Lax, Softball suffer Saturday Setbacks -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

 HOMESTANDING LAX AND SOFTBALL TAKE ACC LOSSES

Not exactly a championship day down on Floyd Street Saturday...as Louisville Lacrosse fell to Syracuse in the LLS on the south end of the campus on Floyd St and then Louisvile Softball got outscored by Stanford in Ulmer on the north end of Floyd.St

In LAX, Louisville got the first score of the contest, but Syracuse responded with five straight goals to go up 5-1. The Cards would close the gap to one by halftime, trailing 6-5.

Syracuse used a strong third quarter to gain a 10-6 lead over Scott Teeter's LAX Cards. Louisville got the first two goals on the second half to get back within two at 10-8, but #13 Syracuse battled back to gain a 13-8 advantage and held off Louisville's late rally to get their first ACC win of the season 13-10. 

Cards LAX  attacker Ellen Berg. 

For UolfL, Ellen Berg scored a career high of four goals to lead UofL. Louisville, now 2-4 overall on the season are 0-3 in ACC play.

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On the north end of Floyd Street, Louiville softball got involved in a run scoring battle with visiting Stanford and saw a nice lead falter late in a 10-8 loss to the Cardinal. 

That's right..the Cardinal beat the Cardinals.

Stanford jumped out early on UofL and scored three runs in the first inning.on starter Brooke Gray, who was relieved after one out after allowing three runs scored. Madi Reeves took over for UofL and gave them three innings in the circle and gave up three runs before giving way to Anna Wise. Wise got the loss hung on her, she gave up three runs in just one inning pitching and gave way to Alyssa Zabala, who threw 2.2 innngs and allowed just one run on two hits.

The Holly Aprlle led softball Cards trailed 9-6 after 4 innings but the two sqiads just managed a run each the rest of the way

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We do apologize for not having Jared Anderson pictures for these contests. Without going into detail, he has..unwillingly..resigned, for now as our photographer. You'd figure after over 20 years of covering UofL sports, I'd receive just a little more respect. After all, Bob Valvano gets his X account hijacked and it's all one big "oops, I'm sorry" deal. As for me, I get hacked and get sent to solitary.. Nevertheless, I write for the joy and excitement of UofL women's athletics. I don't thnk they can stop me from doing that. 

I also miss the post game coaches interviews that I used to do, but with kidney failure, dialysis and also being recently diagnosed with hypoxemia. my daily activities are greatly curtailed .  

On this first day of March, it looks like the month came in like a lamb, according to the old wives tale, it'll be going out like a lion.  .

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Worth repeating: 

"What we've got to be able to do is make sure we execute at the offensive end," UofL coach Jeff Walz said. "You have to pass-fake. You've got to make sure you don't let Hidalgo take things over at the defensive end and come up with 8-9 steals and, the next thing you know, she's scoring some layups because you're not doing a good job of keeping her off balance."

paulie

Late Rally Boosts SB Cards -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Beats #13 Stanford 8-3

The Louisville softball team opened their long homestand and ACC season with a resounding win last night. The Cards brought in the Cardinal from Stanford and treated the #13/16 team to an 8-3 defeat in just Louisville's second game at Ulmer this season. Louisville is facing Stanford in their first ACC series of the year, but it's a bit out of sequence, as the Cards will host a pair of midweek games sandwiching the Cardinal Classic before their next ACC series comes on the road starting on March 13th. 

Alyssa Zabala took the start for Louisville yesterday evening and got off to a bit of an unfortunate start. Zabala put herself squarely in the crosshairs for an earned run by hitting the first batter (who had already fouled off three 2-strike pitches) and then allowing a steal. A productive groundout put the runner on third and a single made the score 1-0. Another single put two on before a flyout gave the Cards two outs. Zabala intentionally walked the bases loaded to get a force out at any base, which turned out to be unnecessary since the next batter grounded out to first. Louisville escaped with just a 1-0 deficit, but they responded with a 1-2-3 bottom half. 

Zabala still didn't have the strikeout pitch working in the second inning, but she was much more efficient in her return to the circle. Despite a long full-count at-bat (which went 10 pitches) that ultimately resulted in a flyout, Zabala was able to go 1-2-3 in the second and used just 17 pitches. The Cards tried to get the small ball going in the second inning after Bri Despines took an HBP on the first pitch of the at-bat. Camryn Lookadoo bunted her to second, but a pair of groundouts ended the inning. Zabala looked like she might be in a groove in the third, but she still wasn't able to miss bats. Three pitches saw two outs, but she opened the third batter in the inning with three straight balls. Needing to bring the ball back into the strike zone came back to haunt her, as the 3-1 pitch was smoked to straightaway center to put Stanford up 2-0. A flyout ended the inning. 

Louisville once again got their leadoff hitter on when Ava Venturelli walked, and the speedster freshman Addy O'Dell replaced her on the base paths. O'Dell advanced to second with one out when Easton Lotus reached on a fielding error. Both moved up on a Chelsea Mack ground out, but a strikeout kept the score at 2-0. The top of the fourth saw Zabala yield to Anna Wise in the circle, and Wise got to work quickly, with a strikeout and a groundout. An error and a wild pitch put another runner in scoring position, but Wise picked up another K to end the threat and keep Louisville in striking distance. For the third straight inning, Louisville got their leadoff batter on base, this time on a single by Despines, but for the third straight inning they stranded runners in scoring position. The threats continued to grow, though, as Louisville had the bases loaded with one out before a strikeout and a groundout squashed the chance. 

Wise continued to be effective in the fifth, pitching around a one-out walk. A single put runners on first and second with two outs, but Wise cleaned it up with another groundout. Then came the Cards. Again, they put the leadoff runner on base, and this time it was with the top of the lineup at the plate. Lotus singled and Mack sacrifice bunted her to second. It looked like the threat might come to nothing again when Madison Pickens struck out, but Despines homered to right to tie the game at two. Louisville wasn't quite done, though as Lookadoo walked to follow. A four-pitch walk to Taylor Monroe gave Louisville two-on with two-out and Stanford went to the bullpen. The new pitcher advanced the runners with a wild pitch, but it didn't matter anyway as Riley Janda worked a full-count walk. Venturelli singled straight back to the pitcher on her first pitch and scored a pair of runs before a flyout ended the inning. Louisville flipped a two-run deficit to two-run lead at 4-2. 

Stanford got a runner on in the top of the sixth via walk, but it was no issue for Wise, who followed it with two groundouts to end the inning. The big inning in the fifth meant Louisville opened the sixth with Lotus again, and she made it five straight innings with the leadoff runner on base. This time she walked, though it looked like she'd be stranded early by a strikeout and fly out. Despines had the bat working, though, as she singled to keep the inning alive. Lookadoo brought the big bat this time, knocking a three-run homer to left. Again, a walk followed the home run and a single followed the walk. Venturelli picked up another RBI by singling, but Louisville couldn't take advantage of a wild pitch putting runners on second and third. Nevertheless, the Cards led 8-2 with Stanford down to their final three outs. 

The nice thing about a six-run lead is that you've got a lot of cushion. Louisville didn't need it, but when the Cardinal opened the top of the seventh with a home run, the Cards still had a five-run lead and still had little stress. Even a grand slam keeps you ahead. Wise shook off the home run with a first pitch groundout straight back to the circle, though she wasn't able to duplicate that on an infield single on the next at-bat. Louisville ended the threat and the game with a nice defensive play, turning a 5-4-3 double-play, which is quite difficult to do in softball, and the celebration began. 

While small-ball might be Louisville's primary form of attack this season, it was nice to see that they have some pop as well. A pair of home runs, both scoring multiple runs, would have actually been enough to still win this game. Louisville got down early, but they didn't let the ranking and the situation overwhelm them. The Cards stayed focused and kept themselves threatening, and eventually it paid off. Louisville will try to take the series in game two today at 1PM. While the finale tomorrow will be on ACC Network, today's game will be streaming only on ACCNX. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards WBB sets down Ga Tech 69-50 -- Friday Cardinal Couple

 CARDS PUT FOUR IN DOUBLE FIGURES IN 69-50 WIN OVER GA TECH

Taj Roberts didnt look llke a player who had a Grade 2 ankle sprain four days ago and the Cards once again used balanced scorng to down another ACC opponent....with the 19 point win in the McCavish Center against Ga. Tech. 

Elif Istanbulluoglu led UofL with 18 points and the Cards benefitted from 22 GT turnovers to go to 25-5 on the season 

Louisville trailed early in the first quarter before going on a 10-0 run over the final four minutes of the period to take a 18-13 lead at the end of the first session. 

The Cards repeated the 18-point total in the second quarter and held Georgia Tech to 11 points in that stretch of ten minutes to go into the halftime with a 36-24 lead. 

The Cards came out adter the half and took the third quarter as well, It was the highest scoring quarter of the contest and Louisvile held the 22-18 quarter edge and a 58-42 lead. 

The Cards continued the defensive stops in the final quarter, holding Ga Tech to just eight points. The Cards won, going away...69-50. A six-point flurry in about ten seconds during the quarter was must-see TV. 

UofL's double figure scorers were Elif with 18, Berry with 13, Roberts with 12 and Scott with 10. 

The Cards return home for the regular season finale...hosting Notre Dame on Sunday.

ACC WBB Tournament play starts on Wednesday. Shaking my head...is it really tournament time?  

paulie

Can ACC get 11 teams into NCAA Tournament? --Thursday Cardinal Couple

 FROM LOUISVILLE TO MIAMI...CAN 11 ACC SCHOOLS GET IN THE BIG DANCE?

OK, admittedly it;s a little early in the season to be looking at NCAA bids...but in looking at the ACC WBB schools current conference records...a case can be made to include 11 schools in th 2026 NCAA WBB Championships. I'm going to break it down to three caegories...1) Yeah, No Problem here...2) Probable without a collapse and 3) Could go either way. Let's throw the ball in and set up the scenario. 

1) YEAH, NO PROBLEM HERE

Ok, it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to see Duke (15-1, 20-7), Louisville (14-2, 24-5), UNC (12-4, 23-6), NCST (11-5, 18-9), Syracuse (11-5, 21-6) , Virginia 11-5 (19-8) and Virginia Tech (11-6, 21-8) getting the call on Selection evening. Maybe no #1 seeds, but possibly a few  #2 seeds and maybe a # seed or two. 

2) PROBABLE WITHOUT  COLLAPSE

Clemson (10-6, 19-9) and Notre Dame (10-6, 18-9) are probable unless they fall apart at the seams in the final two games or ACC Tournament' 

3) COULD GO EITHER WAY 

California (8-8, 17-12), and Miami (7-9, 15-12) could squeak in if they can get the conference mark to .500 or better and make a good showing in the ACC WBB Tournament. Georgia Tech is the host school but probably would not receive an invite to the NCAA Tournament unless they win the ACC Tournament. . 

And, it possibly depends on how the league finishes up the regular season and the ACC Tournament

Tonight...key matchups abound. #10 Louisville visits the flats to take on Buzz the Yellowjacket and GT. #21 UNC visits Virginia. Syracuse heads to Notre Dame, Pitt limps in to Miami, Wake Forest takes I-40 to NC ST, FSU travels to Duke in key ACC match ups.  .

The Cards are perfect on the road in ACC play this year at 8-0 . 

GT knows they need a top 10 upset wi to revive any NCAA chatter. It's a 6 p.m. tip and will be on the ACC Network. 

paulie

Can WBB Cards Climb Back Up After Falling Off The Ledge? -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ONLY TWO GAMES REMAIN BEFORE ACC TOURNEY

(Not within arm's reach currently) 

In what has been one of the craziest WBB seasons for me personally to cover, I shook my head twice to make sure I was reading what was before me in print. Louisville WBB only has two games left in the regular season before conference tournament time. Going to Georgia Tech Thursday and entertaining Notre Dame Sunday in the YUM . 

The WBB squad has the unenviable job of coming back after a loss to Virginia at the KFC YUM! Center.   

And, you know it's bad when a former UofL assistant coach sends me birthday wishes but none of the current staff does.  

The WBB Cards got very lucky that they didn't lose any ground to Duke after the loss to Wahoo..getting lucky since Duke also took a loss at Clemson on Sunday. The ACC. Translation? Anything Can Collude. 

Let's play good news/bad news..shall we? 

The bad news Sunday was that Louisville's leading scorer Taj Roberts went down four minutes into the contest and never returned. No matter what anyone assumes or says, Louisville did not have an answer for losing her and couldn't win without her. The good news? It was a Grade 2 ankle sprain and not a fracture. The bad news? It takes a couple of weeks to come back from one. I know. I've been there and done that. ...here comes RICE (rest, ice, compression and elevation) and a walking boot and physical therapy in all probablity. That means, in all probablity...Taj is most likely done for the regular season and questionable at best for the ACC Tournament. When your leading scorer goes down, the squad isn't exactly dancing to the Teddy Bears Parade on campus. 

The Teddy Bears Parade

 The good news? This UofL WBB fan base won't give up on them. Expect a racous crowd for Nptre Dame...if tyou are an Irish fan. Anyone remeber when they had to move this one to Sacred Heard one season because of a city-wide power outage?  It was the first time I ever got handed a bottle of water for attending a game. Seriously...

Who will step up while she is absent to replace her? Contrary to popular beiief, this is not a team that can win just by showing up and walking out on the court. And, you can bet that a lot of teams would love to gain the recognition as "Cardinals killers" the remainer of this season. Walz will tell you he has seven or eight players that can take over a game. I would venture a guess that it's time for that statement come to fruition.  

Interesting times remain. Oh yeah...whatcha got Cards? Time to sprout those wings and fly high, not gather on the nest and lay a egg. As the phrase goes, from so many years ago...it's time to gird your loins and get ready for the battle and the second season. As the Grateful Dead said, so many years agao. "Don't tell me this town ain't got no heart....ya just gotta poke around." 

Dead Live

 (We are looking for fan photos from games. Got something? We'll share it and give you credit on here. Big brother has put the icks-neigh on our past photographer shooting or writing for us) Imagine, a program dependant on media coverage, starts punishing people for it. Enuf said.

paulie 

The

New Era for Women's Soccer -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Karen Ferguson-Dayes Retires

The University of Louisville has a new longest-tenured coach on campus, and his name is Jeff Walz. Coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes announced her retirement last week after 26 years in charge of Louisville women's soccer. KFD earned 224 wins in her career and was coming off of the Cards' best season in quite a while. In her last season, Louisville went 13-5-3 overall, advanced to the ACC tournament, and defeated UK at home in the NCAA tournament before falling to Kansas in the second round. 

Ferguson-Dayes took the women's soccer program to new heights after joining in 2000. Prior to her joining, Louisville had just one winning season in the previous 15 years. In her tenure, Louisville had 15 winning seasons and made the NCAA tournament seven times. It will be quite strange not seeing KFD on the sidelines this fall, but she will remain an advisor with the staff through June. That arrangement is almost certainly due to Kentucky fiscal year contract details, but it will be valuable to the continuity of the program. 

Speaking of continuity, women's soccer took their lead from another fall sport that recently underwent a coaching change: they promoted the obvious internal candidate. Along with the Ferguson-Dayes retirement, Louisville simultaneously announced the promotion of Hunter Norton to head coach. Norton has been on the women's soccer staff since 2014, and has been the associate head coach for the past four seasons. Norton came onto the staff directly after finishing his playing career at Georgia Southern, where he was a three-year captain and started all 72 games of his career. 

Hunter Norton has signed a four-year contract, and I would assume he'll look to keep most of the staff together where possible. With another staff position opening up, I wouldn't be surprised to see a player that competed for KFD joining the sideline, but that will come in due time. Keeping Norton, who has been part of the program for 12 years already, is a fantastic choice for Louisville, as he should be able to maintain the recruiting that has been developed and build on momentum of the last couple of seasons. We'll see in just about six months. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Virginia WBB throws Cards WBB a Sunday Sucker Punch -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 74-72 CAVS OVER CARDS

Louisville WBB took a major stumble in the ACC regular seasson race when Virginia came to town and..fighting for their chances to get in the NCAA Tournament...scoring a huge upset win over Louisville in the KFC YUM! Center Sunday in front of a packed arena, clad in pink for the annual breast cancer awareness game

Virginia hit a game winning three with 13 seconds left, after leading the majority of the game and seeing that lead vanquish in a last ditch fourth quarter Cardinals rally. 

Defense didin't get it done for the Cards on Sunday, as the Cavs shot 56% for the contest. 

At least the Cards started well. The jumped out to a 10-3 lead, with "E" getting half of those points. But, then, the gears ground to a halt. UVA responded with a 11-0 run,  and, more importantly...UofL leading scorer Taj Roberts ccrumpled to the floor and had to be carried off the court. It appeared to be a left leg injury and there was no update on it at the time of this article writing. 

The loss of Taj appeared to shake and disrupt the Cards. They trailed 18-14 at the end of the first quarter and UVA increased that to 41-30 at the halftime break. 

The Cards fought back and were trailing 56-49 after three quarters.  Louisville needed 34 bench points ...almost half their game total but managed to come bck and actually regai the lead in the fourth quarter. The Wahoos had the last laugh, though...when a Romi Levy three found the mark to put UVA up by two and the Cards could not come up with a tying basket 

POST GAME E AND LAURA

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

paulie

Softball Cards coninue to pound the Gulf Coast classic -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS PUT UP 10 RUNS TWICE IN TWO SATURDAY WINS. 

Maybe one of the most secure jobs these days is taking the circle in a UofL women's softball pitcher role. You know you are going to be supported by a battery of runs and never have to worry about giving up the stray couple of runs here or there. 

Maybe there was a sign hanging up in the FGCU stadium...who is hosting the event...reading..."Warning..Cards carrying bats may double digit bash your pitchers." 

I'm sure the Cards head coach Holly Aprile would have no problems in seeing this group of Cardinals batter continue their "get 'em on and scre 'em" philosophy the rest of this season.

Madison "Base cleaner" Pickens

In the Cards first game Saturday, against Wisconsin...she drove in four runs in the Cards Cards 10-5 win .A game where she had two doubles and a home run. The Badgers actually struck first, with three runs in the first inning. The Cards came back, though..with three runs in the third, a run in the fourth and put up four more runs in the fifth to assume a commanding 9-3 lead. Pickens had her second home run of the contest for Louiville's tenth run of Game One. 

In the second game, the Cards bats remained hot...this timea against Connecticut Husky pitching with four runs in the first. The Cards closed the hitting barrage out with six runs in the fourth inning to seal their second "W" of the day. 

WBB FACES VIRGINIA TODAY

Back in better days..before hypocrisy bested independent journalism..

It'll be a CW broadcast today at noon. (CW...doesn't that stand for "Cards Win" ?) The foe is Virginia. The Wahoos come to town at 10-5 in conference and 18-8 overall...so ...not an easy task for Walz & Company. 

For the Cards (14-1, 24-4) the quest to stay a gaaame behind ACC leading Duke. 

Cards Win Two in Ft. Myers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Softball Beats Buffalo and FGCU

Louisville has finally broken their streak of losing games to hosting teams after beating FGCU 3-2 in the later game yesterday. The Cards had three losses entering the weekend, with all three coming against the team playing host to these early season multi-team events. Louisville now comes into the second day of the Gulf Coast Classic with a 9-3 record overall. 

The Cards got to face Buffalo in the opener yesterday, and junior transfer Madi Reeves got the start. Reeves was good early, putting the Bulls down 1-2-3 in the first inning and working out of a jam in the second. An error put a runner on second to open the inning and a single saw runners on the corners with no outs. Reeves got a three-pitch strikeout and then the Louisville defense played a sacrifice bunt attempt extremely well to get the out at home. A ground out ended the inning. After stranding a runner in the first, Louisville managed to scratch a run across in the second and led 1-0. 

The Cards extended their lead to 2-0 in the top of the third by taking advantage of their speed at the top of the order. Back-to-back singles by Easton Lotus and Chelsea Mack put the pressure on to open the inning and, although the Buffalo pitcher worked around the threat for the most part, Lotus was able to get home. Then the wheels fell off for Louisville. Five straight singles opened the bottom of the third for Buffalo, with the fourth scouring two runs and the fifth reloading the bases with nobody out. Anna Wise came in to replace Reeves, and Louisville's defense rewarded her with back-to-back errors scoring three more runs. Another single scored Buffalo's sixth run of the inning, but a greedy attempt to pick up another run was thrown out at home. Wise finally managed to prevent the Bulls from hitting the ball with a strikeout for the second out and a groundout ended the inning. The Cards trailed 6-2. 

Fortunately for Louisville, Buffalo isn't actually very good this season, at least according to their record. The Bulls entered the game with a 3-8 record, and Louisville's offense finally took advantage. The Cards scored three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to retake the lead. They took two more in the sixth to push their advantage to four runs, and the defense and pitching managed to shape up to prevent Buffalo from scoring any more runs. In fact, the Bulls only picked up two more hits on Anna Wise, and Alyssa Zabala replaced her in the sixth and allowed just two walks over two innings while striking out three. 

Offensively, Louisville was led by Taylor Monroe, who went 3-3 and had four RBI. That was good, since Monroe was the offender on both of Louisville's third-inning errors. Bri Despines added two RBI, and Chelsea Mack and Madison Pickens joined Monroe with three hits apiece. Riley Janda scored three runs despite going 1-4 at the plate, and she had one of Louisville's four steals (Mack had the other three). Easton Lotus went 2-4 at the top of the order and also drew a walk, allowing her to score two runs. 

In the second game, offense took a back seat to pitching. Already warm from two innings in the first game, Alyssa Zabala took the circle in the second and nearly pitched a complete game. She didn't have the strikeout ball working as well in the second game, picking up just two, but FGCU wasn't getting much from putting the ball in play. Zabala went 6.2 innings and gave up just three hits and one walk. Unfortunately, one of those hits was a home run, and it came after one of the others in the fifth inning. That two-run homer tied the game, but Coach Holly Aprile left Zabala in and Alyssa rewarded her with strong pitching after. 

After picking up RBI singles in the third and fourth innings, it was small ball again for Louisville in the seventh that let them regain the lead. Jordan Williams opened the inning with a single and Lotus followed with one as well. Mack laid down a bunt to move both runners into scoring position, and Camryn Lookadoo sent a fly ball into center to bring Williams home on a sacrifice. Zabala got a ground out and a line out to open the bottom half, but she walked the potential last out of the game on a full-count. That brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the form of a batter who had already taken Zabala yard in the game. Aprile made the move to replace Zabala with Wise and Anna induced a ground ball back to the circle to end the game. 

Louisville moved to 9-3 with their two wins yesterday, and they'll play two more today. The Cards will face Wisconsin at 12:15 and UConn at the conclusion of that game (scheduled for 2:30). We'll see if Brooke Gray takes the circle today after having yesterday off. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Cards women swimmers in fourth place in ACC Tournament -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE.

 CARDS TRAIL VIRGINIA, STANFORD AND CALIFORNIA WITH TWO DAYS REMAINING IN ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS

The ACC swim teams have descended on Atlanta are in full stroke and dive in the ACC Championships. Louisville women are in fourth place after five days of competiton. 

Virginia leads the way with 786 points, followed by Stanford (662), Cal (621) and then UofL at 507. There is more than 100 points difference between the fourth place totals and fifth place...so no one is likely to get past Lousivlle for at least a fourth place finish. 

It's really no disgrace at all to be behind powerhouse Virginia and two strong west coast schools and -- although Louisville women's swimming had no wins yesterday in events --- the splashing Cards are making a good showing with two days to go. 

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DUKE WBB KEEPS ROLLING IN 83-65 WIN OVER NCST

Toby Fournier went for 26 points and 12 rebounds in Duke's win at home over NCST . The Dule win streak extends to 17 straight game..Duke has not lost since falling to LSU back in early December. 

Duke jumped out to a 28-16 first quarter lead and improved that to 41-26 at the half. NC State would mount a third quarter rally to cut the Duke lead to 56-48 after three quarters, but ran out of gas late as the Blue Devils took the fourth quarter 27-17 to go to 20-6, 15-0 on the season. 

How is this relevant here? It means the Cards are still in second place in the ACC race...a game back of the Blue Devils. 

Louisville WBB returns to action on Feb 22nd (my and George Washington's birthday) to host Virginia. 

paulie