Durr Back...Cards Smack UNC 87-57...MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DURR, HINES-ALLEN, MOORE COMBINE FOR 60 IN CARDS WIN

The University of Louisville women's basketball team overcame a slow start and roared past North Carolina by 30 Sunday afternoon in the KFC YUM! Center in front of 9739 fan on Play 4 Kay Day.

Asia Durr returned to the Cardinal lineup and produced 28 points in 28 minutes and the M&M girls added 32 in Louisville's 87-57 win. Cardinal fans were treated to the trio's strong performance, a near brawl at the end of the first half and Sydney Zambrotta lighting up the arena late in the contest. 

It wasn't the strongest of starts for Louisville. With Myisha Hines-Allen provided the early punch for UofL...her layup at the 5:09 mark in the first quarter gave the Cards a 8-3 lead...but the Cards would produce only six points in the next five minutes and found themselves holding a rather tenuous 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. Durr was on the Cardinal bench saddled with two early fouls and the Cards couldn't seem to get an offensive flow going. The TarHeels were without leading scorer Stephanie Watts (bruised knee) but guards Paris Kea and Taylor Koenen were picking up the slack. 

Louisville slowly built on the lead in the second quarter...Durr's back-to-back buckets midway through the period put the Cards ahead 22-14...but the TarHeels would battle back and cut the margin to 26-20 with 4:14 remaining until halftime. Hines-Allen picked up the scoring role with three straight scores and after a Durr layup, UofL had a 30-20 advantage on the visitors with two minutes to go. 

At the 1:04 mark, Hines-Allen grabbed a missed shot by UNC guard Taylor Koenen and was tied-up by TarHeel forward Alyssa Okoene...a bit too aggressively...a few words were exchanged and then the rest of the Cardinals on the court swooped Hines-Allen away from the paint and the offender. After an official review, Okoene was assessed both a foul and technical foul. Durr would hit both the technical free throws and Hines-Allen scored in the paint with 10 seconds left in the half to set the score at 34-21. 

Louisville was dominating in the paint with a 16-2 scoring edge and had forced 10 UNC turnovers...but the Cards were getting out-rebounded and were 0-6 from the three-point line. The Cards needed a spark to start the second half and found one from the Douglasville, GA sophomore. 

After UNC got the first two buckets to begin the final half, Durr connected on two straight threes and created a steal leading to a layup. The 8-0 Durr run put the Cards ahead 42-25 and UNC would get no closer that 11 points the rest of the way. Mariya Moore followed with a three and Durr sank her third of the quarter to make it 50-31 with 2:43 left in the period. UNC star Jamie Cherry went to the floor with 1:05 on the clock after a scramble for a loose ball and had to be helped off the court. She did return later for UNC...Durr's fourth three of the quarter...with 16 seconds left...gave UofL a 54-39 lead. The TarHeels shot 50% for the quarter...Kea getting 12 of the UNC 18 points. 

The Cards erupted for 33 points in the final ten minutes with Moore, Jazmine Jones, Sam Fuehring and Hines-Allen getting involved on the offensive front. After Fuehring's two free throws made it 78-55 Louisville with 1:51 to play, Zambrotta put on a fireworks show...hitting three threes in 58 seconds and driving the crowd crazy. 87-57 Cards win...hitting ten threes in the second half.

HOW DID FRED DO? 

Brazilian soccer player simply
known as "Fred" 

-- Free Throws. Louisville went 7-10 from the line...Durr hitting all four of hers and Fuehring going two for two. We ask for 70% a game and that's what the Cards provided...so we award the capital "F" 

-- Rebounding.  After the slow start, where Louisville lost the boards battle 22-20 in the first half, the Cards "rebounded" well and had a 32-10 second half performance. 52-32 edge overall with Hines-Allen getting 12 and Jazmine Jones corralling eight in 27 minutes of play. That's good enough for a capital "R". 

-- Effort/Execution. We loved the way UofL sealed the deal with the explosive fourth quarter and slowly built the lead in the third...but the first ten minutes weren't a thing of beauty. Durr on the bench for almost seven minutes probably had a lot to do with that...but the 31% shooting and being up by just three after ten minutes...plus 15 turnovers will force us to bestow a small case "e" here. 

-- Defense. The TarHeels shot just 31% on the afternoon and had no success inside on the Cards...scoring just 16 points...Louisville forced 17 turnovers and had seven steals. UNC had just seven assists in the 40 minutes...which tells us that the Cards were effective in forcing a lot of one-on-one attempts. The fourth quarter was a bit sloppy...though... and Key did go for 26 on Louisville...so we see a lower case "d" the decision here. 


FINAL FRED COUNT  F-R-e-d


THINGS WE LIKED

Former Cards Syd Brackemyre catches the game on
her day off at University of Indianapolis

The Big Three proficiency. Another game where the Cards got good, almost great efforts out of Hines-Allen (19 pts. 12 rebounds) Durr (28 points) and Moore (13 points, six rebounds and assists). 

JJ Came To Play. A nice overall effort by freshman Jazmine Jones. Her defense looked as good as it has all year and she gave UofL four points, eight rebounds and two steals in 27 minutes. 

Look What Syd Did! She's a three-point specialist and she delivered just that...knocking down all three attempts. You could tell she wanted that fourth one...but Walz diplomatically insisted the Cards hold the ball in the final possession. 

THINGS TO WORK ON

Ceasing the slow starts. Against a depleted UNC squad, it wasn't a big factor but a first quarter effort like that against Virginia or Wake Forest might spell trouble in the Cards final two regular season games. 

Closing the bakery on the weekends. 15 turnovers isn't exactly awful but we see 12 or less as the objective here for 40 minutes. The Cardinal reserves had eight of them and no Cardinal had more than three...but protecting the ball gets more and more important the deeper you go in the upcoming tournaments. 

SO...

The majority of the nation will see the 30-point win and surmise....blowout for Louisville but the TarHeels were within 17 or so for a long time. Let's face it, UNC is having a rough season and without Destinee Walker and Watts available, their chances Sunday weren't very good for coming in and getting an upset win. We did like the way the Cards blew this thing wide open at the end...and the second half definitely looked better than the first. It's always nice to get a 30-point conference win and see all thirteen that could go get some good minutes.

Now 23-6 and 10-4 in ACC play, Louisville did what most hoped and expected they would today in beating a lesser foe and doing it convincingly. 

A classy move by having a breast cancer survivor accompany each starter during the pre-game introductions. 

Win and advance. It's what you hope to do this time of year and Louisville accomplished the goal while throwing in a few fireworks as well. 


SOFTBALL FALLS TO OHIO STATE


Lillie Goetz drove in three runs for the Cardinal Softball team on the final day of the ACC/Big10 Challenge against Ohio State...but the Buckeyes posted two runs in the top of the seventh and the Cards could only counter with one...falling 4-3. 

Three home runs on Megan Hensley in the contest. Louisville with a tying run on second base and no outs in the seventh and unable to get Goetz home. Learning aspect of the game early in the season. Hensley going the distance, just six hits allowed...but Louisville's bats a little more silent than they've been recently. 

The four game Cardinal win streak snapped but an overall excellent three days of softball for the Cards in Chapel Hill. Louisville (7-2) returns to action next week when they travel to Cathedral City, CA. for the Mary Nutter Classic.

UofL will see some quality competition on the left coast....facing #4 Oklahoma, #10 Arizona, #22 California, #25 BYU and Cal State-Fullerton.


THEY SAID IT

MYISHA AND ASIA POST GAME

JEFF WALZ POST-GAME




AROUND THE ACC IN WBB

Six games on Sunday for the ACC...a couple of close calls and a major upset. 

Louisville ran past UNC 88-58

Duke held off Miami 83-70

Georgia Tech held home court against Pitt 71-57

Wake Forest with a nice upset over NC State 89-77

Virginia over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg 63-55

Notre Dame visiting Syracuse and leaving with a 85-80 win. 

A so-so 3-3 day for the Paulie. 


paulie
xxxxx

Friday Cardinal Couple -- At long last...Softball!

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Red and Black Classic offers five UofL games in three days


Louisville softball has returned home after watching it rain for 3 days and will host the annual Red & Black Classic March 7-9. It's been since Feb 23rd that the Cards have had a game...that one a good one in a 8-0 whitewash of the Northern Kentucky squad to close out action in the Cardinal Classic.

Coming to town for the three days are Ohio State, Ohio University, UMass and Illinois State. Louisville faces UMass today at 3:00 p.m. in the Cards only game today. Louisville will play Ohio University at 5 p.m. Saturday and Illinois State @ 7:30 p.m.

Sunday's action has the Cards facing Ohio State at 3 p.m. and Ohio University again to close the tournament at 5:30 p.m.

As usual, the times are an approximate start.

Starring for the Cards is junior Valparaiso transfer Brittany Duncan, the Cards designated hitter...who sports a .394 batting average and has drawn 14 walks in fourteen games. Missouri transfer Kelsi Jones is knocking Mr. Spalding around for a .378 average, two over-the-fencers and is 4 for 4 in stolen bases.

At 8-6, the Cards have used three pitchers primarily. Senior Rachel LeCoq is 2-3 and carries a 3.41 ERA. She's registered 34 strikeouts in 37 innings. Fellow senior Caralisa Connell (3-3) checks in with a 3.43 ERA and has sent 28 batters back to the dugout on "K". Freshman Marissa Becker (3-0) has 23 send-em-back-to-the-dugout endings in just 17 innings.

Looks to be a great weekend for softball! Get out and enjoy the weather and the games.

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On Saturday night at 6 p.m., Louisville WBB will face the winner of tonight's Memphis vs. Houston game. It's not too late to get an entry in ourAAC pick 'em contest. It's free and if you pick the most correct games of the nine you win a Cardinal Couple T-Shirt. Ties will be solved, if needed, by picking the total score of the championship game. Closest to the actual wins.

You can submit an entry to cardinalcouple@twc.com or leaving one in the comments sections. Here's the picks from our illustrious David Watson. Haven't heard from either Worldwide or Jenny yet. Guess they're really studying hard.

Fri. night -- Memphis over Houston, Cincy over Central Fla.
Saturday -- Rutgers, UConn, Louisville and USF
Sunday -- UConn and Louisville
Monday -- Louisville
Points -- 100

paulie
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Thriller at Lacrosse -- Cards down OSU 12-11

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SUNDAY CARINAL COUPLE

- Lacrosse pulls huge upset over OSU 12-11

- Softball splits in second day of J'Ville Tournament

- Cards WBB faces DePaul in YUM!


It was huge. It was totally awesome.

Simply said, it was the biggest win in the history of Louisville Lacrosse.

On a bitterly cold day in the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium, Louisville overcame a 10-8 deficit with 14:16 to go in the second half and defeated #13 Ohio State University 12-11 Saturday afternoon.

It was originally 13-11. What we don't understand about Lacrosse is how a referee can take a point away because of a stick/net inspection. Kay Morissette scored a seemingly brilliant gola with 6:46 left in the game to put the Cards up 13-11. Then, as the teams line up for the face-off after the "goal", a referee inspects Morissette's stick and net and decides there is something wrong with it. Two point Cardinal advantage gone. Kay's score erased.

 Seriously?

Whatever. These refs were biased against Louisville for the majority of the game, so...it wasn't surprising. Good teams find a way to win, though and Louisville did.

Louisville held on to the 1-point advantage and goes to 2-0 on the season with the win.

The Cards overcame a 5-4 halftime deficit to take a 6-5 lead shortly after the second stanza started.

No...wait...the refs take another goal away from Louisville. Back to 5-5. Maybe Nikki Boltja was chewing gum in class. Maybe they didn't say "Mother, may I.." after scoring.

Whatever. I don't understand Lacrosse rules yet. Maybe I will someday. The refs seem to make stuff up as they go.

Anyway, fast forward to the second half. Cards down 10-8 after OSU's best player (Jackie Cifarelli) gets her first score of the game. That's how well the Louisville defense was playing. 14:16 to go. Colleen O'Malley gets Louisville within one. Nikki Boltja ties it 90 seconds later. After OSU goes back ahead 11-10...the clock stops for some reason, the refs catch that...but it them becomes B.S.T.

Boltja Standard Time.

Nikki scores to tie it with 9:17 (maybe) left. Nikki puts Louisville ahead 12-11 with 7:31 left.

Nikki, I think I love you...

See Cardinal fans go nuts. See Louisville shut out OSU the rest of the way. See the team and fans go nuts as the final seconds tick off and celebrate. See the squad rush over to thank the students, parents and fans in the bleachers.

This was beautiful. 

I talked with Julie Hermann minutes after the upset.
Beaming, incredulous and thrilled after the win, she told me about the dedication. Three seniors coming into her office early in the spring and telling her that Lacrosse was going to thrive. Pleading with her to not give up on the program. Asking her not to give up on them. They were changing the attitude, the meaning of Louisville Lacrosse.

I've never seen Julie Hermann cry. She looked pretty close to it today. A look of happiness. Full of pride. Happy Julie.

One proud mama.

Walking the field after the win. Pride. Joy. Reflection.

Kelly Young looked pretty close to tears,too. A signature win. A team she so strongly believes in. Her pride in Boltja, O'Malley, Oliverio, the freshmen. Everyone. 

Her girls, her brood. A renewed dedication to team, to the Louisville Lacrosse brand. A satisified and happy coach.

I've seen coaches thrilled over wins. Young's look of rapture and excitement will stay with me a long time. I recorded her comments on the sidelines. They don't do justice to the gleam I saw in her eyes. I won't forget that for a very long time. Sometimes, words just don't express what vision can. Picture worth a thousand words stuff.

I saw a masterpiece today.

Job well done, ladies. Louisville Lacrosse has arrived. Get on board, Cardinal fans. The CSX tracks run right behind the Lacrosse Stadium. It's doubtful either of the trains that rolled by Saturday afternoon during the game could have matched the power and steam of the Cardinals.

Boltja had four goals for the Cards, O'Malley four, Cortnee Daley two and Faye Brust and Monica Negron one each.


-Paulie

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Softball splits in the the second day of the Jacksonville Classic. A tough 1-0 loss to OSU in eight innings...the Cardinal bats falling silent after 16 runs the day before.

Transfer Rachel LeCoq pitching her Cajun heart out...giving up a run in the top of eight...tiebreaker rules in effect. The Cards fall short...runners on the corners and one out. Can't score. Bats...funny how they come and go.

Bats woke up in the second game against Jacksonville. A 9-0 fun-fest. Three hitter for Caralisa Connell, the same amount of hits LeCoq gave up.

Louisville finishes the Jacksonville stay tomorrow...facing Stony Brook for the second time... at 7:30 p.m.


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Quentin Voigt's preview of Lady Cards WBB against DePaul tomorrow at 1:30 in the YUM! below:

RING, RING, RING, Riiiiiiiiinnnnnggggg !!!

Time to attack! No quarter surrendered, no quarter asked!

Doug Bruno, head coach of DePaul has probably been worried about this game since he was miraculously able to vanquish UofL in Chi-Town on January 5th. The loss he should have accepted then - would have not built the fervor apparently building within CardNation for the beat-down of epic (EPIC, I repeat) proportions, destined to be visited on the Blue Demons. Sunday. 1:30 p.m. The place: One Arena Plaza (the KFC YUM! Center) , Louisville, KY.

Herr Bruno's squad features 5'8" Brittany Hrynko, a sophomore who's getting 15.6 ppg, dished out 129 assists this season and grabs 4.8 rebounds a game. She went for 21 points, 7 assists and 4 steals last time against the Cards. Will Anna Martin be a factor? We'll see if the knee will let her play. She had 22 against Louisville in the previous meeting.

Jasmine Perry is a talented forward for Dougie. He says:

"Jasmine Perry is one of the best players in the state of Indiana. Jasmine will bring great athleticism to campus and is a excellent rebounder, defender and shooter. Jasmine is also the total package in that she is an honor student that will help carry on DePaul's tradition of striving for success  --both on the court and in the classroom."

A just bit of praise for the young lady that adds 14.1 a game for DePaul's offense. She was 6 for 6 against Louisville earlier this year and hit 3 for 4 from the charity stripe.

And then there's Katherine. The leading rebounder in the BIG EAST. Katherine Harry gets the boards. She defends well, too...holding UofL's posts to 1 for 3 from the field last time out.

I believe in SPEED! Speed kills, in time. Ask Muhammad Ali, he proved it time and time again. The Lady Cards have the speed to beat DePaul today. Witness UK stepping on the accelerator earlier this year and demolishing DePaul by 32 in Rupp.

Running with purpose, shooting with the cold eye of an assassin, owning every rebound, valuing the ball. Attack them, attack them....and attack them! Go Cards. Give them "L"

- Quentin Voigt

I do think the Cards can win today. A lot of it will depend on the heart and effort that they display. It's an emotional game today. Monique Reid's grandmother passed away a couple of days ago. A grandmother to the team. To Mo, who might play today. To all who were fortunate enough to know her. A beautiful lady.

Will UofL use that emotion? Will last year's scenario play out...Louisville loses in Chicago, wins the second match-up in Louisville. The only game this year where Louisville outrebounded an opponent and lost.

"Why is it, Coach...that I must play when
the women are playing also. Please explain
this to me. I am not happy, sir. Not at all."

Who will show up for this one? The men's team plays at 1:00 on ESPN. Walz wants 12-13,000 there. We'd like to see that, too. Anything over 9,000 is a big boost to Louisville's WBB chances today. In case you're out-of-town and can't attend, the WBB game is on ESPNU.

It's 'go' time for Walz and the Cards. Five games left before the Hartford Invitational.

As I said in an earlier column this week...

Whatcha got left, Cards?

(Today's game is a "wear Pink" in support of Breast Cancer Awareness. Pink 'em up! See you there! We'll have post-game coverage later today. Go Cards!)

-Paulie


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