Crunching the Lady Cards numbers

MONDAY MORNING @ C.C.



-Dissecting the Lady Cards win

-The mailbox

-Sonja and the Bear

Top of the morning to you as we start another week of covering the joy and excitement of Cardinal women's sports. Shelby Harper, pictured right, saw seven minutes of action in the Saturday 67-42 Louisville win over Indiana Wesleyan in the KFC YUM Center. Harper dished out three assists, grabbed a rebound and missed a three pointer during her time on the court. She also had a steal and got whistled for a foul. All in all, the game was a chance for Walz and his staff to look at quite a few player combinations.

The freshmen logged 97 of the 200 total minutes on the court...Sherrone Vails with 22 minutes, Shawnta Dyer with 21 and Antonita Slaughter and Shoni Schimmel getting 20. Charmaine Tay played 9 minutes and Polly Harrington contributing 5. They accounted for 35 of the Cards 67 points, Vails leading the way with 12. They grabbed 17 of Louisville's 34 rebounds and dished out 7 of the 20 assists.

Last year's starters (Monique Reid, Becky Burke, Shelby Harper, Keisha Hines and Asia Taylor) were on the court for 76 minutes. Hines and Reid saw 18 minutes each, Taylor 17, Burke 16 and Harper 7. They tossed in 27 of the Cardinal points, Reid with a game high 15. They snagged 12 boards and were credited for 7 assists.

The other three who saw action (La Toya Johnson, Tia Gibbs and Rachel Story) played 27 minutes. Johnson on the court for 11, Gibbs 10 and Story 6. They accounted for 5 points, all by Gibbs. They had one rebound each and 4 assists...three of those to Gibbs.

Statistical leaders were:
-Points- Monique Reid with 15
-Rebounds- Asia Taylor with 6
-Shots- Reid, going 6 for 9
-Fouls- Vails with 4
-Turnovers- Taylor with 5
-Assists- Schimmel with 5
-Steals- Slaughter had 3
-Blocks- Dyer swatted 2
-Free Throws- Tay went 2-4, Reid a perfect 3-3.

Louisville scored 23 points in the first half and 44 in the final half. They shot 36% in the first half (9-25) and 60% in the second half (18-30). The Cards sunk 8 of 15 free throw attempts and went 5-12 from three point range. 10 Cardinals scored in the contest. Harper, Johnson, Harrington and Story went a combined 0-4 from the field and attempted no free throws.

As you can see, very balanced and equal distribution of playing time and point production in this win. Just for comic effect, Steve Martin was one of the three referees. That wild and crazy guy!

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The mailbag was pretty full when we returned from Gatlinburg Friday night. Thanks to John, Charles, Beth and Eddie for safe and fun trip wishes. WE were safe...and had a great time. Harry, we disagree with you in your comments about Louisville Softball not getting a fair shake here at CARDINAL COUPLE. It's the off-season currently for them and we'll have tons of softball coverage when Sandy Pearsall's season rolls around. Lori Korte, assistant S.I.D. for softball does a great job in getting us information on the sports she is responsible for (as does Kim Pemberton) and I'm sure she'll clear a spot for us in the press box for any home game we attend. Hang in there, Harry.

Michael...We were wondering about Adrienne Johnson not doing color commentary as well for the Lady Cards basketball games this year also. Fortunately, she stopped by to talk with us on press row during the Indiana Wesleyan game and told us that she was concentrating on trying to make the Uofl Marketing Department the best it could be and saw her responsibilities there as a definite career advancement opportunity. A.J. still looks like she could go out and drop 20 on an opponent. She is a joy to be around, with that big smile and witty banter. Show her the money, T.J. You got one fine representative for the University in Ms. Johnson.

Didn't get a chance to hear Jim Kelch's call of the game and not really sure who was with him on the broadcast (forgot to ask) but there will be plenty of time for that during Cardinal road games this year. Louisville women's basketball can be heard on 790 AM/ 101.7 FM WKRD. CARDS radio.

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While in the Great Smokies and Gatlinburg, we got to do a lot of fun things. We enjoyed dinners at the Greenbriar Restaurant (great steak and trout), The Best Italian Restaurant (out of this world pizza and lasagna) and also created a few fun and tasty meals with the gang at our cabin. We loved our couple of trips to the Mountain Lodge for breakfast...heaping helpings, low prices and excellent coffee. It's where the locals go. Dolly Parton's DIXIE STAMPEDE took up one evening for us. Overall, I rate it a 5 out of 10. Way too much commercialism and glitz. The food was plentiful and pretty basic. The show is OK...they really hype the North vs. South thing.
We sat on the North side and our side lost in the numerous, staged competitions. I really didn't care one way or another.

We also did several hikes. The walk to Clingman's Dome is always a challenge, the view from Laurel Falls very impressive, Ramsey Cascades a strenuous, demanding hike and Hen Wallow Falls a rough and rocky climb and descent. It was during the Hen Wallow Falls trip that Sonja and Anne encountered the bear. We were on the way back from the falls, about a 1/2 mile from where we had parked...Sonja and Anne about 40 yards ahead of the rest of us on the trail.

All of a sudden (as Sonja describes it):

"We rounded a bend on the trail and out in a small clearing to the left of us...maybe 30 yards ahead...a pretty big black bear rushed out in front of us on the trail, gave us a quick glance and bounded off into the brushes and trees to our right. We stopped in our tracks and waited for the rest of the group to catch up with us. After waiting a few minutes, we continued as a group...slowly...but didn't see the bear again."

This isn't Sonja's first encounter with Yogi. Several years ago, she and I encountered a massive black bear on the hike to Andrews Bald in the Smokies. The bear was about 50 yards ahead of us on the trail when we rounded a bend in the switchback and he (or she) showed no signs of fear or willingness to move on. We stood our ground and so did the bear. The bear sauntered down the trail a few yards toward us, maybe out of curiosity...and after a couple of minutes... slowly strolled off into the trees and down the hill to the right of us. This bear was considerably larger than the bear Sonja saw last week. Kinda like Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher compared to Cardinal guard LaToya Johnson. Not saying LaToya looks like a bear. She's a cutie.

Urlacher...yeah, maybe.

Bears...can't live with them or, seemingly...without them when in the Great Smokies.