Dayton Flyers ground Cards 82-66 -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

13-0 Flyer run in second half sends Cinderella to Great Eight, Cards home.

It is often said that defense and rebounding wins game. Shooting the ball well is a third caveat that can be added as well... and the Louisville WBB squad had a tough time of that in their 82-66 loss to #7 seed Dayton in the NCAA Regionals Saturday afternoon in Albany, NY.

Louisville shot 31.5% (23-73) against UD in 40 minutes while their counterparts put up twenty less shots and made four more than the Cards (27-53) to register 51% from the floor. 

Louisville also went a dismal 1-15 from the three point range in a contest that had a series of runs.


The Cards trailed 7-2 in the early going before a few substitutions paid off and spurred Louisville to a 16-4 run that gave then a 18-11 lead. Myisha Hines-Allen was riding the pines with two early fouls...but Shawnta' Dyer and Bria Smith were handling the offensive for Jeff Walz's crew. 

Dayton roared back. They outscored Louisville 19-11, including a 12-0 run, the rest of the twenty minutes to take a 30-29 halftime lead. 

The Flyers continued finding offense to begin the second half and went on a 15-8 run to lead 45-37 in the first six minutes of the half. Myisha Hines-Allen, who didn't start the second half, came in and was hitting...getting the Cards back into the came. All of her team high 14 points came in the final twenty minutes. 

Hines-Allen helped spur the Cards back into contention...her layup with less than nine minutes to go drew Louisville within two at 55-53. Just when it seemed the Cards were rolling and ready to roar past the Flyers...two things happened:

First, Hines-Allen picked up her fourth foul and went to the bench. 

Next...the Cards went over four minutes with out a score and a 13-0 Flyer run pushed them to a 68-53 edge with 4:49 to go. Eight consecutive Louisville possessions without a score. Dayton getting points on their eight possessions.

It was Hines-Allen, re-inserted into the game, who broke the scoring drought...but the damage had been done and Dayton outscored Louisville 14-13 the rest of the way to advance to a Monday night matchup against Connecticut. 

Cinderella advances but gets as a reward the powerhouse Huskies...the glass slipper doesn't fit here, in our opinion.

Jim Jabir (Dayton head coach) jabbed a sharp stick at the state yesterday when he wondered aloud who else he could beat in the commonwealth of Kentucky. Maybe a dead man walking musings before falling through the Geno-built gallows awaiting him. 

A poor poke, Henry Kissinger look-alike. Your next round? Well, it's going to go badly for you. 

Put 100 on them, Huskies. Win by 50.  

We saw Tennessee yesterday erase a 17-point Gonzaga lead

with less the six minutes to go to force overtime and beat the Zags. They were getting easy shots and making them. Dayton was not providing Louisville many easy looks in the final eight and when they did...the Cards had difficulty in sinking them. Jeff Walz will tell you...if you don't shoot well, it is hard to win. It was evidenced yesterday. 

Hines-Allen led the Cards with 14 points. Bria Smith ended with 12, Jude finished with 11 (on 4-23 shooing) and Shawnta' Dyer completed the Cards double digit scorers by posting a double-double with 10 points and 10 grabs.

Guard Andrea Hoover perfected the dribble drive against Louisville and led all scorers with 26 points. Amber Deane came off the bench for Jim Jabir and totaled 15.

Tough way for the season to end for the Cards. 27-7 is better than most expected and third in the ACC after losing four major players from the previous season quite the feat for Walz's Warriors.

How this bunch would have fared against UConn in a Great Eight matchup is anyone's guess...but Walz got a lot...maybe more than expected out of two freshmen and five stalwart seniors that took incredible journeys to get this far. 

Sara, Bria, Jude, Shawnta' and Sherrone...you will be missed. So many great memories and contributions here. 


Myisha, Mariya, Arica, Emmonnie, Cortnee, Megan, Syd and Ariana...it is time to go to work for next season. Time to set the foundation for the future and make room for the #1 recruiting class of 2015 to join you. 

Although the sun has set on this season, the future looks bright, indeed. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

PICK 'EM CONTEST A CLOSE AFFAIR

Our CARDINAL COUPLE Pick 'EM rolls along with 56 total point and three rounds of action in the books. Atop the leader board is Charlie McAdams with a 46-10 mark. The proud father of our Worldwide Jeff McAdams, Charlie was a teacher before his retirement and is schooling the field at this juncture. He has a Final Four roster of UConn, Tenn, Notre Dame and South Carolina prognosticated. 

Close behind at 45-11 are Cardinal Couple's Sonja, Kenny S, K. Starks and Curtis Franklin. Sonja has indicated she'll give the $25 Cracker Barrel gift card to second place if she wins. She's got a Final Four of UConn, Maryland, Notre Dame and South Carolina.

Good luck to all contestants over the next seven games! 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

SOFTBALL SLUGS PAST SYRACUSE

Softball continued their winning ways with a double-header sweep over Syracuse yesterday at Ulmer Stadium. The Cards outslugged the Orange 15-11 and 5-4. 

Louisville enjoyed shutout leads in each contest (8-0 and 5-0) before holding off Syracuse challenges. 

Hailey Smith went 4-4 in the first game with two home runs and Kelsi Jones drove in 4 runs. In the nightcap, Whitney Arion's three RBI double was the key blow...

The Pitch and Hit Cards have won 11 of their last 12 and sit atop the ACC Softball standings. Pearsall is getting hitting production from a good mix of freshman and returning players...the pitching is working their way out of jams and Maryssa Becker has shown she can be a dominant force in the circle or at the plate. 

The Cards and the Orange do it again today at noon. Free Louie Beanie Babies to the first 350 in the ballpark. Gates open at 11. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

WE'RE ON CRESCENT HILL RADIO...

Our Saturday broadcast should be available on the crescenthill.com SoundCloud later today. It was a fun show...with me in the studio, Jeff joining in on location at the Ohio Valley Volleyball Center and Sam the Intern AWOL. 

If you go to the Crescent Hill Radio home page at crescenthillradio.com and click on Programming and then click of Cardinal Couple...you can hear any of our previous shows all the way back to November. That's a lot of shows! 

The link for today's show is below when it does become available on Soundcloud:

WHAT? YOU LEFT PAULIE ALONE IN THE STUDIO? HEAVEN HELP US ALL...

PAULIE
XXXXX 

  

Cards look to fly past Flyers today -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

#3 SEED UOFL HOPES TO JOIN THE ELITE EIGHT

We have half the Elite Eight in the NCAA Women's Tournament established. Seated at the table are South Carolina...who got a basket from Tiffany Mitchell with five second to go...to advance over UNC 67-65. 

I called this one wrong yesterday..but I did see a close game and this one certainly was.

Also grabbing a chair is Baylor, who rolled past the Iowa Hawkeyes 81-66. This wasn't a surprise.


Notre Dame was able to knock down the Trees and send the Stanford Cardinal winging back to the Farm with a 81-60 triumph. It still amazes me that the Stanford squad actually beat UConn earlier this season. The team I saw last night would be hard-pressed tp beat WKU or UPitt...much less UConn.

FSU also has become elitists with a squeak past ASU 66-65. This one was ugly early, with the score stuck at 9-9 for what seemed like an eternity. The offense for both heated up as the game progressed and Sue Semrau's Seminoles are next in line to challenge South Carolina. 

Two out of the three ACC teams move forward. Two more (Duke and Louisville) look to advance today.

The Louisville Cardinals look to grab a reservation in the Great Eight party against Dayton. The Flyers out-pointed UK to get to Sweet Sixteen status and ousted Iowa St in the opening round by 12. They were the #7 seed in the
Albany Region coming in and currently stand at 27-6. 

They narrowly missed the A-10 regular season and conference tournament titles...losing a total of three times to George Washington...but the Flyers got an at-large berth and have pulled off one of the major upsets in the 2015 NCAA WBB Tournament with the beating of the Cats.

  
Dayton does it with teamwork, much like the Cards do. They have Ally Malott, a first team A-10 selection, that posted UK up for 28 points and 13 rebounds. She'll present a challenge to the Cardinals paint committee. Amber Deane was selected the A-10 Sixth Player of the Year, averaged 10.5 a game and dropped 23 on the Cats. 

Also ready to fly are Kelley Austria, a defensive team selection in the A-10 and Andrea Hoover, the leading scorer for Jim Jabir's squad at 17.3 ppg and also the team leader in assists, 3-pointers and free throws. Jodie Cornette and Jenna Burdette add valuable minutes as well...Cornette gets 2.6 blocks per game.


The "A" team (Ally, Amber, Andrea and Austria) also downed 11 threes against the Cats and went 28-31 from the line. 

So...what does Louisville have to do to advance to a probable matchup against UConn in the regional finals? How do the Cards achieve an Elite Eight entry?

It is beautiful in its simplicity...  

They follow whatever game plan Walz and the coaches have devised. 

The Cardinal coaches have had five days to get this one together.And it is all about working the plan and fulfilling your duty in it. We expect to see the Cards go inside early and often. We expect to see the Louisville defense shut down the Flyers long range bombing with aggressive defense and ball pressure. 

And we expect to see Louisville win.


Maybe by not double-digits. Maybe way less on the scoreboard than the 189 points that Dayton and UK posted. 

But Louisville will win this game. 

And then contemplate the next round. Survive and advance, one game at a time...

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>


Softball has two today at Ulmer Stadium against the Syracuse Orange...first pitch at noon...in case you want to get a little early cheering practice in. This one was scheduled for Syracuse but weather conditions prevented it, so the Cards are hosting...as the away team. Not sure if this involves the Pearsall birds wearing the away jerseys and taking to the 1st base dugout instead of the 3rd...but it is always nice to crowd in an extra couple of unexpected home games. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>


Cardinal Couple Radio airs today at noon with me in the studio and Worldwide joining later from the Ohio Valley Volleyball Center. It seems the NetCards have a few foes and friends in town for a off-season series of scrimmages. 

In addition to hooking up with him, I'll sample the sounds of Softball and the Cards wins last week over UNC and IU. We'll also talk WBB hoops and take a look at other things in the Cardinal and NCAA women's sports world. 

11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM or www.crescenthillradio.com

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>


Kentucky already has a NCAA championship in hoops. 

Thomas More won the DIII title over George Fox last night to finish a perfect 33-0 season.

The MVP? Anyone remember northern Kentucky resident Sydney Moss...who was a Louisville possible until she took off to Florida? She came back home after a year and has been dominant at Thomas More.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Finally....congratulations to MBB for their 65-55 win over NC State to gain Elite Eight Status. This one wasn't easy for Pitino's players...the Cards getting a lead and losing it for most of the game. A strong late performance from Gill and Trez's dominance plus Rozier's acrobatics keep the Cards in Syracuse.

Izzo and MSU next. God, I want to beat them...so bad.

paulie

Dangerous Dayton next for WBB...Softball faces IU tonight...Lacrosse on road -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple

#7 seed Flyers next for UofL WBB

When the NCAA Tournament Brackets were first released, Cardinal fans looked at the possibility of Louisville getting a rematch against in-state rival Kentucky in Albany, NY.

Not so fast, my fellow contestants and readers.

Just about every bracket entry we got here at Cardinal Couple indicated that UofL vs. UK would be the Sweet Sixteen matchup to determine who would face UConn (who everyone had advancing). Congratulations to "Slim" and "The other way of stopping" who had the foresight or coin-flip to send Dayton to Albany. Neither entry is doing very well in the contest, by the way.

The Dayton Flyers played the role of David in slaying Goliath (UK) in Memorial Barnyard in a track meet. 99-94.

It's almost if both teams met in the hallway before the game and agreed that first one to 100 wins. Defense pretty much an after-thought in this one. 

The upstart Flyers defeated Iowa St. in their first game of the tournament. They threw a stiff breeze against the Cyclones 78-66 with four in double figures. 

TURN THE "L" AROUND, JIM...

The names you need to know? Ally Malott, Andrea Hoover, Kelly Austria and Amber Deane. They run, they score and they have knocked off two major conferences en route to being the only A-10 school to reach round three. 

Head coach Jim Jabir. He could pass for a young Henry Kissinger (Google it if you're under 40). Sonja says he looks like Steve Carrell's older brother. He gives the courtside appearance and manner of a man who has no idea what to do next if you watch him on the sidelines. He must be doing something right...he sent the Cats to spring break.


We'll break this one down further as we get closer to the Saturday 2:30 p.m. game. I'll suggest today's topic for discussion in the comments section. Is there any possible way and, if so, how do they beat Louisville? 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Louisville Lacrosse takes their 7-2 record to Farmville, VA to face 2-7 Longwood today at 1 p.m.

I'm pretty sure that you can't download the app and play along...but I'm not much of a gamer...

Instead of harvesting grapes and corn, Kellie Young's LAX tribe will concentrate on putting yellow balls into a net.

It's the second of four on the road for UofL and could be a good test to see how deep Young can go into this year's roster and still get a convincing win. 

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Softball hosts IU for a single game tonight at Ulmer Stadium. Chilly temps will greet the contestants for the 6 p.m. contest. 

Louisville is tied with Florida State atop the ACC standings and will return to conference play Saturday with a trip to Syracuse. 

In the meantime, a battle with IU. This series has become somewhat of a rivalry over the past several years and might be a chance for Sandy Pearsall to do a little lineup shuffling and see what some of the lesser used Cards can do on the diamond and at the plate. 

paulie
xxxxx

Men's Soccer in NCAA Championship Game

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Soccer defeats UNC 2-1, goes to Championship game

-Lady Cards face Dayton in YUM doubleheader

-Rockcastle, Marion County girls win

(Photo by Mark J. Terrel/Associated Press)

It's not often that a University of Louisville sports team play for the national title, but Ken Lolla's Louisville men's soccer team will get that chance Sunday at 4 p.m. in Santa Barbara, CA. after defeating UNC 2-1 last night inthe semifinals of the NCAA College Cup. The Cards got the win in the final minute of the match when Aaron Horton broke free from a wall of TarHeel defenders and corralled a pass from Ryan Smith. Horton drove to the net and tapped a shot past UNC goalie Scott Goodwin with 52 seconds left in regulation.

Louisville (20-0-3) will face Akron (21-1-2) in the title match. Akron defeated Michigan in the semis 2-1. Akron played but lost in the championship game last year. ESPN 2 will televise the Louisville vs. Akron game.

**********************************************************************************************

Jeff Walz's Lady Cards host Dayton today in the KFC YUM Center at 5 p.m. The game is the second of a Louisville basketball doubleheader...Pitino's men face UNLV in the first game at noon. For Walz and the Cards, it's a return to competition after defeating Kentucky 78-52 last Sunday in the YUM.

The Cards will enjoy Dayton's style of hoops because it mirrors theirs...pushing the ball in transition and creating turnovers with defensive pressure. The Cards (6-3, 0-0) face a Dayton team (5-3) that has four starters back from last year and that went to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Dayton defeated BIG EAST member Cincinnati earlier in the season and is currently on a three game winning streak.

No word yet on whether sophomore forward Asia Taylor will dress and play in this afternoon's contest. The Columbus, OH. forward did not participate in the Kentucky win and watched the game in street clothes in the seats instead of on the bench.

Shoni Schimmel and Becky Burke won't be the only three point specialists on the Denny Crum Court this afternoon. Dayton has six players that are fond of the "long ball"and the Flyers attempt a mind boggling 32 threes a game. They are 66-170 on the season with the trifecta, good for 38% and Justine Raterman, Kristin and Kari Daughtery, Louisville Manual's Brittany Wilson, Patrice Lalol and Aundrea Lindsay will put it up without hesitation.

Headed to the 'Bucket'...see ya there.

*********************************************************************************************

Sara Hammond had 16 points and 15 boards in #3 Rockcastle County's 77-52 win over Scott County last night. Marion County got balanced scoring in their 74-38 dismantling of Washington County. Marion County returns to the floor tonight.