Lady Cards handle the Bearcats 83-47

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-Monique Reid's big first half sparks Cards.


She may have sounded stuffy and congested after the game but Monique Reid played with clarity and no ill effects in the Cardinal 36 point win Saturday afternoon in the KFC YUM Center. Reid kick started the Lady Cards with 11 of her team high 16 points in the first twenty minutes and Louisville went on a 31-2 run over a fourteen minute stretch to break open a 6-6 tie and lead 37-8 after an Antonita Slaughter three with 2:53 remaining in the first half.
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The Cards did it with intense defensive pressure and scoring 22 points off of 12 U.C. turnovers. Louisville held the Bearcats to 14.8% first half shooting...including 2-15 from 3 point range. Antonita Slaughter provided a spark off the bench...going 3-4 from deep and Louisville led 39-13 at the intermission break .
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Cincinnati is pretty much in the same boat this year that Louisville was last year. Jamelle Elliott has seven players on her squad. Three of them shoot fairly well. Two go to the boards pretty strong. As a unit, though...they're prone to the mistakes a young squad makes because of no depth, little experience and marginal talent. 41 of UC's points came from three players.
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A scary moment when Shoni Schimmel dropped to her knees and covered her face with 14:02 remaining in the second half. A inadvertent elbow from UC's Kayla Cook caught the Cards guard right in the mouth and Schimmel spent the rest of the game on the bench with an icepack on her face. Louisville led 56-20 at the time and Walz wisely began removing the starters from the game...going with a lineup featuring a lot of Shelby Harper, Rachel Story, Polly Harrington, Asia Taylor and Charmaine Tay. The Cards led 70-30 with 7:40 to go and all 12 Cardinals available for action scored.
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Wins like this will come few and far between the rest of the season for Walz's bunch. They travel to Milwaukee Wednesday for a tough match against Marquette and dangerous Rutgers comes to visit Saturday, Jan.29th. This afternoon, though...the Cards looked like world beaters and kept the crowd of maybe 9000 (announced as 10500) excited and thrilled most of the time.
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As mentioned earlier, Reid led Louisville with 16 points. Becky Burke added 13 and Schimmel finished with 11. Keisha Hines, engaged most of the game in battle with UC's Jeanise Randolph played only thirteen minutes before fouling out with three points and four rebounds.
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