Louisville women's basketball -- Canes stun Cards 79-73 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SHARP SHOOTING MIAMI GIVES LOUISVILLE SECOND LOSS OF SEASON

Me and the dynamic duo at Miami game

As Jeff Walz put it in his post-game presser, 73 points is enough to win a game. The problem Sunday was that Miami totaled 79 points with 55% shooting success (including 6-8 from three point range) and a huge afternoon from senior post Emese Hof (25 points) to catch and pass the Cards in the fourth quarter Sunday afternoon in front of 12193 fans in the KFC YUM! Center Sunday afternoon in downtown Louisville. 

The Canes came and conquered the Cards late on breast cancer awareness day. Stunning, yes. But, earned by the visitors from the bottom of Florida. 

This was a game where Louisville (23-2) started out hot early, climbing to a 22-13 first quarter lead, behind 10 first quarter points from Bionca Dunham. The Cards would push the margin to 14 early in the second quarter when Kylee Shook nailed a three with eight minutes until halftime but Miami refused to go away. The Katie Meyer coached squad would trim the UofL lead to five before the quarter ended but a four-point run by Jazmine Jones late and a key Asia Durr jumped boosted Louisville to a 37-29 advantage. 

Cardinal Couple favorite Robbie Bartlett
nailed the National Anthem

Miami (22-5) won the final three quarters point-wise (66-51) and started the third quarter on a 6-0 run to trim UofL's lead to two with 6:41 remaining in the third. 

Louisville was getting good looks and shots but the ball simply wasn't going through the net. The Cards missed their first eight shots of the third quarter, shot 31% for the quarter (5 for 16) but went from a 39-39 tie to push to a 51-47 lead by the end of the third quarter, thanks to a couple of Shook threes to close out the third session. 

Miami would not go away. The offense really picked up for the Canes (32 points for UM, compared to 22 points for the Cards) and Hof, plus senior guard Laura Cornelius were leading the way...shooting a combined 10 for 12 in the final ten minutes. Dana Evans' three gave the Cards a 63-59 lead with six minutes left but Miami tied the affair at 70-68  on a Hof jumper with four minutes left and the Utrecht,Netherlands post put the Hurricanes ahead to stay after two Cardinal turnovers with 1:27 remaining. The Canes hit their free throws the rest of the way and (going 9 for 10) and Louisville walked off the court with their first loss in the YUM! since Florida State won 50-49 back on 1/21/18.

A rough afternoon for Asia Durr from the floor (5-17 and 1-10 from three-point range) and she acknowledged that in her post-game comments by saying "I sucked today, I played like butt." A realization, though...by Shook, Durr and the rest of the Cards that this was not the final game of the season and that there were opportunities to learn out of this loss. 

Sometimes you run into a buzz-saw and can't turn the power off. Miami was the Hurricane yesterday and also hit their free throws late (19 for 25 for the game) to secure the upset.

i'm not the guy to EVER question any decision Jeff Walz makes, but, several people asked me why "B" sat the entire fourth quarter. Injury? (we found out "no"). OK, we'll get to that in a bit. 

An excellent coach job by Katie Meyer and a eye-popping performance from her Hurricane squad to stay close to, catch up with and eventually down UofL.  Walz will tell you that offense wins games and, although the Cards did put four in double figures (Durr 16, Evans 14 and Dunham and Shook with 12 each), it was Miami who scored the most points when needed, in the final quarter and created a three way tie (for now) atop the ACC with a Monday night match-up between NC State and UND directly affecting the logjam. 

My question on why Bionca Dunham sat the entire fourth quarter was addressed by Walz
in the presser as well. She is not injured, just a coach's decision. 

(GAME PHOTOS BY THE INCREDIBLE JARED ANDERSON) 


LISTEN UP ! 


LINK: POST GAME ASIA DURR AND KYLEE SHOOK

LINK: POST GAME JEFF WALZ

LINK: POST GAME WITH MIAMI'S KATIE MEYER AND EMESE HOF. (AUDIO ONLY)


THE FRED REPORT

Fred, whaddya mean UofL lost in the YUM? 

FREE THROWS -- The Cards had limited opportunities but went 6-7 from the line. Asia had 5 of them. That's 85% and good enough to earn a capital "F". 

REBOUNDING: -- After a even first half in board grabbing, Miami eventually won the boards battle 34-30. Dunham led the Cards with eight. Not the boards blowout that I expected, with Miami being the taller squad, but, still -- no letter earned.

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- The Cards battled well, committed just eight turnovers and really only fell short in one area -- making shots. The effort was there, the results just weren't happening. Kylee played one of her best games of the year, with four made threes. I normally don't award a letter after a loss, but I'll offer a lowercase "e" here. 

DEFENSE -- Miami could miss and the Cards couldn't stop Hof in the paint or Cornelius' drives in the fourth. 30-18 there. Louisville did force 13 Cane turnovers, but 32 points is way too many to allow in one quarter. They did stop Mompremier. I see no letter assigned here. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-_-e-_


SOFTBALL FALLS TO NORTHWESTERN 

A 4-2 loss in the final day of the ACC vs. Big 10 challenge for Louisville. The Cards did take an early 1-0 lead but four straight scores from the Wildcats made it 4-1 going into the sixth.

Rebecca Chung's RBI double in the sixth scored Caitlin Ferguson to get the Cards to a two-run deficit and UofL did have two base runners on in the seventh with the go-ahead run at the plate...but couldn't push the runners across the plate. 

Louisville returns home after going 1-3 in Chapel Hill and is 4-5 overall. They'll face Virginia next, in the Tennessee Classic on Feburary 22nd. 


Have a marvelous Monday! 

Paulie