did find the media room nor the dining fare available. What the Dome staff lacked in knowledge they made up for in friendliness, something important to me.

Happy idiot syndrome? 

(Editor note: Based on the four places we saw Julie seated during the Internet feed...either she's refined her attention-getting protocol or arena security kept upgrading her.   -Paulie- ) 


FRED REPORT  

(It is my first attempt at doing the FRED REPORT. I wasn't even about to attempt a JULIE report. Here we go.)

(ol' "claw-hand" Freddy) 

FREE THROWS - Louisville went 10-15. That's 67% and by the 70% standard, no letter is awarded. 

REBOUNDING - The Cards win the battle of the boards 38-27. DOOO-BLAY huge on the glass as always and a great team effort with eight players grabbing at least one. Kudos to Arica Carter's five and Sam Fuehring's eight. The capital "R" is earned. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION - Louisville got out-played in the first quarter and let up a bit at the end of the game. Shooting 50% was good but UofL's numbers weren't spectacular on Second Chance points or points off turnovers. A lower case "e" is the decision here. 

DEFENSE - The Cards allowed 77 points, their most since Ohio State. No single-digit quarters. Two 20+ point-scorers for Syracuse. Yes, 'Cuse scores a lot but I withhold a letter. 

FRED TOTALS:  _-R-e-_ 


Julie Sullivan