Cards WBB #6 seed in Baton Rouge to start NCAA WBB Tourney -- Sofrball Defeats Ill 5-4 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CARDS TO OPEN AS A #6 SEED IN ALBANY REGION AGAINST MTSU 

Louisville Women's basketball will begin their 2024 NCAA Tournament agains a familar foe in MTSU and the action will take place in Baton Rouge. The winner gets the winner of #3 LSU vs. #14 seed Rice. Game day for UofL is Friday.and tipoff time and TV channel designation .will come at a laterr date. ...

The Cards are n a tough regional where LSU was dropped to a #3 seed, One has to wonder why UCLA got a #2 seed instead of LSU, but the NCAA has their reasons....they have a great lead in with Hailey Van Lih's new team against her old team...provided Louisville can get by MTSU. The Blue Raiders defeated Louisville 67-49 in the 2022-23 regular season in Murfreesboro

Louisville has three players back from that loss last year, in Olivia Cochran, Nyla Harris and Merissah Russell. Cochran had 14 pts to lead the Cards in scoring. 

We'll have much more on this NCAA WBB first rounder from our columists as the game gets closer. 

CARDINAL COUPLE NCAA WBB BRACKET CHALLENGE

The bracket selectins are open! Commish Jared would like your picks in an hour before the first game and reminds you that the play-in games DO NOT count as points toward your total. He would also like to remind you to add a final score. Winner gets their choice of a $25 Gift Cards to Cracker Barrel or Wagner's . iI 's a free entry, too! 

Here is the bracket: https://www.cbssports.com/womens-college-basketball/ncaa-tournament/bracket/printable-women/

ESPN HAS A PRETTY GOOD BRACKET CHALLENGE TOO:  Access it HERE 

LEAVE YOUR PICKS IN ANY OF THE COMMENTS SECTIONS HERE AT THE SITE. 

Any bracket or contest questions can be sent to the comments section or directly to Paulie or Jared.. And, no, we don't know the winners, either, but we love to think we do.

GOOD LUCK !!!!!

SOFTBALL DEFEATS ILLINOIS 5-4 IN CARDINAL CLASSIC FINAL GAME

Alyssa Zabala went 6-2/3rd innings and Riley Frizzell banged a solo homer in the bottom of the 5th inning tmgive the Cards a lead they would never relinquish.  

Illinois jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning, but the Cards would cut that in half in the bottom of the inning. 

Illinois last lead came at 3-1 in the top of the fourth but the Cards roaded back to lead 4-3 in the bottom of the inning, a two out, two RBI single by Daisy Hess. 

Illinois would tie it up inthe top of the fifth, but the Cards would regain the lead in the bottom of the fifth when Riley Frizzell parked a bomb to right field that almost hit Arthur Street  

Gabby Holloway pitched a third of an inning in the top of the seventh to preserve the 5-4 lead and Cardinals win....

PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

PAULIE

WBB falls 78-76 in OT at ND -- SB opens ACC/B1G Challenge -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL

Good morning readers

Rough week for Louisville basketball fans this week. 

I wanna shout out the Cardinal Couple IT team (Jeff, Case & Jared) for assisting me in my log in issues to get this write up scripted last night.   I attempted to log in around the start of game time and they were on the job immediately to get me up and running just a couple minutes into game-time so THANK YOU, guys!! 

We've got Cards WBB and SB on the slate of coverage again this week.  Unfortunately a loss to Notre Dame in South Bend last night, but a thrilling game for those who tuned in.  Softball is scheduled to open the conference face off between the ACC and the Big Ten in Atlanta, GA. 

So lets get right into it.  


WBB

It sucks to report a loss for the Cardinals Basketball squad at any point in the season, it especially sucks to report a loss to Notre Dame.  UofL started the game looking something fierce before the Irish fought back in the final half and overtime period to secure a back and forth battle victory over Louisville 78-76.  Hailey Van Lith led in scoring for the Cards with 19 points on 8-16 shooting from the field, 3-4 from 3, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.  Chrislyn Carr mirrored the performance with 15 points on 6-9 shooting from the field, 3-4 from 3 point range.  Notre Dame had four players score in double figures lead by Kylee Watson who averages 6 points a game with 20 points on a perfect 8-8 evening.  Olivia Miles flirted with a triple double and hit the game winner with 1 second left on the clock.   Its the first time the Irish beat Louisville since March 10th, 2019.  

Recap  

End of 1Q    21-17 Cards 

FG %
9-15 60% Cards
8-15 53.3% ND
Reb. 8-5 Cards
3-pt %
3-3 100% Cards
0-0 0% ND

Walz inserted the recent starters and Nyla Harris secured the tip off for the Cards.  HVL scored Louisville's first 5 points and the Cards went 5-6 from the field to begin the game before a 9-0 ND run.  HVL hitsa couple 3 pointers to give UofL the lead back 14-13 and then again 19-17.  Morgan Jones got her first points on a couple buckets including a steal to close out the quarter.  


End of 2Q  14 all

FG %
6-13 46.2% Cards
6-16 37.5%  ND
Reb.  10-8 Cards
3-pt %
2-3 66.7% Cards
2-7 28.6%  ND

Watson opened the quarter to score for ND again while Jones picked up where she left off.  Louisville managed a 12-2 run to make it 28-19 after the three pointer from Carr just a couple minutes into the 2Q.  Carr's 3-pointer put the Cards at 5-5 in first half before the offense went cold.  A 9-0 run by ND over almost 5 minute period where the Cards committed 6 turnovers in 6 minutes, this one was tied up at 31 all before Josie Williams came in and gave 2 solid minutes of power play under the basket scoring 4 points and pulling down 3 rebounds and giving UofL the lead at the break. 

HALF  35-31 Cards 



End of 3Q  20-18 ND 

FG %
6-15 40%  Cards
5-12 41.7%  ND
Reb.  10-7 Cards 
3-pt %
1-2 50% Cards
2-4 50%  ND

Both teams opened the half going back and forth in scoring.  Olivia Cochran secured her first bucket of the game with about 6 minutes on the clock and gave the Cards the 40-39 lead.  Jones sinks an open layup after the defense broke down to tie it up 42 all.  Miles gets called for the charge on Merissah Russell with 4:30 to go in the 3Q.  The Cards with a 46-44 lead and 2:11 left in the quarter ND scoreless for almost 4 minutes. Cochran with an offensive foul and Liz Dixon returned to the floor for her.  Citron hit the 3 to tie it 51 all.  A huge offensive rebound by Dixon to put a miss by Mykasa back up and in for 53-51 lead.   There were 7 ties and 4 lead changes in the quarter.  

End of 4Q  19-17 ND 

FG %
7-14 50% Cards
8-12 66.7%  ND
Reb.  8-4 ND 
3-pt %
1-2 50% Cards
0-1 0%  ND 

Carr opened the quarter to score UofLs first 4 points, making her 4-4 on the night.  A steal on defense by Kasa, who feeds it up to Carr who hands it off to HVL for the jumper.  Carr found a way to get open in front of the Louisville bench to put the Cards up 62-53 and the Irish call a timeout with 7:46 to go and the Cards on 7-0 run and 9 point-lead .  Citron breaks the scoring drought for Irish to cut it 62-55 with a off the top of the backboard.  Citron misses a 3 point attempt and Watson cleans it up for the Irish scoring 9 of their next 11 points to cute the Cards lead 65-62.  HVL scoops up the miss fire from Cochran and Walz is forced to use a timeout with 3 seconds left on the shot clock.  Kasa feeds it into Carr and she uses every ounce of those precious 3 seconds to bank the basket to make it 67-64 with 2:13 left in the ballgame.  Some more back and forth to close out the final minutes, Olivia had a chance to score for the Cards and I thought she was pushed in the back but the shot didn't fall and the call was missed. HVL jumper tied at 70 with 20.7 left on the clock and a missed attempt from ND at the other end to send this one to OT.

Overtime 8-6 ND 

A Robinson layup put the Cards up first.  The Cards secured a couple defensive rebounds before Watson got to the line for ND to tie it back up but the Cards committed a shot clock violation in a time of desperate need of some scoring.  Williams comes back in and gives the Cards some size inside, securing the defensive rebound but UofL unable to show anything for it another time.  It's 72 all with 1:30 left in the OT.  The Irish scored the next 4 points to make it 76-72 ND and the chances were looking slim for the Cards.  But...HVL with some urgency pushes it up and scores to cut it to 2. Then, the ball rolls off Miles with 6.5 left on the clock.  Walz takes a timeout as the Cards struggle to get it inbounded.  Cochran finally collects the inbound pass and takes it strongly to the rim to tie it 76 all.   ND immediately advanced the ball up the court and puts together the play of the week.  Miles dribbled around the Cards defense to nail the 20 foot jumper and win the game for the Irish. 

Cards fall 76-78 

UP NEXT

Louisville vs Boston College 

Sunday 2/19 at 12pm 

ACC Network

FRED REPORT

( Did what I feared would happen just happen?)

FREE THROWS --  The Cardinals were 7-10 at the FT line on the evening.   All attempts came in the second half of the game, Louisville getting none in the first half or overtime period.   They did make the 70% mark with Mykasa Robinson leading for the Cards going 5-6.  HVL, the teams leading free thrower, did not get a single attempt on the evening.  CAPITAL F

REBOUNDING --  UofL managed to outrebound the Irish 36-33.  HVL was the leading rebounder for the Cards with 6. Coming into the game, Notre Dame had out-rebounded opponents by over 11 a night.  CAPITAL R

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  Louisville looked  great to start the game and gave it their all in South Bend.  As a team, the squad converted 16 assist on 31 buckets.  Both teams matched shooting 48% with the Cards leading beyond the arc making 7-12 for 58%.  The squad left it all out on the floor on the road and gave us one of the best regular season battles on national TV so far this season.   CAPITAL E 

DEFENSE --  The Irish's leading scorer, Miles was held to 5 points but managed to contribute other ways with 5 assists and rebounds as well in the first half.   The two teams flip flopped shooting percentages from the field in each half with the Cards winning the first half battle.  Both teams committed 17 turnovers and had 3 blocks.  lower case d



FINAL FRED TALLY:    F-R-E-d

SOFTBALL

Louisville vs Illinois

Today 1:00pm

No Live TV or Internet Viewing

Live scoring at StatBroadcast

Location -- Georgia Tech Field

The Cardinals closed out last weekends tournament with three-straight shutout victories, defeating Southern, 10-0, Missouri, 4-0, and Howard, 8-0. Taylor Roby leads the way Both offensively and in the circle, batting .500 with three doubles and a home run while also tossing 8.0 innings and allowing just three hits.

The Opponent

Illinois leads the series 5-4, the last meeting between the two was on March 5, 2022 where the Cards won 9-8 at Ulmer Stadium.  Illinois spent its opening weekend in Clearwater, Fla. at the NFCA Leadoff Classic where the Illini went 2-3 with wins over Southern and Fordham and losses to #13 Tennessee, #6 Texas and #21 Auburn.  Brianna Nykaza leads the team with a .455 batting average while Sydney Sickels has pitched a team-high 11.1 innings and carries a 4.32 ERA.



As always

Go Cards!

~Daryl