Sunday Losses for WBB and Lax -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Loses Big at Home to Virginia Tech

Louisville women's basketball lost their third game in the last five games, this time at home to Virginia Tech 86-70.

Liz Kitley posted a triple-double for the Hokies with 26 points, 13 rebounds, and about 25 fouls committed. Okay, so she officially had a double-double and finished with three fouls on the stat sheet, but the reigning ACC Player of the Year certainly was immune to whistles for much of the game. Georgia Amoore added 23 points on 9-11 shooting and 10 assists. The Aussie native took advantage of the international travel rules (you get an extra step in FIBA compared to most US rules), which the officials seemed to not realize we weren't playing FIBA rules.

Now, before you get on me for criticizing the officials, this game was not decided by the officials at all. Louisville was outplayed and had one of their worst games of the season. The Cards missed four layups in the first quarter and were up to seven late in the first half when I stopped counting. Louisville also went 4-16 (.250) from three-point range with half of the made threes coming in the second quarter.

One plus for Louisville is that they committed four turnovers in the game. That number is a season low for Jeff Walz's team. Virginia Tech didn't put too much pressure on full court or half court pressure and instead chose to go with allowing Louisville to miss shots and then dominate the defensive rebounding. The Hokies won the rebounding battle 35-24 with 28 of those coming on the defensive end.

Kiki Jefferson led the Cards with 19 points on 7-12 shooting. Jayda Curry scored 13 points and Nyla Harris and Nina Rickards each added 10 points. Olivia Cochran had a team-high six rebounds with Harris adding five boards.

Louisville's player intros have become creative over the years

Defensively, this year's team has not lived up to the standards of Louisville basketball yet. The biggest concern on defense with yesterday's game came on switches. Kenny Brooks was able to expose the Cards by running picks with Kitley and Amoore, often resulting in mismatches for both players. This allowed the duo to find easy baskets or force help from extra defenders, leaving the rest of the Virginia Tech team with open looks.

FRED Report

Fred Warner of the Super Bowl Runner-Up San Francisco 49ers

Free Throws- The Cards were at 8-12 late in the game but a pair of made free throws pushed that to 10-14 (71.4%) and get just within the threshold for a "F".

Effort/Efficiency- Well, the Cards had one of their worst shooting days this season and mustered up just seven assists on 28 made shots. They managed four second chance points and four fast break points, both of those marks well below what we've come to expect. I do believe the effort was there as the Cards continued to try to find scoring opportunities and attack the paint. Unfortunately, the shots weren't falling. And you have to give positive points to only four turnovers. I'm willing to give a lowercase "e" for effort only.

Rebounding- UofL was outrebounded by 11. They held VT to just seven offensive boards- probably because the Hokies shot 65%. Louisville pulled in 13 offensive rebounds but converted that into only four second chance points, so not too effective. Rebounding was one of the reasons Louisville dug themselves into a hole. No letter here.

Defense- Giving up 86 points is plenty of reason to not award a letter. The Cards were not effective at all trying to shut down Virginia Tech's top two players, something we talked about as a concern on the show Saturday. Case pointed out to me the VT went 24-29 (82.7%) on two-point shots. If I could give a negative letter I would.

F-r-_-_.   Eek. That's not something we want to see late in the season.

Virginia Tech head coach Kenny Brooks spent some time praising the teams in the ACC during yesterday's press conference. He discussed how the ACC is the best and most competitive women's basketball in the country this year. Eight ACC teams made the NCAA Tournament last year. The latest Bracketology has nine ACC teams projected to be in this year's tournament.

With yesterday's loss, Louisville's chances of being a top-16 seed and hosting opening weekend grew slim. If the Cards win out, then there's a possibility of hosting still. Louisville also dropped to fourth in the ACC at 10-4. Four teams have five losses in the conference. Win out and the Cards get the double bye and don't play until Friday in the ACC Tournament. Any more losses and they might find themselves playing on Thursday.

Louisville will play at Georgia Tech on Thursday at 6:00 pm. They then return home to host Virginia on Sunday.

Post Game Jeff Walz

POst Game Olivia Cochran and Kiki Jefferson

Lax Falls on the Road at Lindenwood

A slow start doomed Louisville lacrosse as they fell on the road to Lindenwood 12-9. The Lions scored the first goals of the game and led 5-1 at the end of the first quarter. The Cards cut it to 6-5 late in the first half and 10-8 midway through the fourth quarter but couldn't complete the rally.

Kokoro Nakazawa posted a hat trick with three goals. Kylea Dobson and Negai Nakazawa each scored two goals and Tiffany Natoli and Nicole Perroni both scored a goal. Perroni's scoring streak extended to 40 straight games, adding to her existing program record.

Louisville (1-3) returns home to host Virginia Tech on Saturday at 6:00pm. The match will be televised on ACC Network and will be played at L&N Stadium (football).

Happy Monday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB falls to #13 VaTech 81-79 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Here we are again y'all! Another weekend ahead and very much needed.  

I appreciate you checking back in with us at Cardinal Couple to catch up on the Cards and enjoy reading your thoughts in the comment section as well.  

Students are back on campus at UofL for the first week of classes and the WBB Cards are knee deep into the conference schedule and on the road this weekend.  
 

WBB

photo: gocards.com

Louisville fell Thursday night against #13 Virginia Tech 81-79.   The Cards had a chance to tie it or take the lead in the final 30 seconds but weren't able to convert.  It was a night where the Louisville bigs were not able to remain on the floor.   Olivia Cochran was on the floor for 10 minutes, Liz Dixon had the most opportunity with 24 minutes and only 4 points to show for it and Josie Williams with 12 strong minutes up against reigning ACC POY Elizabeth Kitley.  All three Cardinals finished with 4 fouls.  

Hailey Van Lith lead all scorers with 29 points going 10-26 from the field with 5 rebounds and 3 assists.  22 of her 29 were in the second half. 

For the Hokies,  Taylor Soule fouled out with about 3 minutes left in the game finishing with 24 points while Kitley scored 20 points and pulled down 14 rebounds.   

 

End of 1Q    20-14 VT

FG %
7-13 53.8 %  Cards
9-17 52.9%   VT
Reb.   8-7  VT
3-pt %
0-3 0%        Cards
1-6 16.7%   VT

Some technical difficulties (ACCNX crap) kept me from getting eyes on the game until the second quarter but with the Cards up 14-12, the Hokies went on a 8-0 run to close out the first quarter and establish a 20-14 lead over UofL.  Kitley went 5-5 to jump start her scoring on the night.   UofL committed 6 of their 15 turnovers in the first quarter.  Cochran went 2-2 for only 4 points on the evening while also picking up two fouls in 7 minutes on the floor. 

End of 2Q    18-16 Cards 

FG %
7-14 50% Cards
7-16  43.8%
Reb.  9-7 Cards
3-pt %
2-5 40% Cards
1-4 25%  VT

The Hokies turned the ball over when Mykasa Robinson stole it and drove it in for the layup.   She finished with 2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in all 10 minutes of the quarter.  VaTech would gain as many as 7 points better than UofL at 23-16.  This was about when I was able to tune in.   Josie Williams had a confident couple of minutes when she attempted a 3 pointer and missed but was able to connect on the second chance attempt when Robinson grabbed the offensive rebound after the miss.  She hit another one when Kitley turned it over to make it 23-20 VT.  The Cards hit their first 3 with about 4 minutes left in the half, courtesy of HVL to make it 25-28 VT before the Hokies went on a run to make it a 7 point lead for VT again.  And here is when i noticed the calls were not going the Cards way this evening.  Morgan Jones got called for a charge when there is absolutely no way Georgia Amoore was planted to cleanly defend.  Alas, the home team gets the call and goes to the other end and nails the jumper to make it 36-30. 

HALF 36-32 

End of 3Q   26-21 Cards

FG %
10-15 66.7% Cards
7-15 46.7%  VT
Reb.  9-5 VT
3-pt %
2-3 66.7% Cards
1-6 16.7%

The Cards owned the third quarter and showed some early signs that they could do what they did to Pitt and come back in this thing.  HVL came out of the half to break the shooting slump - scoring quickly.   Mykasa also found a quick bucket to make it 36-38 and the two took some control.  VT walked to turn it over and HVL scored to tie it 38 all.  Carr's first bucket came in the final min. of 3Q to make it 58-54 Cards with less than a minute to go.  Traylor responded with a 3 of her own.. 58-57.  Traylor had 17 points on 6-9 with 3 threes, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal. 

End of 4Q   24-21 VT

FG %
7-19 36.8%  Cards
7-12 58.3%  VT
Reb.  10 all 
3-pt %
1-2 50%  Cards
3-4 75%  VT

A couple of free throws by HVL put the Cards up 60-57 but VaTech's Kayana Traylor tied it up at 60 with a three before HVL took it in for the drive and one, making it 63-60 with 7:30 left in the game.  I can appreciate the high-ponytail Mykasa.  Robinson had been somewhat struggling to get her shots to fall in recent games...she was 3-4 from the floor with 6 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals.    The two squads battled in the final quarter.  Soule picked up her 5th foul with 3 minutes left to send Jones to the line.  Jones finished with 19 points and 9 rebounds.  The final 3 minutes lasted about 10 as the two teams used every opportunity to gain the advantage.  Kasa stepped in front for the steal but couldn't keep it in bounds and Traylor nailed a 3 pointer to cut the lead and make it 75-74 Cards.  In the Cards next offensive possession, Jones drove to the hoop and got fouled but missed both free throws.  VT went the other way with it and Amoore nailed the 3 in Robinson's face for the 77-75 lead and 1:48 to go.   Amoore finished with 13 points and 8 assists.  Again, Kasa comes up with the defensive stop with a huge block underneath but the Cards cannot convert on offense when Chrislyn Carr missed her attempt with 70 seconds left.  Carr had a quiet nights finishing with 6 points, 1 rebound and an assist.   As a team, VT finished the game making 4 of their 5 attempts while the Cards missed their final 5.  

Cards fall 81-79 to Virginia Tech

UP NEXT

Louisville @ Florida State

Sunday 1 P.M.

FRED REPORT

(How many fouls did Kitley get? One. In 39 minutes. Are you kidding me? Who refereed? Stevie Wonder? Or did she rediscover the Romulan cloaking device?) 

FREE THROWS --  Louisville went 12-16 at the free throw line good for 75%.  Van Lith and Morgan Jones were the only two who had an opportunity at the charity stripe.  HVL went 7-7 while Jones went 5-9.   Just because they didn't get there, doesn't mean they weren't fouled.  Capital F 

REBOUNDING --  The Cards were outrebounded 34-31 on the evening. Morgan Jones lead the charge for UofL with 9 with Robinson following closely with 8.   Olivia only had the opportunity to grab 1 in her 10 minutes on the evening.   Louisville had 10 offensive rebounds leading to 18 second chance points.  lower case r 

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  I struggle with this category the most because sometimes I choose to gauge it by numbers and other times the overall picture.  I want to go with the latter after this one because if you look at the stat sheet, it was very similar on both sides of the court.   I feel like HVL has to carry alot of the offensive weight on her shoulders.  I would've liked to see her distribute the ball more against VaTech.. she finished with only 3 assists on the evening while also turning it over 5 times.   She probably deserved a few more chances at the free throw line too that just weren't called.  She made 10 of the Cards' 31 buckets.  Capital E for effort

DEFENSE --  This game was such an even matchup on paper but it felt like 5 against 8.   The Cards shot 51% while the Hokies shot 50%.  Kitley and Soule both shot 64% and led their squad to victory over the Cards for the first time in 27 years.  lower case d

FINAL FRED TALLY:   F-r-E-d

 

P.S. It's Friday the 13th 

As always 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

 

Louisville WBB steals the victory at Virginia Tech -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DANA DELIVERS DOWN THE STRETCH -- 71-67 CARDS 

GOOOOooooood Friday mornin' to everyone! It's victory Friday and that means its already a good one.  Have you looked outside yet?! Hehheh   

And today will be my first FRED report with the site.  While I do not already have my grades yet decided, I do know that overall, this will be a positive report because the Cardinals were able to get another ACC game in the books and remain undefeated on the season.  

 

It was a barn burner in Blacksburg as the Hokies gave it everything they had to try and take down the #2 Cardinals late Thursday evening but they would not succeed.  Louisville scratched back to win 71-67, led by Dana Evans who led all scorers with 22 points.  

Olivia Cochran, "O" as Coach Walz refers to her, got the scoring started for Louisville as Kianna Smith, HVL & Dana would follow to put the Cards up 15-6 midway through the first quarter.  Dana started the game with six points through the 1st quarter, four points and a couple assists in the 2nd quarter and I believe she got poked in the eye at one point & had to fetch a new contact from the sideline. But she would not be denied in crunch time. 

 

As a team, the Cards were able to push it to a 16 point lead with 3:51 left in the first half.  In the post game conference, Walz mentioned that he thought the team played sloppy in the final three minutes of the first half and that's where the team saw their lead dwindle to make it close down the stretch.  Tech was able to cut it to a single digit lead, 42-33 Cards, when Asiah Jones grabbed a missed 3 point attempt and put it right back up in underneath the basket at the buzzer.  They took that momentum into the halftime break.  

It was an uncharacteristic third quarter and one I imagine Coach Walz would like to forget...Louisville had six turnovers before the five-minute mark of the 3rd quarter. They then had two more which let the Hokies take the lead 51-50 before Louisville was able to secure a 54-53 lead at the end of the quarter. 

10 turnovers in one quarter. Hardly what we expected.  

The game went back and forth in the 4th quarter before Dana came up huge to tie it up and then take the 69-67 lead with :23 to go. She then came out of the timeout to steal the ball from Tech's freshman guard Georgia Amoore and seal up the victory for the good guys. HVL's two free throws clinched it and the Cards improve to 9-0 and 2-0 in the ACC. 

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

POST GAME thoughts from Coach Walz:

On having Dana down the stretch:  "Nobody (was taking the shot) taking it but Dana.  (We've got) Kianna, excited about having her.. she's gonna get better.  Balogun & Dixon were not in these tight situations last season, HVL and Olivia are freshman.. so having Dana is exciting.. and she's gonna be the one to have the ball."

When Dana getting the steal, checking the clock and holding on:  "We were actually trying to foul.. we had one to give. Overall really pleased how we handled the last minute of the game."

And now...for the FRED Report.. !! 

William Frawley (Fred Mertz)and Lucy
 after watching the third quarter last night...

Free throws You're going to love this discrepancy.. Louisville attempted only seven free throws on the evening while VT managed 26 of them, making 17.   Two very clutch ones by HVL at the end of the game to put the Cards up by four and the game out of reach for the Hokies . 6-7 overall was good for 85.7% from the stripe. That's more than our 70% standard and VT attempted 20 more than the Cards made so that gets a CAPITAL F. (It was a Dee Kanter-led officiating crew, did you expect the Cards would actually get any breaks?) 

Rebounding Louisville was outrebounded by the Hokies 34-33. "O" managed to grab just two rebounds in her 23 minutes on the floor.  Haley Van Lith came up huge, leading the team with seven rebounds in 38 minutes.  Her 38 minutes matched Dana for most on the team.  She also had 15 points.  As great as it is that HVL was able to get seven rebounds, Louisville's "bigs" will have to come up with more grabs for this squad to go deep into any potential tournaments.  lowercase "r"

Effort/Execution Two things I think about from this game .. That was the turnovers in the third quarter and Dana Evans getting fouled and not getting the call when she got hit in the eye and lost a contact!  The Cardinals ended up with 15 turnovers for the game but had TEN in the third quarter! AFTER the no call/contact situation. Ten of them!  VT had 14 of their own.  Louisville had 9 TO's vs UT Martin Tuesday night, they had  eight vs Bellarmine & 13 vs NKU.  After the 3rd quarter the Cards didn't really have another one.. they charged one to HVL but I say it was a foul and another bad call. CAPITAL "E" largely due to Dana's dominance at the end.  She refused to lose. 

Defense It was a pretty low scoring affair between the two teams.   Louisville held VT to 39.3% from the field and 30% beyond the arc. Sheppard went 4-13 from the field and 9 of her 20 points came from the free throw line.  And she made only three threes on the night.  Which gets a good amount of thumbs up from me...  The fouls racked up for the Cards, K.Smith and Balogun both fouling out and combining for five points, eight rebounds and  four assists.  As a team, the Cards had eight steals and four blocks, Evans and HVL with three steals each, the big one at the end by the senior. I'll give it a CAPITAL "D" for the overall effort. 

Final FRED tally :   F-r-E-D 

Hey, not bad for my first FRED report I think?! That's almost an ALL capital performance by the Cardinals against the Hokies. Got a different take? That's what our comments section is for, use it. 

NEW UNI'S 

 

The team also debuted these bad boys for the trip to Blacksburg.  I dig them...  I don't wanna see them all the time but I thought they looked nice on the team.  Dana wore a long sleeve black under shirt which also looked awesome. I think it could work with a white outline instead of a yellow one, as well.

 And this has been your Friday Cardinal Couple fashion update.. (ha ha). 

Seriously, have you checked outside yet? Grab your coffee, find your snow scraper and warm gloves and then go on and have a good morning.  The Cardinals basketball programs had four wins this week, two of them against Virginia Tech.  That's some solid news heading into the weekend.

I'll be on the Saturday morning show with the rest of the squad.  Be safe and warm out there Louisville and Go Cards!

   - Daryl 

Cards Travel to VT -- Academics Accolades -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 Cards Prepare for Game at Virginia Tech

Louisville women's basketball is back in action tonight, just two days after their game against UT Martin. The Cards travel east to Blacksburg to face Virginia Tech. This is just the second ACC game for Louisville, who has seen nine ACC games cancelled or postponed up to this point with more probable in the future. Louisville beat Duke 73-49 back on Dec. 9. The 1-0 mark in conference play puts them in a tie for first in the conference with NC State (5-0) with a 1.000 win percentage.

Virginia Tech enters the game at 6-2 on the year. Their 1-2 conference puts them in the middle of the pack. The Hokies beat Pitt at Cassell Coliseum before falling on the road to Notre Dame and home to Florida State.

The game will be just the fourth for Virginia Tech in the last month. Like Louisville, the COVID-19 situation has made scheduling games difficult.

The Hokies have been led by star forward Elizabeth Kitley 18.8 points and 12 rebounds per game. Like we saw back in the day with Myisha Hines-Allen, Kitley is a walking double-double. She is shooting a stellar 64.8 percent from the field. Virginia Tech has been a solid three-point shooting team. They've shot .403 from deep and make 11.1 per game. Guard Aisha Sheppard is averaging 17.8 points per game highlighted by her 41.8 percent three-point shooting. Sheppard has made 33 threes on the year.

UofL is 22-17 all-time against the Hokies. Most recently, the Cards took down Virginia Tech on Senior Day at the KFC Yum! Center by a score of 70-53. They have won seven straight against the Hokies and have not lost since joining the ACC.

You can catch this one on the Regional Sports Network/Fox Sports South. Tip-off is set for 8:00 p.m., so grab a midday nap if you need one.

If you're having TV trouble you can always tune into Nick Curran and AJ on Cards Radio WKRD 790-AM.

Academic Accolades

We saw a few more teams announce some off the field honors with their excellent academics. 

-- Field Hockey posted a 3.809 team GPA, a program best. 11 of the student-athletes earned a perfect 4.0 and 26 were named Red and Black Scholars (3.25 or higher).

-- Softball had a 3.351 team GPA. Two student-athletes earned a perfect 4.0 and 16 were named Red and Black Scholars.

-- Cross Country and Track and Field combined earned a 3.232 GPA on the women's side. Five scholars earned a perfect 4.0 while 33 were named Red and Black Scholars.

Not only are they incredibly talented on their fields of endeavor, but our student-athletes are super smart. There's plenty to brag about there and we are proud of the awesome academic successes.

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

WBB Cards Gobble Up Hokies 70-53 -- Softball at Tulsa -- Cardinal Couple ACC Tournament Pick 'Em -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SENIOR SUPERLATIVES IN WBB WIN OVER VIRGINIA TECH

On Senior Day, in the KFC YUM! Center, Louisville women's basketball put an exclamation point on the end of the regular ACC season with a convincing 17-point win over Virginia Tech in the KFC YUM! Center. 

10423 filled the lower bowl at the KFC YUM! Center and got in the YUM early to see five seniors get honored before the game. A touching, tears-of-happiness and wonderful tribute to Jess Laemmle, Yacine Diop, Bionca Dunham, Kylee Shook and Jazmine Jones before the game. Each walked to mid-court, with family alongside them, to receive a bouquet of flowers, hugs from Jeff Walz and Vince Tyra and were presented a framed jersey before an appreciative crowd. Overhead, on the scoreboard, tributes to each from family, friends and fans. 

The pre-game love-fest got the Cards a bit teary eyed, as well as many fans, but it also fired up the five seniors (who started) and their teammates and staff. Maybe it's only fitting that Jess would score the fist points of the game. She took a Kylee Shook pass after an offensive rebound, drove into the paint, found a gap in the VT defense and calmly sank a pull up jumper in the paint. Everyone went crazy. How great was seeing that...hard working, never seeking glory, dedicated and dependable Jess hit her first shot? 

It was only the beginning of the beat-down. Bionca Dunham followed suit with a score in the paint and with 5:35 left in the first quarter, Shook got a feed from Jones, found herself open at the top of the circle and drained a three ball. 7-0 Cards. The media timeout was well-needed by Kenny Brooks and VT. They had missed five shots, had two turnovers and were back on their heels (bo pun intended) . 

After the timeout, Dana Evans, who had subbed-in for Jess three minutes into the game, put up her first shot of the game and nailed a three. At 10-3, the rout was on. The appreciative fan base loved what they were seeing. 

And, they got more of it.

Ya-Ya connected on a jumper and then made a steal on defense. She found Jaz in the paint and a turn-around jumper from her was nothing but net. 14-3. Kylee's second three with 1:17 left set the score at 17-5.  All five starters had scored and the Cards would finish out the first quarter with a 19-8 lead. 53% shooting for Louisville, 25% shooting for the guests (3-12). The defense had already forced four turnovers and weren't allowing second chance shots.

Louisville maintained the focus in the second quarter and Walz entered Elizabeth Balogun, Liz Dixon and Kasa Robinson into the romp. VT countered by getting the ball inside to standout freshman center Elizabeth Kitley. Louisville was still shutting down the VT offense early in the second and had pushed the lead out to 26-10 with seven minutes left in the first half after another Evans three. The Hokies re-intensified their effort to get Kitley looks and they were briefly successful. VT went on a 8-0 run over the next two minutes to trim the UofL lead to 26-18. That score still stood at the media timeout.

The teams traded baskets for the next four minutes and the Cards still had a eight-point lead when Jaz went on a mini-run.

Diop found her with a pass and the jumper was good. The Diop-to-Jones connection worked again a minute later and this time a three-ball sank for Jones. Diop continued her spectacular final two minutes of the half by grabbed a Evans missed three with five seconds to go, driving in the paint and scoring as the buzzer went off. 

37-24 Cards at the half. Louisville shooting was pretty decent against the aggressive Tech defense at 16-34 (47.1%). Jaz led all with 11 points, Kylee right behind her with 10 and Kylee's seven rebounds led all players also. 

The refs were "letting them play". Kitley was getting away with mayhem, walks and fouls in the paint against Kylee and Bionca.

She picked up no fouls.

In fact, the Cards only went to the line once in the first 20 minutes. A mere 10 total fouls (seven on Louisville, three on Virginia Tech) were called, total in those 20 minutes. The ref crew of Eric Brewton, Mark Berger and Maggie Tieman were not spinning the pea. Overall, we love that cessation of stopping play...but the jostling in the paint was constant and, it seemed, only Bionca was the "alleged" guilty one -- with two fouls. 

The Cards started the third quarter with defense on their mind and put the thoughts into action. Virginia Tech managed just three points in the first five minutes. In that same time frame, Jaz was taking over and scored seven points. Her "drive the court and take the three" with 5:15 left in the quarter went in and the Cardinal faithful were up and roaring again. The score was 46-27 now. Tech looked frustrated and beat. 

Kasa had the play of the quarter (maybe the game) was 1:33 on the clock. She grabbed an errant Shook shot and took on the VT trees of Trinity Baptiste and Alex Obouh Fegue. She got the shot off, despite being hacked by Obouh Feige. The shot went in over the 6"5" center. For once, someone blew a whistle and Kasa went to the line and completed the old-fashioned three-point play. The heart of a champion is alive and beating in Kasa. She knows no fear, goes for any loose ball in question and her play gave Louisville a 51-32 advantage. Kylee's jumper with 11 seconds to go in the third ended the quarter at 53-32. Guess who made it happen?  A Robinson rebound and feed.  

Guess who started off the final quarter with a bang? That's right, #5 Kasa Robinson. She created a steal, drove the court and made a layup. That number #5 she wears had belonged to visiting Taja Cole during her one year at Louisville. I think it looks pretty good on Kasa. Cole still wears #5 and was approaching a double-double for the Hokies. They were a defeated team, though, and the questions that remained were how would Walz handle the substitutions for the seniors as time waned and who would come out last? 

"E" got into the three-point contest with her first make of the game at the 6:20 mark to make it 60-40 Cards. Virginia Tech came up with a way-too-late, futile surge to go on a 7-2 run in the following two minutes, getting production from their bench, but Evans quieted the run with a beautiful, step-back three with 4:28 to go to make it 65-47.


Coach Walz put Jess back in the game with 3:33 to go and she promptly found Kylee with a pass that set up Kylee's third three-pointer of the night. With 1:32 to play, the substitutions began. Ya-Ya, Kylee, Jaz and Bionca all left the floor, one-by-one, to loud cheers of appreciation from the attendees. Evans came back in...basically because Walz had no active bench player left to substitute for Jess with less than a minute to go...with Lockhart, Duvall, Dixon and Robinson already in the game. 

A 70-53 win over Virginia Tech. The post game celebrations were poignant, each senior looking, pointing and heading to their families in Section 117. Asia Durr was there with her family, her brother T.j. a senior student-athlete manager who was also recognized before the game. She exchanged hugs with me as she and T.J. left their seats to mingle with the team. Samantha Williams was in the house, in from EKU, to see those seniors she loved. She was so influential in their recruitment, spending countless road hours scouting and evaluating them. Convincing Jeff Walz that they had to get Bionca Dunham.

Dunham with a touching moment with boyfriend, football great Mekhi Becton -- who is destined for great things in the NFL. 

What a great, early Sunday in the downtown arena! We now look ahead to the ACC Tournament, but, the final regular season game for five fabulous seniors. They all kissed the Cardinal Bird on the court simultaneously after the game. Wonderful. Excellent. Next? 




THE FRED REPORT

Fred "Mr Rogers" would have agreed.
A wonderful day in the Cards neighborhood

FREE THROWS -- A non-factor in the outcome of this one. Louisville did make three out of four. Dana 2-2. Kasa 1-1. Only 20 fouls called in 40 minutes. Virginia Tech a woeful 2-8 from the stripe. 3-4 is 75%. That meets our standards and we'll award the CAPITAL "F". 

REBOUNDS -- Kylee with 12 and Bionca with nine as the Cards out-rebounded the school from Blacksburg, VA 36-31. Kasa with four grabs was fantastic, also. That'll get another high mark and a CAPITAL "R" for controlling the boards.

EFFICIENCY/EXECUTION -- Louisville limited the miscues with just eight turnovers. They tallied 18 assists on 29 made baskets. Nine threes made for 36%. The Cards excelled at points-off-turnovers (21-7) and 2nd Chance points (16-4). Let's keep the capital letters rolling, a CAPITAL "E" for smart, effective play. 

DEFENSE -- Spectacular again, with just 53 points allowed. 21 of those came in the fourth quarter for VT, when the issue was long decided and over. Louisville forced 17 turnovers, had five steals and had their seventh straight game where they held the foe to less than sixty points. Yes, the three you expected might shine for VT (Mabrey, Cole and Kitley) did reach double figures, but, three on five rarely wins a game for the "three". I'll end the final stat we track in the final regular season Fred report with a CAPITAL "D". 

FINAL FRED RECAP:  F-R-E-D


THEY SAID IT

Post-game presser comments below: 

KYLEE SHOOK/JAZ JONES

VT's KENNY BROOKS, TAJA COLE, ELIZABETH KITLEY

JEFF WALZ



SOOOO...

There was worry about a good Virginia Team coming in here, needing a win to get the double bye in the ACC Tournament. 

That worry soon turned into a raucous, Cardinal Community celebration. The WBB Cards are hot, winners of six in a row, and go into the ACC Tournament trending and running on all eight cylinders.

They'll take the court Friday at 2 p.m. Up first? Either Syracuse or Virginia, who are the Thursday #8 vs #9 combatants. 

This has been an amazing, wonderful regular season ride. One bump, yes, but so many big wins, stories to proudly relate to and players who bought in, brought it and delivered. I'll miss these five, but, not ready to say good bye to them yet. I'm wanting three more game in Greensboro with a ACC Tournament champ title, and then see the Cards end the season with six more wins and a National Championship. 

Who's with me? 

I'll be providing updates, live on the scene in Greensboro, starting Wednesday night. The party continues...

(PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON)


SOFTBALL WINS AT TULSA 3-2

Taylor Roby provided the fireworks and heroics yesterday against Tulsa, with a top of the eighth inning "grass, wall...touch 'em all" home run to give the Cards a 3-2 win. Her team-leading sixth home run of the year came on the Cards first batter of the inning on a 0-2 count

Roby also pitched the final three innings of the contest to get the pitching win...shutting down the Hurricane in the bottom of the eighth to clinch it. 

Louisville jumped out to a 2-0 lead in this one, a run in the first inning on a Carmyn Greenwood solo shot and another in the fourth inning. Jenni Servi reached on a fielder's choice in the fourth, stole second and scored on a Celene Funke single. 

The Cards (7-12) return home and will play their first home game of the season Friday when they welcome Illinois to Ulmer Stadium to start the Red and Black Challenge Tournament. 

Welcome home, Cards Softball! Play great in my absence and take all five games!


THE CARDINAL COUPLE ACC TOURNAMENT CONTEST

Yes, we're running the popular event again this March! 

Entries MUST be in by 1 p.m. Wednesday. 

Earliest entry gets the nod in a tie. 

You can submit your picks a couple of ways. They way we prefer is to leave them in any of the comments sections here at the site over the next three days. If needed, you can e-mail Jared Anderson, bracket judge and jury, at: 

eupherjared@gmail.com

As a last resort, send them to me (Paulie) at: cardinalcouple@twc.com

If you don't see your picks in the leader board, it's a possibility we didn't get them. Sorry, but no entries after Wednesday 1 p.m. We will not review any "you missed my picks" claims that surface a couple of days after the start of the contest. E-mail Jared if you have a question. 

We cannot guarantee a "text" attempt will be received or entered. Don't do it. 

We'll provide updates after each round. 

If you're new at this, we'll reveal Sonja's Picks for you today and her format for listing them. Remember, your entry should have fourteen winners on it: 

SONJA SAYS: 

Wednesday: North Carolina, Notre Dame, Clemson
Thursday: Virginia Tech, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Boston College
Friday: Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina St., Boston College
Saturday: Louisville, North Carolina St.
Sunday: Louisville

Enter your picks in other formats that you care to, use abbreviations if you wish, but make sure you identify your pick clearly and correctly (if it's a "state" school like Florida State or North Carolina State, make sure you put "ST" or "State" in the pick). "Tech" schools need the state name in front of them (Virginia or Georgia). 

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE BRACKET AT THE LINK WE'VE PROVIDED BELOW:

LINK: 2020 ACC WBB BRACKET

Have fun, good luck and choose wisely...


paulie
xxxxx








  

   

Louisville WBB Faces Hokies Today -- Softball Splits again -- CCRH -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS HOPE TO GOBBLE UP HOKIES

Fresh off the win over Syracuse Thursday night in the KFC YUM! Center, the Cards take to the road and will go Hokie-hunting Sunday afternoon in Blacksburg, VA in a noon battle against Virginia Tech. 

VT is an interesting foe. Under head coach Kenny Brooks (one of my favorite coaches in the ACC beside our 'mad scientist') ...they zoomed out to an impressive 13-0 start to the season against a bunch of non-conference "palookas" and "academic colleges" (to quote Milt Wagner). Schools such as USC Upstate, Monmouth, Radford, Mt. St. Mary's and Longwood don't normally strike fear into the heart of Power 5 conference teams and these were easy wins for Brooks' bunch. Impressive, yes, that they did beat Villanova, Ohio State and Rutgers...three schools that normally produce pretty good WBB products each year and are well-coached. 

Then came the ACC part of the schedule.

At 2-7 in conference play, VT has been less than satisfying. The first three games were losses, by less than eight each, to Syracuse, Miami and Virginia. Notre Dame followed and blew the Gobblers out by 29-points. NC State took a nine-point "W" over the Blacksburg ballers and UNC trumped them by 12. At 0-6, things weren't going so well. A close loss to FSU provided a bit of hope and led to the Hokies win streak of two in a row, against ACC doormat Pitt and mid-pack, but improved, ACC foe Boston College...who lost Taylor Ortlepp late with an ankle injury.


With just seven games left in conference play before the ACC Tournament, Virginia Tech needs wins to get back to at least .500 and keep any flickering NCAA Tournament hopes kindling. I don't see them getting one today. After the Cards
it's... at Duke, at Ga. Tech, Miami, at Clemson, Virginia and Wake Forest for Kenny and the Techs.

I have a hard time seeing them getting six wins in the remaining six games after Louisville and climbing to an 8-8 regular-season conference mark with this slate remaining. Yes ,all are beatable and I don't see NC State, Notre Dame, or Syracuse in the above list...but Miami and Clemson aren't exactly melted butter and Virginia already has a win over Hokie-nation. 

Names on the VT squad you might want to know are Taylor Emery, Regan Magarity and Dana Mabrey. Emery, a senior, leads VT with 17.9 points a contest. Magarity, a red-shirt senior leads the ACC with 12.5 rebounds per game. Freshman Mabrey is good for 12.4 per outing and is a legit three-point threat at 48.7%, tops in the ACC. If the name sounds familiar, her older sis...Marina...toils for the Irish of Notre Dame. 

Series history in the ACC has the Cards 5-0 against the Hokies. Overall, UofL leads 20-17. The Cards are 7-10 lifetime in the Cassell Coliseum, those losses coming from the old Metro Conference and C-USA days. There was a 20 year gap in the schools meeting each other from 1990-2015. 

#2 Louisville needs to just play Cardinal basketball and score points in order to go to 23-1 on the year. A week off for the Cards from competition after this one, not returning to games until next Sunday, when the Canes come calling. 

RSN is listed as the viewing option, that usually means Fox Sports South in our Kentuckiana area. Radio is always a great choice with Nick and A.J. on Cards Radio 790 WKRD. 

Louisville escaped with a 73-70 win the last time the two met, in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament last year. I don't expect this game today to be nearly as close, but, on the road, in the ACCs proved to be deadly last Thursday to the two schools formally tied with the Cards atop the conference race (NC State and Notre Dame). 


The Cards hope to get an early lead, put their stellar defense to work and call on the outside skills of Durr, Evans, Carter and (dare I say it?) Jazmine Jones. Inside, here's hoping Kylee continues her upward trend and Louisville gets the normally dependable paint performances out of Sam and Bionca.

People speak at times of potential "trap" games and Jeff Walz will tell you there is no such thing as a "trap" game in the ACC...but this has the signs and warnings of being one, if you believe in the trap game scenario...if the Cards don't come out and take care of business. 

Go get the ball. Put it ball in the basket. Score points. Grab rebounds. Play defense.

Mission assigned. Carry on. 


SOFTBALL SPLITS IN THE TITAN CLASSIC

If you followed the Friday Louisville Softball results, a scoreless loss and blowout win, the same scenario unfolded in day two of action in Fullerton, CA.

In the first game, Louisville jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the first two innings against Buffalo. Redshirt freshman Taylor Roby continued to impress at the bat, with a two-RBI double in the first inning. UofL tacked on five more runs in the second, triples from Celene Funke and Caitlin Ferguson proved to be the "big swats" and three Bison errors certainly didn't hurt. 

Roby also made her pitching debut for the Cards and it was all systems go for the Mt. Washington, KY native. She stuck out nine Buffalo batters and allowed just one hit in five innings. Look out Lindsey Duvall, the town-folk of Mt.Washington might be naming a park or street after Roby if this keeps up. 

Freshman catcher Rebecca Chung had the Cards final three RBI's to seal the deal via run-rule. 10-0 Cards. It would appear that Holly Aprile has some hitters on her roster.

At times. 

In the second game of the day, a pitcher's duel developed. Six scoreless innings of softball between UofL and Northwestern. In the circle for the Cards was sophomore sensation Danielle Watson. This was a "battle of the Danielle's"...featuring Wildcat pitcher Danielle Williams as the other hurler. 

A triple and sacrifice fly gave Northwestern a 1-0 lead in the top of the seventh. The Cards started the bottom of the seventh in fine fashion with "that Funke music" and a leadoff triple for center-fielder Celene. Sadly, three subsequent Louisville batters could not get her to home plate and the Wildcats took a 1-0 win back to their lair. 

Props to Watson for doing all she could. Allowing just two hits and getting six "punch-outs" in seven innings. Louisville wraps up their stay in California with a test against Utah St. today. 


LACROSSE AT MARQUETTE TODAY

Louisville Lacrosse plays their second game of the season today at Marquette. The "Stick and Net" gals had a rough patch of it against Northwestern Friday and hope to bounce back against a Golden Eagles squad that hosted Notre Dame to start the year and lost 19-4.

Best of luck to Teeter's team. We'll recap it tomorrow. These scenarios of three sports on the same day are always fun-times around the antiquated Paulie laptop. 



THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

Another Saturday morning in studio with the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports happened yesterday at WCHQ 100.9 FM, in the majestic, marvelous media mansion on Mellwood.  

CCRH featured me, Case, Jared and Daryl on the left side of the tables this week (Worldwide still stalking Crocodile Dundee, Asia Taylor and Kiwis) and we discussed Cardinal WBB mostly, with additional coverage of Softball, Lacrosse, Women's Tennis and other assorted minutia and trivia that usually pops up in our weekly broadcasts.

We learned Daryl doesn't care much for Kroger. Jared is a night-owl and Case remains the undisputed master and champion of the world and area beyond in scheduling and Twitter information.

YORKIES RULE. 

A special thanks to Colin Trask, senior engineer at WCHQ, for coming in to run the show, turn the knobs, slide the levers, monitor You Tube Live and play the sound effects and music.  I think he even had some fun in the process as well, listening to our madcap, random banter. 

We were on You Tube Live instead of Facebook Live, one of the changes going on at the station and check out (most of) the show at the link below. We lost about ten minutes at the start of the show. No big deal, it was just introductions and free-form rambling about Jared's "beveraging" and National Anthem experience, Daryl ranting and me and Case just sitting back and letting the dialogue flow. 

LINK: THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 2/9/19


Have a super Sunday and GO CARDS! 

paulie
xxxxx