Lady Cards romp Mississippi Valley State 96-37

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Lady Cards roll over the Devilettes 96-37.

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Track and field @ Southern Illinois.

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Volleyball Friday afternoon

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Purdue vs. Louisville: Part Deux

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Shoni Schimmel (pictured here) is either calling a Cardinal inbounds play or is scratching her ear. As far as we're concerned...she can do whatever she wants on the court and it'll probably turn out good.

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This one tonight was like that old 1960's V-8 gas guzzler my Dad used to drive the family around in. It started kind of rough at the beginning but once it got warmed up, it hit on all eight cylinders and ran to perfection. Almost five minutes into tonight's game, the score stood at 6-6 and Louisville was still sputtering out of the driveway.

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Enter Shelby Harper and the Cards shifted into high gear and rolled out the next 15 points over the next six minutes.

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Shelby had a little help. The Cardinal defense turned up the pressure, Monique Reid comes in the game and adds eight quick points and Shoni Schimmel nails a three...well, you get the picture. Sometimes it takes a village to get it done.

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Add another 18-2 Cardinal run and this one was pretty much one for the record books. Louisville went in at half up 44-15...10 Cardinals had played, seven had scored and they had allowed a mere 16 Devilette shots in twenty minutes...10 of those from three point range.

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They went ahead and played the second half anyway.

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Louisville outscored Mississippi Valley State by 30 points in the second stanza and everyone scored but Rachel Story. Five Cardinals end up in double figures, led by Schimmel's 15. Monique Reid added 12 in 14 minutes, Antonita Slaughter pushed in 11 second half points, Polly Harrington 10 in the final twenty minutes and Tia Gibbs totaled 11.

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Other things to like about tonight's romp:

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-The Cards shot 14-16 from the charity stripe. When asked about improvement from the line from previous games...Jeff Walz joked:

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"It's all about getting good free throw shooters to the line."

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(At least I think he was joking.)

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-Louisville went 10-23 from three point range. Schimmel and Slaughter with three each. 6 for 11 in the second half...Slaughter is almost automatic when she can set, square and release.

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-10 rebounds for guard Charmaine Tay, all in the second half. Add six assists to that stat and you begin to get an idea why Jeff Walz was so crazy about her out of high school.

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-Louisville held MVS scoreless for the opening 7:45 on the final half. By then it was 63-15 and Louisville would go on to hold a 81-24 lead with seven minutes to go.

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How does it all translate out as far as a preparation game for Kentucky on Sunday? Coach Walz pointed out that he was pleased with the defense and the way the Cards stopped the screen off the ball, a play UK runs effectively. The open shots weren't too prevalent for the Devilettes and Louisville ran the transition game as good as they have all season long.

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It will be her first time experiencing the UofL /UK rivalry game but Shoni Schimmel wants to help her seven teammates that weathered the UK bombardment last year get a little payback.

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"It means a lot to me. I'm going out, playing as hard as I can and doing the best I can against them. We won't worry about what they can do, we're just going to play our game and make it about us." the sharp passing freshman commented.

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Monique Reid turned up the intensity level tonight and showed a lot of hustle in her 14 minutes tonight. She even commented that she's OK with coming off the bench and contributing to the team that way.

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That's good...because it's a role that Jeff Walz doesn't see changing anytime soon. According to Walz, if she can provide a solid 15-20 minutes without getting tired or slowing down and add 12-14 points...then it's 'job accomplished' for now.

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The University of Louisville's track and field teams open the 2010-11 indoor season Friday at Carbondale, Ill. in the Southern Illinois Fast Start Invitational.

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For the women, two-time weight throw national champion D'Ana McCarty will look to put up big tosses in the event. McCarty is also the BIG EAST indoor weight throw two consecutive years.

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The Cards will compete against national Division II power Lincoln (Mo.), Southern Illinois, South Florida and Belmont. Toss away, Cards!

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At 5 p.m. Friday afternoon, the volleyball Cards begin the quest to win the NCAA Championships with a match against Middle Tennessee State in West Lafayette, IN. Winner of this one gets the victor in the Purdue vs. Kentucky match. MTSU has defeated Louisville the last two times the teams have met in the NCAA Tournament. Not today, Blue Raiders...Spike 'em, Cards!

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Got a e-mail from CARDINAL COUPLE reader Dan Wallace about the Go Cards Beat Purdue legacy. He was in the student section the night of the event. He writes:

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Paul and Sonya:

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Great story and a classic on the Purdue sign.

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What actually happened was...which ever opponent UofL was playing the student section called out that school's name in the cheer. It was the next home game after the Purdue game and the cheerleader used the backside of the Purdue sign to write the name of the opponent the Cards were playing that night. The cheerleader happened to have turned the sign over and upside down to write the name of that night's opponent. So, as the cheerleader is holding the sign down against her body..."PURDUE" is being shown to the student section.

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We all chanted PURDUE before she could place the sign over her head. And a tradition was born.

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Thanks for bringing back the memory!
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Thanks for the eye witness report, Dan! Now... if we could only resurrect the Cardinal Bird bungee jumping from the ceiling of the YUM Center....