Breaking down the win over UT-Martin

WEDNESDAY @ CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Inside the numbers of the 25 point Lady Card win.

The Evan Williams Bourbon Bar. located under the seats behind the Louisville women's bench in Sec. 115, is a nice facility to relax with friends before, during or after a Lady Cards basketball game. I wonder how it would go if CARDINAL COUPLE covered a women's game from there one evening? (Photo by Cardinal Couple)

The University of Louisville women's basketball team improved to 10-5 with a 92-67 win over UT-Martin Tuesday night in the KFC YUM Center. Louisville led by 25 at the half (50-25) and reached the 90+ point plateau for the fifth time this season with the win. Let's take a look at some of the stats:

-The Cards shot 50% for the game (39-78) and went 40% from three point range (10-25). Free throws still a bit short of Walz's expectations at 50% (4-8) including a dismal 0-4 first half performance. Shoni Schimmel (24 points) led the way with 10-16 from the floor and 4-7 from beyond the arc. Monique Reid (20 points) produced 9-15 on Denny Crum Court with no three point attempts. Tia Gibbs (11 points) went 4-10 from the hardwood and 1-5 from trifecta land.

Becky Burke (10 points) had a 4-6 shooting night nailing 2-4 from the deep. The Cards outshot UTM 78 to 57 in attempts but UTM had 33 threes, making 12 of them. UTM shot 42.1% for the game. 33 of their 57 attempts were three pointers.

-Louisville won the rebounding battle 41-37 with Keisha Hines leading the way with eight. Reid grabbed seven, Asia Taylor five and Burke and Shelby Harper 4 each. The Cards won the offensive rebound war 17-12 but the SkyHawks took the defensive grabs 25-24.

-Schimmel led the way with 31 minutes played last night. Reid logged 26 minutes, Burke 25, Harper 22, Hines and Gibbs 20 each. Sherrone Vails played 18 minutes, Asia Taylor 17, Antonita Slaughter 16. Rachel Story saw 4 minutes and Polly Harrington 1. The Louisville starters played only 57 minutes combined in the second half out of a possible 100. Freshman guard Heather Butler saw all 40 minutes on the court for UTM.

-Louisville swept most of the other stat categories...23 assists (Schimmel 11) to 17 for UTM. The Cards committed only 13 turnovers (Harper, Reid and Taylor three each) compared to UT-Martin's 26. Louisville committed 12 fouls (Reid with 4) and UTM was whistled for 11. Louisville had an impressive 17 steals in the game (Schimmel seven, Gibbs five) and UTM five.

-The Louisville freshmen totalled 37 of Louisville's points but only four of them played, three of them with significant minutes. Antonita Slaughter, despite the defensive woes that Jeff Walz preached about after the game, turned in a good offensive performance with 9 points...all from three point range...and 2 steals in 16 minutes.

-Louisville used runs of 8-0 and 15-0 in the first half to build a 27-5 lead with 11:42 remaining in the first half. A 6-0 UTM run cut it to 27-11 but a 9-0 Louisville run made it 36-11 with 7:59 left. The teams battled to a 14-14 standoff the final eight minutes of the first half....so when you look at it, they played basically even for 28 of the 40 minutes of basketball last night.

-The Lady Cards largest lead came at the 17:44 mark of the second half after a Becky Burke layup made it 60-27. UTM would cut it to 18 points twice in the second half...73-55 with 8:59 to go after a Rickiesha Bryant jumper and 80-62 with 4:57 left following a Jasmine Newsome jumper.

-A lot of credit to the UT-Martin guard trio of Heather Butler, Jasmine Newsome and Taylor Hall. They accounted for 50 of the 67 Skyhawk points and went a combined 10-24

from beyond the arc. Butler and Newsome are freshmen, Hall a transfer playing her first year at UTM. Take out Hall's stats and you've got 47 points on 9-17 three point shooting and 15-31 from the floor total. Butler gets our MVP Award for the game (no offense, Shoni). 40 minutes, 29 points, no fouls, four assists, 7-14 from three point range and 4-4 on free throws. Martin. Tennessee residents are gonna love her over the next four years and OVC opponents are going to groan when they see her get off the team bus..Not confirmed but the SkyHawks were still firing threes at I-64 East entrance signs down on 2nd. street long after the game. UofL was still failing to guard them...

-We like the fact that Louisville's Taylor, Harper and Slaughter saw extended court time last night. In Vegas, the three didn't. The caliber of competition was better, obviously, in the Desert Duel...but Walz will be best served to have a contingency rotation of 10 players he can count on when BIG EAST play begins. Walz has been starting Hines, Vails, Schimmel, Gibbs and Burke. Last night... Taylor, Harper and Slaughter looked to be ready to be a part of the second wave. When you figure Charmaine Tay will see minutes as a backup guard and Walz has no plans to change Monique Reid's role from coming off the bench...there's your 10. Rachel Story, Polly Harrington and a healthy LaToya Johnson could contend for any of these backup spots...the BIG EAST is brutal, physical hoops and there is strength and safety in numbers.

-Louisville gets a week off, returning to action next Tuesday in the KFC YUM Center against top 25 BIG EAST foe St. John's. They're big, aggressive, very, very talented defensively and have lost only once so far this year...to Kansas State. Shenneika Smith and Da'Shena Stevens rocked Louisville for 35 points and 16 rebounds last year in a 91-56 Red Storm win in "Little Louie" Arena in Queens, NY. Guess what? Both are back and playing just as good this year. Game time is 7 p.m and Louisville needs about 10,000+ in the YUM for this one to bring it home.

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-In the "You've got to be kidding me" category...longtime local sportscaster Bob Domine is growing facial hair. It's a scary proposition and Paul had to serve as a buffer last night, sitting between Domine and Sonja...with LSR/CSR's Howie Lindsey flanked to the left in a split backfield formation to shield fair Sonja from the horrid sight. First observation? t He looks like that Spanish guy who does the commercials for beer...("I don't drink beer often...but when I do...it's Dos (whatever).." Some guys just look better clean shaven. Paul, on the other hand, is sporting whiskers as well right now and looks equally ugly with or without them. A man's got to know his limitations...
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