Cards shoot past St. John's 84-73

-Burke's 21 help Lady Cards down #18 St. John's by eleven.

Getting double digit scoring from four players, Louisville grabbed the lead early in the first half and never relinquished it to the Red Storm in the KFC YUM! Center Tuesday night before 6500 rabid fans. The Cards (11-5) took a 8-7 lead at the 15:04 mark with a Burke three and steadily built on it throughout the first half to go in at halftime up 36-27. Burke drilled her third three with 2:02 remaining to end the scoring and had 13 first half points for the Lady Cards. The Cards took twenty more shots than the Red Storm in the first twenty minutes and scored 15 points from beyond the arc to overcome 50% St. John shooting and a severe disadvantage at the foul line. The Red Storm went 8-10 at the charity stripe in the first half and Louisville went 1-1.

Jeff Walz wanted more aggressive play out of Burke and the team in the final twenty minutes and the Cards responded...jumping out to a 45-31 lead after Red Storm forward Da'Shena Stevens went to the bench after her fourth foul at the 16:09 mark. St.John's would try to rally the rest of the half against the Cardinals and cut the lead to eight several times but Louisville found a way to keep the lead around double digits until a Eugeneia McPherson three capped a late 9-3 Red Storm run and made it 75-70 with 58 seconds to go in the game. Louisville rallied to score the next seven points, though...with four Schimmel free throws and a Monique Reid basket and free throw to go up 82-70 with 20 seconds left and secure the win.

Joining Burke in double figures was Monique Reid with 24 points and a rare start for the junior. Tia Gibbs had a double/double with 18 points and ten rebounds in 37 minutes and went 4-6 from three point range. Schimmel got a double/double also with 11 points and 11 assists.

Louisville created 23 turnovers in the contest but was only able to score 13 points off the miscues. The Cards did win the rebounding battle 34-32 and had 11 steals to St .John's 10.

St. John placed four players in double figures also...Shenneika Smith leading the way with 23. McPherson, with some late long range bombing, added 15. Stevens had 11 in twenty minutes and Nadirah McKenith finished with 10.

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We don't normally harp on officiating here at CARDINAL COUPLE but the refs absolutely blew the call on a driving Schimmel with 9:25 left in the final half and Louisville up 53-41. The basket was waved off and Schimmel charged with her fourth foul. It was the immaculate foul...because no one touched Schimmel and she didn't make contact with the St .John's player who dropped to the floor after the shot went in. The crowd wasn't too thrilled with the refs crew most of the evening...Keisha Hines fouled out with 3:08 to go in the game with another call that probably should have gone the other way.

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Schimmel only went 1-6 from the three point circle but the one she made was a doozy. Right before the questionable foul...Schimmel missed a three and went over to the bench seemingly dejected. Jeff Walz told her she better take the next open shot she was presented with or he'd pull her out of the game. When play resumed, Tia Gibbs fed Schimmel a pass and the freshman launched about a 28 footer that swished the net. A few more steps back and she would have been in the Evan Williams Bourbon Bar beneath section 115.