Strong second half takes WBB Cards past Vermont 72-52 -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SECOND HALF SURGE, BALANCED SCORING LEADS CARDS TO WIN OVER VERMONT. 

Jeff Walz will tell you. The players will tell you, Vermont is a very good basketball squad. They came into the KFC YUM! Center and had the majority of the nearly 6,000 in attendance wondering if they were going to upset the Cards in the first round of the NCAA WBB Tournament  on their home floor. Finaly, Louisville gotthe wake up call and played like a #3 seed should against a #14 seed. . 

After one quarter, Vermont had a one-point lead at 17-16 and led by four at one time in the first quarter. They had gone on a 7-0 run to go up by four after trailing by three and Keira Hanson was leading an inspired squad. 

Louisville regroupled, though and came back to win the second quarter against the #14 seed in this Ft. Worth region 16-11. The scoret at the half 32-28 at the half...but Louisville was not out of danger yet. Mackenly Randolph had played all twety minutes for the Cards and led then with eight points. The Cards were shooting 36% and were looking sluggish at times. One had to wonder if the dismissial of Skylar Jones from the squad was having a negative effect on the team. Vermont was shooting 11-25 (44%) and looking a lot more formidable that a #14 seed should. 

Whatever Walz said at the half to the squad or whatever the squad decided as a group in the final twenty minutes worked. After seeing Vermont crawl back within two at 32-30, UofL went to work and stretched the lead out to 43-32 with about three minutes ledt in the third quarter after a 11-2 run. Balanced scoring was getting it done for Louisville and the Cards were up 55-38 after a Laura Ziegler three to end the third period. The 23-10 Louisville advantage in the third had a lot of Cardinal fans breathing easier. 

Louiville built the lead up to 24 at 65-41 on a Taj Roberts layup with 7:15 to play in the game and the Cards were looking quite a bit better in the second half. Vermot did outscore the Cards 11-7 the rest of the way but the outcome had been decided with that Louisville huge third quarter run.  

"Yabba Dabba Doo...Cards advance to round two"

THE FRED REPORT  

Free Throws -- The Cards went 6-11 from the line and 54% is lower than the 70% or better we mandate to earn a letter. NO LETTER.

Rebounding --  UofL had a huge edge here with a 40-17 domination on the boards. Randolph led the Cards with 11 . CAPITAL "R".

Execution/Effort -- Louisville shot 42.% for the contest and the 50% shooting in the final twenty minutes was impressive. The Cards had only eight turnovers and acquired 13 assists on 29 made baskets. Since this was a 'going away' win, we'll bestow a CAPITAL "E"

Defense -- The Cards created 14 turnovers, had nine steals and held Vermont to 40% shooting. Good numbers but only worth a small "d". 

FInal Fred Tally -- _-R-E-d

The Cards move on to face Alabama on Monday. Game time is noon and it'll be on ESPN if you cannot attend. . 

POST GAME WALZ, RANDOLPH AND ROBERTS.

NCAA SECOND ROUND MATCHUPS

Yes, over half the teams have already been eliminated. From 68 to 32.. All #1 seed are still dancing and the highest seed remaining is #10 Virginia. 23 states still have teams playing and Texas has the most with three (Texas, Texas Tech and Baylor) 

 Herre they are: 

REGION 1: UConn, Syracuse, Maryland, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Ohio St. ,Illinois, Vandy 

REGION 2: UCLA, Oklahoma.St, Mississippi, Minnesota, Baylor, Duke, Texas Tech, LSU

REGION 3: Texas, Oregon, Kentucky, West Virginia, Alabama, Louisville, North Carolina St, Michigan 

REGION 4: South Carolina, USC, Michigan St. Oklahoma, Washington, TCU, Virginia, Iowa. 

 

paulie

 

Cards Lose Guard -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Opens NCAA Without Skylar Jones

Louisville women's basketball will begin their 2026 NCAA Tournament run today in the Yum! Center, but we learned yesterday that they'll do so with a surprising change to the roster. Coach Jeff Walz announced yesterday that Skylar Jones is no longer with the Cardinals program. In a statement, Walz said, "She will not be participating [in the NCAA Tournament]. She's no longer with the team, so we've just parted ways. It's best for both parties."

Rumors will fly, to be sure, but we try not to participate in the rumor mill itself. It sounds as though there was a disconnect between Jones, the coaching staff, and potentially teammates, and that disconnect didn't lend itself to a cohesive team going into the tournament. Regardless of your individual opinion of the player and her effectiveness, it is fair to say that a shakeup like that is bound to have interesting effects on the way the team performs going forward. 

Jones played in all 34 games for Louisville this season, starting one. She averaged just 16.6 minutes per game, though, the fewest of any player that played in every game. Jones shot 30.8% from three, making 20, and 44.6% from the field, making 104. She averaged 2.9 rebounds, and she had 33 assists and 51 steals. However, she had 56 fouls (nearly one per ten minutes played) and 41 turnovers. 

We'll have to wait and see exactly what happens with the offense without a significant role player off the bench. Jeff Walz has done plenty with his teams, especially personnel management, to earn trust, but this is definitely an interesting decision. 

Louisville tips off against Vermont at 12pm today in the Yum! Center. The game will be on ESPN. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

With Cards WBB...the weapons could come from a variety of sources -- Friday Cardinal Couple

 SEVEN CARDS AVERAGING OVER EIGHT POINTS A GAME.

I wouldn't want to be an opposing coach preparing to play Jeff Walz's Louisville WBB squad. 

Normally a coach will clue his team in on the two or three opposing players that are the ones to watch and stop in order to win. If you are preparing for Louisville...you need to keep an eye on Tajianna Roberts, Laura Ziegler, Imani Berry. Elif Istanbulluoglu, Skyalr Jones, Mackenly Randolph and Reyna Scott. All are capable of taking a game over and ruining an opponent's night. 

Roberts, Ziegler and Berry are the three points threats. And, if Anaya Hardy is healthy and ready to go. it's a eight-pack of trouble that can score, rebound and shut you down on defense. Istanbulluoglu is playing arguably her best ball of her career right now and very few can prepare a team for post-season play like Jeff Walz.  

In the Cards seven losses this year, a few of them were probable. UConn is the nmber #1 team in the country...forget about this UCLA talk. Kentucky got a huge effort out of Key, Strack and Morgan to pull away in the second half and the Cats are a #5 seed in...you guessed it....the same bracket (Ft. Worth 3) as Louisville..they could meet in the Ft Worth 3 region final. 

South Carolina was expected to handle Louisville pretty easily but the Cards narrowly lost to them by two. Duke is that good, and beat the Cards in both meetings. Virginia was a narrow two point loss on the road and Notre Dame got a out-of-this-world effort out of Hannah Hildago. 

The key for Louiville to advance? Obviously, to win at home in rounds 1 and 2 and defeat Texas in Texas. Maybe the Longhorns could get knocked off, but I wouldnt bet against them reaching the Sweet Sixteen. Maybe the Cards get Kentucky again and play better and with more focus and killer instinct. 

It's the start of the "second season" for college basketball. It should be a fun run for Louisville and let's hope "It's in the cards for the Cards"  They play Vermont Saturday at noon, and it's a ESPN game. 

paulie

WBB to face Vermont in first round WBB NCAA Tournament. -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS WBB ENTER NCAA TOURNAMENT 27-7

Louisville WBB enters the 2026 NCAA Tournament against Vermont. The Cards are the #3 seed in one of the Ft. Worth regions,while Vermont is the #14 seed. Alabama and Rhode Island will be the other two teams in the Louisville pod. Games will take place on March 21st and March 23rd. 

Rally the Catamount

Both the Cards and the Catamounts have a 27-7 record. Your first question may be.."so what is a catamount?"  A Catamount is a legendary mountain cat...similar to a cougar or panther....that roamed the Green Mountain around Vermont University.  An interesting tidbit about how the catamount became the mascot...the school had four nicknames to choose from...the Cows, the Tomcats, the Camels and the Catamounts. I'm not positive on this but I am guessing the team would have been a bit intimdated walking onto an opponent's court with a cow mascot and hearing moos from the stands. 

Nikola Priede

The on-court WBB Catamounts are led by Nikola Priede and her 17.4 points a game. Priede is from Lativa and a 6'2" senior center.  Also in double figures for UVM are Keira Hanson at 14.1 ppg and Jadyn Weltz at 11.0 a game. 

Alisa Kresge is the Catamount head coach and has a 141-88 record at the school. She began her caoching with Vermont in 2019 and also was a player at Marist U.  

The 2025-26 Catamounts

The Vermont losses came against High Point, Washington, Lindenwood, Holy Cross, Binghamton, Maine and UMBC. They won the America East Conference Tournament (in Burlington, Vermont) with wins over Albany. UMBC and Maine. 

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

We won't be running a NCAA WBB Pick 'em contest this year. Personnel changes at Cardinal Couple and my questionable health these days make it a "no-go" . I will offer a few picks on tournament games in the Friday Cardinal Couple,



paulie
                                                                                                                                                      

Sofftball heads to WKU -- Wednesday Cardinal Couple

 SOFTBALL TAKES 20-7 RECORD TO WKU FOR MID-WEEK MATCHUP

The Softball Cards step out of conference play to travel to Bowling Green for a Wednesday affair against WKU . 

The Cards return from a weekend battle against Clemson where they lost Friday and Saturday and won Sunday against the Tigers. WKU is 10-6 on the season and 3-3 in C-USA.

It'll be a 7 p.m. start and will be available on ESPN+  

WKU is 13-0 at home this season and comes off a 7-1 road loss at Jacksonville State. They dropped the three game series at Jax St. and, in case you were wondering, this Jacksonville State squad is in Alabama..not Florida. 

The Cards lead the series 22-4 against the softball Hiilltoppers but WKU is mising only one starter from last year and, unlike Louisville, they are a fence swinging bunch that has 31 home runs on the season. compared to the Cards 15. 

The Toppers pitching staff is faring quite well...with a EPA of 2.19. Western KY has won seven times this season in five-inning contests. 

They are batting .341 through 25 games and were on a win streak of 13 games at home before losing to Jax.St.

We'll have the recap for you, plus the WBB preview for Ist round Cards WBB NCAA action here tomorrow. 

paulie

Lacrosse Gets Midweek Break -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Off for Spring Break

Louisville lacrosse has had a tough go of it so far this season, so spring break comes at a good time for them. The Cards are 4-5 overall and sit at just 1-4 in conference after taking a thrilling 11-10 OT win over Cincinnati on Thursday and then falling 14-16 in a heartbreaker at Duke on Saturday. The Blue Devils are ranked 15th in the country, so it is encouraging to see Louisville hang with them, but the game was ultimately another in a long line of "coulda, shoulda, woulda" games that the lacrosse program has seen since joining the ACC. 

Louisville opened the season with a pair of losses before taking their first win against Kent State. The good vibes from that victory were short lived as a trip to Chapel Hill loomed on the weekend. The Cards fell at the hands of the #1 Tar Heels 24-3 and moved to just 1-3 overall and 0-2 in conference. A win over Canisius put Louisville over .500 in non-conference play (2-1), but they continued their alternating wins and losses with a tough 13-10 defeat against Syracuse at home on the last day of February. The Orange were ranked 12th at the time.

The Cards started March with a bang, hosting a rare midweek conference game when they brought Florida State into UofL Lacrosse Stadium. Louisville beat the Seminoles 15-5 to get off the 0-fer mark in conference play. That set up the first winning streak of the season for the Cards when they defeated Cincinnati last week, but it was the shortest possible streak following the loss to Duke. Still, back-to-back wins is somewhere to start, and Louisville is now 3-1 in non-conference play. That they are 1-4 in conference is difficult, but there is still time to get some momentum in conference play. 

After this mid-week break, Louisville will host three straight matches at home. They'll play California this Saturday, Vanderbilt next Wednesday, and Virginia on 3/28. The Cards are guaranteed to finish above .500 in non-conference play, as the Vandy match is their final non-ACC competition of the season, barring an NCAA appearance. Vandy is also Louisville's penultimate mid-week game of the regular season, as they'll get breaks two weeks in a row before closing the season on the road at Notre Dame on Thursday, April 16th. Before that match, they'll face Stanford on the road and Pittsburgh at home. 

The Cards are currently tied for second to last in the ACC with Cal, so there is work to do if they want to make the ACC tournament. Only the top eight teams make it, and there are 13 competing schools. Fortunately for Louisville, most of their remaining opponents are directly competing for one of those eight spots. Unfortunately for Louisville, they still have to play Stanford, who is undefeated. The Cards missed a big opportunity against Virginia Tech in the ACC opener, as the Hokies are one of three teams at 2-3 (Notre Dame, Clemson). Virginia is 3-2 (losses to Stanford and Clemson) and Pitt is 2-4 (wins over Duke and VT). There's still way too much that can happen before we can look at scenarios, but winning on Saturday is a must. 

The Cards are led offensively this season by sophomore Ella Berg. Berg had six goals and three assists in the first five games of the season last year before suffering a season-ending injury. This season, she has started all nine games and scored 23 of Louisville's 103 goals. She also has five assists, tied with Reese Whiteman. Whiteman is second on the team in points, scoring one less goal than Berg. The two have taken the same number of shots (49), though Berg is slightly more accurate, with four more on target. 

Charlotte Jackson, Maggie McMahon, and Erin Nicholson are the other three Cardinals with double-digit goals, as Jackson has 14 and McMahon and Nicholson both have 11. Jackson leads the team with eight assists, while McMahon has six. Nicholson is a senior midfielder who takes deadly advantage of her opportunities, scoring 11 goals on just 27 shots, with 19 of those on target. Most efficient is Grayce Kitchen, who has eight goals on just 12 shots (11 SOG). Kitchen is also second on the team with seven assists. Senior captain Rian Adkins has eight goals and six assists. 

Sophomore Haley Richards has solidified her position as this team's goalkeeper. Richards has started all nine games and has played nearly every minute. Her only time out of the net during which Louisville had any goalie in the back was against UNC. She was pulled after three quarters when the score was 18-3 to give Campbell Murray the opportunity to get beat up by the Tar Heels. Coming off in that game gave Richards the opportunity to stay above 50% save percentage. She has allowed 107 goals and made 108 saves. 

It's all to play for with just a month left in the regular season, so let's see what this squad can do as they chase their first full season above .500 (they were 5-4 in 2020) since 2017. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Softball scores late to beat Clemson -- Cards WBB in NCAA -- Monday Cardinal Couple

 Down 6-0, Softball slugs back for 7-6 win at Clemson

For awhile, it looked like Louisville Softball was going to get beat on Sunday. The Tigers put six runs on the Cards in five innings and Louisville was running out of chances. Someone forget to tell UofL that it was over, though.

UofL rallied for a five-run sixth inning to get within one at 6-5 and then plated two more runs in the top of the seventh to go up 7-6 and hold on for salvage a win in the weekend series. 

Louisville (20-7) look flat and listless under the sixth inning explosion. 

Chelsea Mack got the inning underway with a bunt single to start the inning.  after Bri Despines was sent to the dugout, looking at a third strike, Taylor Monore singled and the Cards had runners o the corners. Camryn Lookadoo sent a double to deep center that scored Mack and Monroe. Madison Pickens singled home Lookadoo and Clemson decided it was time for a change in the circle. The Tigers got a second out, but Ava Ventureli sent a ball out of McWhorter Stadium over the left center fence. It was now 6-5 and the Cards were flapping their wings.  After Brooke Gray retired the Tigers with no runs , Louisville returned to bat in the top of the seventh. Mack ground out to start the inning but despines got a base on balls. 

After Clemson got an openng single in the home half of the inning...they had a infield pop up out and two fly outs...one to center and one to right field. 

After one out in the seventh the cards a Lookadoo triple that scored Despines and she scored on a Pickens single to put the Cards up 7-6.

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

LOUISVILLE WBB SENT TO FORT WORTH REGION 3 AS A #3 SEED

We'll have more on this Tuesday, but Louisville women's basketball was assigned the #3 seed in the fort Worth reegion Tree NCAA WBB Tournament bracket and will open at home against # 14 Vermont. 

#6 seed Alabama and #11 seed Rhode Islnd will also be coming to town to play in the Louisville pod. March 21t and 23rd are the game dates . 

The #1 seed in the Cards region is Texas. Beter than UCLA or UConn, I suppose...although Texas playing in the ft. Worh regional?  Yeah, of course. 

paulie

Clemson gets Saturday Shutout over Softball Cards 4-0 -- WBB Projection -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS CURTAILED AT CLEMSON 4-0

(Courtesy Clemson Athletics)

Clemson scored all their runs in the first three innings and Louisville could just manage three hits in seven innings against Clemson pitcher Abby Dunning. She pitched the complete game to take Clemson to 19-8 on the season, while the Cards fell to 19-7 this year. UofL was getting runners on the bags early but unable to get any of them to home plate.

The Tigers pieced together three singles in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. It turned out to be all they needed but they added three more runs in the contest for the 4-0 win. 

Louisville had their best chance to score in the third inning went they managed to fill the bases with just one out. Dunning got out of the jam, though...getting a full count strike out and an infield pop fly to end the inning.

The two squads meet for the series finale tomorrow at McWhorter Stadium for a noon start. It'll be on ACCNX. 

NCAA WBB BRACKET PROJECTIONS

Autumn Jackson jnows her NCAA WBB better than most. I like to look at her projections more than Charlie Creme's. Here's what she came up with for the 2006 Tournament: 

REGION I -- FT WORTH

The top seed here is projected to be UConn. Vandy is the second seed, followed by Ohio State and then West Virginia.

REGION ii -- SACRAMENTO

UCLA get the top seed projection here. LSU is projected to be the second seed...followed by the Cards in the third seed and Maryland as the #4. 

REGION III -- FT WORTH

i guess I'm still not used to having two cities for regions instead of four, but that's the way that it is. Texas is the top guess for Fort Worth 2, followed by Duke, Michigan aand Oklahoma.

REGION IIII -- SACRAMENTO

The #1 seed here is probably going to be South Carolina, with Iowa second, TCU third and Minnesota at #4. 

It'll be on ESPN tonight at 8 p.m. 

paulie

Softball Falls at Clemson -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Lose Opener 8-6

Louisville jumped out to a big lead to open the first inning by scoring four runs, but Clemson returned the favor with five in the bottom half. The Cards regained the lead with a pair in the second but wouldn't score again as they lost 8-6 to open the series at Clemson. Louisville moved to 19-6 overall and 2-2 in conference play. The two teams will continue the series at 1PM this afternoon. 

Louisville opened with back-to-back hits from Easton Lotus and Chelsea Mack. With their two fastest players on base, the Cards looked to the heart of the lineup, but Bri Despines struck out looking and Camryn Lookadoo grounded back to the pitcher. Madison Pickens was hit by a pitch to load the bases, and a single from Jordan Williams and a throwing error scored two. Taylor Monroe got the same luck on her single, and Pickens came in to score. Riley Janda walked to reload the bases, and a passed ball scored Williams to give the Cards four. 

Anna Wise got the start in this one and she got off to a good one, earning a flyout and a groundout to open the game. It unraveled after that. Three straight singles scored a run and a walk reloaded the bases. A grand slam gave Clemson the lead back, and a single followed, meaning Wise put six straight players on base. The runner stole second and Holly Aprile decided that was enough, putting Zabala into the circle. Zabala struck out the next batter to end the inning. 

Lotus reached base again with one out in the second and advanced to second on a wild pitch. That advancement didn't matter a lot, as Chelsea Mack walked anyway. Despines grounded out, but it was productive and moved both players up. Lookadoo scored Lotus with an error by the short stop, and Pickens knocked in Mack to give Louisville the 6-5 lead. 

Zabala followed with two scoreless innings, but Louisville's offense was unable to find any insurance runs. Clemson decided to employ some small ball in the fourth, laying down four straight bunts to go single, SAC, single, SAC RBI (reached on fielder's choice). With the game tied and runners on first and second, Clemson started swinging again, which worked well for Zabala, who struck out the next two batters to end the inning. 

Clemson broke the tie in the bottom of the sixth. A fly out opened the inning, but it was followed by a triple and a single to give the Tigers the lead. Jayden Gohs entered at pitcher, and a double scored another run. Gohs was able to get out of the inning, but the Cards were down to their final three outs. They had the middle of the order up, but three straight groundouts made for a three-up, three-down inning and a disappointing end to a hot start. 

With Wise getting lit up to open yesterday's game (over the course of 42 pitches) and Zabala throwing 78 pitches over nearly five innings, it will be interesting to see who gets the start today. The Cards will need to make some more of their own magic on offense, as they aren't likely to benefit from as many unearned runs today. First pitch is at 1PM on ACC Network Extra.

Until next time, Go Cards

Case

LAX gets the win over Cincinnati 11-10 in overtime -- Friday Cardinal Couple

 LAX CARDS TAKE THRILLER AT UC. 

Louisville Lacrosse overcame a 7-4 halftime deficit and forced an overtime against the Cincinnati Bearcats Thursday at Nippert Stadium. The two squads have built up a pretty nice and challenging rivalry in recent years and yesterday was no exception.

UC jumped out to a 3-0 lead on the LaxCards but Louisville was able to battle back to get within one at 4-3 t the end of the first quarter.  The Bearcats re-established dominance, though, and won the second quarter 3-1 to grab the 7-4 halftime lead. 

Louisville took the third quarter 2-0 to get back within one goal and the fourth quarter was a wild affair, the Cards battling back from a 10-8 deficit to tie it late in the quarter. 

Ella Berg

The squads went to the extra session and Ella Berg got the game winner in overtime on a wrap around shot, seconds after returning to the contest after sitting out a minute for a penalty. 

Maggie McMahon led Louisville in scoring with two goals and two assists. 

The Cards go to 4-4 with the win and will face Miami Saturday