Lady Cards roll again ...97-43 over SEMO

- 5 in double figures in 54 point UofL win.

-Volleyball advances in BIG EAST tournament.

If University of Louisville women's basketball fans are getting a bit spoiled...one can hardly blame them. For the second time in three days, Jeff Walz's juggernaut jolts another visitor to the KFC YUM! Center by 50+.

The Cards sprinted out to a 16-0 lead in the first five minutes of tonight's contest and led by Tia Gibbs 3-3 perfection from the three point line...scooted to a 52-19 halftime lead.

Different night, same style. Louisville utilized the transition game and hard nosed defense to force SEMO into 14 1st half turnovers and managed nine steals in the first twenty minutes. Once again, Walz tried a variety of combinations and all 12 players that dressed tonight saw at least 4 minutes of court time in the first half. Monique Reid entered the halftime locker room with 12 points, Gibbs 11 and LaToya Johnson seven...that included a buzzer beater three from well beyond the trifecta arc as time ran out in the first stanza.

Charmaine Tay did not dress for this evening's contest...suffering from a cold and remaining in the locker room.

The Cards maintained the pressure to begin the second half...going on a 28-9 run in the first 10 minutes to hold a commanding 80-28 advantage. From that point, Walz emptied the bench again and all but Shelby Harper put points in the scorebook for the 97-43 victory.

It was Harper who got the largest crowd reaction of the evening when she drained a jumper with less than a minute to go but had it waived off by one of the referees...who called a charging foul instead on the diminutive guard. The crowd, anxious for the Cards to top 100 points for the second game in a row, howled in dismay about the whistle. A missed Antonita Slaughter three was the final attempt to hit the century mark and Louisville settled for 97 points and a 54 point win.

Reid led all scorers with 16 points and Keisha Hines got her first double/double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Tia Gibbs finished with 13, Sherrone Vails and Antonita Slaughter had 10 points each. All Cardinals played at least 7 minutes in the blowout.

Louisville out rebounded the Red Hawks 48-25 and forced 25 turnovers. The Cards nabbed 19 steals and shot 56.4% for the game. Louisville went 7-19 from the three point arc and 28-38 from the charity stripe. SEMO was led by Bailie Roberts nine points and seven rebounds.

POST GAME

Coach Walz was pleased in general with the effort of his team this evening and alluded to the fact that the Lady Cards seem to get a little better each time out. He commented that the Cards reached their pre-game goal of 35 deflections but fell short of keeping SEMO from getting less than 10 offensive rebounds (they had 11). He was also looking for more than 25 created turnovers..the Cards forced the Red Hawks into 25 exactly...so after a day off tomorrow, he indicated that "they'd run" for failing to hit two of their goals.

-He also chuckled when he was asked if Louisville was running a "dribble drive" offense.

"You can't drive the ball unless you dribble it. Otherwise, they blow a whistle on you for travelling. We dribble drive every possession, I guess. Everyone does."

-Walz on the aspect of ever getting an Angel McCoughtry type player again:

"We certainly hope to...but Angel was pretty unique in what she could do. If we could get three players that combined equalled one Angel...I'd settle for that."

The road gets a little tougher next week for the Lady Cards. Three straight on the road, beginning with a Tuesday tussle against #6 Xavier. The Cards travel to dangerous Old Dominion for a Friday night game and complete the road swing Nov. 29th. against Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne.

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Louisville Volleyball advanced in the first round of the BIG EAST Volleyball Tournament in Pittsburgh Friday evening against Seton Hall. The Cards took the match 3-1, winning 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21. Lola Arslanbeckova had 25 kills for Louisville, who will face Marquette next on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Louisville jumped out to an early lead in the first match but saw Seton Hall rally to get within four at 17-13. The Cards then went on a 6-0 run and held on to win by eight. In game two, the Pirates...

(excuse me while I chuckle at the visual of a bunch of Pirates playing volleyball..."ARRGHHH, Matey...It's yer serve!")

...rallied in game two to top Louisville by three. Louisville had drawn close at 23-20 but two straight hits misplayed by the Cards ended the match.

After the break, Louisville jumped out 5-0 and led 9-6 but saw Seton Hall roll back and climb within one at 23-22. Anastasia Artemeva slammed home a kill at 24-23 for the win. The final was in Louisville favor all the way...the Cards leading 17-8. Seton Hall did manage to climb within three at 21-18 but the Cards held on for the four point win.

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Football Cards vs. West Virginia today at noon. Wear your black and let's make sure that PJCS isn't "almost heaven" fo the invading Eers. Get the ball to Bilal.