SB wins 2-1 -- WBB wins 69-67 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

(weekend happy dance) 

We are officially in the final stretch towards March Madness now that were on the other side of Valentines and the NFL season.  

I was feeling like crap all week, slightly feverish and allergies so if I sound a little groggy throughout the recaps, my apologies ahead of time!!

But luckily for me we have two Cardinal wins to cover this morning so lets get into it.. 

Softball

Photo: Jared Anderson

The Diamond Cards are rolling into the 2024 season as they headed south for the Joan Joyce Classic in Florida and were able to get another W to move to 7-0 on the season after defeating host team, FAU 2-1 on Thursday evening.  

The Cardinals scored 2 runs off of 6 hits.

Gabby Holloway got the start and the win in the circle pitching for 5 innings giving up only 2 hits and 1 run while striking out 2 and walking 2.  

Senior outfielder Vanessa Miller lead at the plate for UofL going 2-3 with 2 RBIs and a stolen base.  

Next up for the Cards, they will face Seton Hall at 11:30am today  before squaring off with FAU again at 4:30pm.  

This marks Seton Hall's opening weekend. The Pirates are coming off of 42-18 campaign and won the BIG EAST regular season title in 2023.

Seton Hall was picked to finish third in Big East by the coaches.  The Pirates return 18 players return from season's team including the conference Pitcher of the Year, Kelsey Carr.   Angie Churchill enters her third season at the helm.




WBB

Photos: Jared Anderson

The Cardinals had another one go down to the wire on the road this week, this time, it went Louisville's way.   Ironically, the Eagles intentionally fouled Louisville 5 times in the last 30 some odd seconds to end the game with time expiring but the Cards didn't shoot a single free throw.   BC had fouls to give, you see. Mayb the refs go the word on the 'be very, very careful on sny "interntional" decisons'...maybe...

After trailing for the majority of the game the Cards were finally able to break through late in the third quarter before managing to stay on top till time expired.  

Cards WIN  69-67

End of 1Q    17-8 BC
FG %
4-12 33.3% Cards
6-14 42.9%  BC
Reb.  9-7 BC
3-pt %
0-1 0% Cards
0-0 0%  BC

Louisville didnt score until 3 minutes into the game when they were trailing 7-2.   The Cards committed 3 turnovers before they scored a bucket.  Rickards went 3-3  and noone hit a three pointer in the quarter... ew. Moving on.. 

End of 2Q  24-15 Cards

FG %
7-13 53.8% Cards
6-16 37.5%  BC
Reb.  10-6  Cards
3-pt %
1-1 100% Cards
1-2 50%  BC

Olivia Cochran get her first FG of the evening at 1:30 left in the half.. Kiki Jefferson hits the layup to end the half and make it a brand new game.  Louisville never lead in the first half.   Nina Rickards had 12 points on 5-6 shooting. 

HALF   32 all 

End of 3Q   20-19  BC

FG %
6-16 37.5% Cards
7-14 50%  BC
Reb.  14-7 Cards 
3-pt %
0-2 0% Cards
1-5 50% BC

Sidberry picks up her 4th foul with about 6:15 on the clock and the Cards head to the free throw line for a chance to take the lead for the first time in the game but are unable to covert both and tie the game up at 39 all.  New ballgame again.  Cards forced BC to take a 3, missing it and chance to take a lead but they turn it over again for the 18th time on the evening.... BC defense stripped the ball out of Nyla Harris's hands and off her knee when Merissah Russell attempted the dish underneath.   It was that kind of night..   Cards take their first lead 2:40 left in the third quarter when Olivia Cochran hit her 2 FTs.  

End of 4Q  18-15 Cards

FG %
9-16 56.3% Cards
7-15 46.7%  BC
Reb.  8-5 Cards 
3-pt %
0-2 0% Cards
0-2 0%  BC

Cards get scoring going and takes lead 53-52 with about 8:40 on the clock left in the game. 

 UofL starts the quarter 5-5 while BC goes on their own run scoring 3 baskets in a row.  

Cards commit their 22nd turnover of the game with about 4 min left in the game.  Kiki Jefferson hits the bucket in transition to make it 65-60 Cards  with about 3:30 to go.  BC goes 1-2 at the FT line and Walz called a timeout with under 3 min left when Cards struggle to find any offense.   Cards get nothing out of it as they airball a 3 point attempt. BC gets final posseesion but cannot tiie it or take lead, thanks to "O" defense in BC paint. 

UP NEXT

# 18 Louisville vs  #12 Virginia Tech 

Sunday at 2PM

ESPN 

FRED REPORT

King Fred the Muppet

FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 16-21 at the Free Throw line which is good for 76%.   There were a few opportunities where the Cards couldve taken the lead at the FT line and werent able to.  Olivia Cochran went 5-6 on an otherwise quiet offensive night for the senior.   Ill give it a lower case f

(EDITOR NOTE...I WILL OVERRULE THIS TO A CAPITAL "F". OUR STANDARD IS...OVER 70%, YOU GET THE "CAPITAL".  

REBOUNDING --  The Cardinals dominated the boards 39-27.  UofL pulled down 13 offensive rebounds which they were able to get 14 second chance points.  Olivia Cochran again lead her team in this category pulling down 9 rebounds.  CAPITAL R

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  The Cards shot 46% from the field hitting just one 3-pointer on the evening.  The turnovers could've killed Louisville in this matchup and their top tier position in the conference.  UofL had 24 turnovers in the game, the most this season since they had 22 against Miami on NYE.  The Cards came up big in the 4th quarter when it really mattered.  lower case e

DEFENSE --  After the Eagles came out on fire and got a big lead on the Cards, Louisville was able to turn up the defense and get some stops to tie it up at half and make it a brand new game.   BC's Dontavia Waggoner lead the charge for the Eagles going 8-18 with 6 rebounds and 4 assists.  lower case d 

FINAL FRED TALLY: F_R_e_d

Let's get a big win this weekend at the Yum Center, Cards.  I have also been checking out the Softball schedule looking forward to some big conference matchups down at Ulmer Stadium when the home schedule opens.  

As Always,

Go Cards

~Daryl