Foul trouble sends the talented sophomore to the bench for the final eight minutes in the first half. She wasn't the only one committing them out there..but seemed to be the only one getting whistles early on. The end of the game featured a shove-fest that drew two technicals with .5 seconds remaining in the game. Where's Tise when you need her?
Give the Lady Cards credit for hanging tough with Rutgers early on the road tonight. Keisha Hines battling in the paint against Rutgers. The Cards keeping up on the scoreboard. Tied at 9-9 after 4 minutes. Jeff Walz, battling the officials and getting a "T". 13-13 halfway thru the first half. Leading 18-15 with 8 minutes to go after a Becky Burke 3-ball. A chance to increase that but horrific officiating by Tina Napier after the Cards grabbed the lead...Rutgers players knocking Cardinals to the floor right in front of Napier and no whistles. Chelsey Lee and Hines wrestling in the paint on both ends of the court.
A typical Rutgers vs. Louisville slugfest.
Louisville regained a 3 point lead 20-17 after a Hines inside move but the Scarlet Knights tied it back up at 20-20 on a basket plus one by April Sykes with 6:00 to go.
Both teams creating and forcing turnovers partially because of the hectic defense. No scoring for three minutes by either team until Sykes drops a layup thru after a steal. Louisville turnovers and cold shooting contributing to a 12-0 Rutgers run before Asia Taylor connected on a couple of free throws with 1:45 to go. Louisville headed to the locker room down 34-23...with the Cards making just one basket in the final 8:40. 14 first half turnovers for the Cards, leading to 15 Rutgers points and Monique Reid sitting out the final eight minutes. Reid on the bench and one Cardinal basket.
Speaks volumes.
Louisville to the foul line only twice in the first half and Rutgers seeming to spend the latter part of the first half there. Big East officiating ineptitude at it's best. And, these two teams definitely aren't best of friends...
The second half start saw Reid return but Hines sitting on the bench with 3 fouls. A Burke three cut the lead to 36-27 with two minutes gone but Rutgers aggressiveness and Louisville careless ball movement and lazy defense helped put Rutgers up 43-27 at the 15:11 mark. After that, Rutgers used their speed and rebounding to continue to pull away from Louisville and lead 59-34 with 7:40 to go. The Cards managed to cut the lead to 63-46 with a Reid jumper at 3:28 but Rutgers ended up a 20 point victor.
A weird ending sequence to the game tonight. With time running out, instead of holding the ball...Rutgers' Sykes decided to drive to the basket with three seconds remaining and try a shot. She was fouled by Gwen Rucker who then was shoved by Rutgers sub Erica Wheeler. Rachel Story then shoved Wheeler and techincals were called on Story and Wheeler. The refs decided to give Rutgers the ball inbounds with .5 seconds remaining, with no technical or foul free throws despite Louisville having 10 fouls on them in the second half. Sykes then threw the ball off Reid's back from out of bounds on the ensuing play. More shoving followed before both teams were sent to their benches. Maybe Sykes was mad from the bloody nose received from a Rucker elbow midway thru the second half...but good sportsmanship dictates you hold the ball up by 20 with seconds left in the game. Also, the refs could have stepped in and prevented Wheeler from shoving Rucker. Despite being the top conference in women's college basketball, the Big East is seriously lacking in good officiating.
Sub Rachel Story led the Cards in scoring with 16 points and Monique Reid added 13. Louisville (13-16, 5-11) will draw the #13 seed in the Big East tournament, which begins Friday. They'll play in the first game Friday at noon against Pittsburgh.
Written by Paul
3/1/10
according to reports out of one of the rutgers fan sites it was the head coach stringer that was motioning the rutgers player to go to the hoops as time expired in the game
ReplyDeleteif that is the case than there is something wrong with that display of poor sportsmanship by stringer trying to jack up the score on the final possession
benji
Yes, that was the case. We've posted an article about the incident on here. Thanks for reading, Benji.
ReplyDeleteI was at the game - and I've been to other games and there is no such thing as running up the score. Was it running up the score when the Cards beat Northern KY 79 to 54? Or when they beat Tenn Tech 84 to 54 or when they beat Northern Iowa 81 to 53 or when they beat IUPUI 88 to 58 or when they beat IPFW 91 to 62 or when they beat Cinci 63 to 49 or when they beat Providence 67 to 48. No, there is no such thing as running up the score - that is unless you are at the bottom of the run up. You play until the buzzer. Cards were plain tired suffering from injuries and depleted bench. They played their hearts out the first half but were too tired to keep up the pace.
ReplyDeleteThe debate of running up the score isn't as much at issue here as the deliberate attempt by Stringer to display poor sportsmanship. When you have the ball at the end of the game, the shot clock is off and you are up by twenty...you hold the ball. Any coach in basketball...with the possible exception of Stringer will tell you that.
ReplyDeleteI coached for 26 years...college, high school and got my start in the Catholic leagues. I'd slug the opposing coach after the game if they ordered that bulls#!t against one of my teams.
Keith
Hmmm...not a very good display of good sportsmanship there, Keith. Can't go around slugging opposing coaches.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you about the tackiness of sending your players to the hoop in a game that is almost over and you have a big lead.
As far as Louisville "running up the score" on any opponents this year...in all the games mentioned in GS Lady's comments, Walz had the starters on the bench late (or as many as he could sit..given the short roster) and used the possesion clock to its full length late in each of these games.
Nice blog site, GS Lady and I hope you'll continue to access Cardinal Couple as a regular viewer and comment contributor.
Paul