Cardinals 68 - DePaul 55. Quotes and Review

THURSDAY FROM CARDINAL COUPLE:

-Breaking down the victory

-Post game quotes

The Cards meet at half court following the huge win over DePaul Wednesday night in the KFC YUM Center. Louisville improves to 9-5 in BIG EAST play with the win and is now all but assured an at-large berth in the NCAA Tournament with the upset of the #7 Blue Demons.

Louisville held Doug Bruno's squad to 34.5% shooting for the game (19-55) and only 25% from beyond the arc. (4-16). The Cards also out-rebounded the Blue Demons 38-30. Shoni Schimmel grabbed nine boards for 'the Ville', followed by Monique Reid with seven and Sherrone Vails adding six...all on the defensive end. DePaul and Louisville tied with 26 points in the paint but the Blue Demons did win the points off turnovers battle 22-14.

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The Cards forced Doug Bruno's squad into 20 turnovers (Sam Quigley with 4) and only committed 19 (Reid 6). Louisville dished out 14 assists (Schimmel 6) and DePaul ended up with 12 (Keisha Hampton 4). Louisville swiped 10 steals from the Blue Demons (Schimmel 3) while the visitors could only produce six from the Cards (Hampton and Katherine Harry 2 each). The Blue Demons did capture the 2nd chance points 12-4 but Louisville's defense held DePaul to zero fast break points and the Cards scored four on the runouts...

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Reid's 28 points were her second highest output of the season...29 against Pitt being her top point total. Schimmel added 11, Becky Burke 10 and Keisha Hines netted 8 before fouling out.

Tia Gibbs finished with 4, Antonita Slaughter sank a key three for her three points and both Asia Taylor and Shelby Harper had two points...all from the foul line. Vails gave the Cards 13 minutes of quality relief but did not score. The Cards went 6-16 from three point area...Schimmel 3-5, Burke 2-4 and Slaughter 1-1. Harper (0-2) and Gibbs (0-4) were the other Cards attempting trifectas.

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After a fairly 'whistle free' first half, Dennis DeMayo and his crew...especially Jennifer Rezac...got busy and callled 25 fouls in the second stanza for a game total of 40...21 on DePaul and 19 on the Ville. Both Hines and Gibbs went to the bench with five each, Reid collected three and Harper two. Taylor, Schimmel, Vails and Slaughter received one each. DePaul lost Felicia Chester with five, Hampton and Taylor Pikes collected four each.

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Nine Cardinals played in the contest...Schimmel on the court for 36 minutes. Reid logged 34 minutes, Gibbs 30, Hines 29, Burke 24 and Harper 22. Vails had 13 minutes off the bench and starter Taylor just eight. Slaughter saw four minutes on the floor. Rachel Story, Charmaine Tay and Polly Harrington dressed for the game but did not play. Point guard Sam Quigley for DePaul played 39 of the 40 minutes but Louisville held her to six points on 2-10 shooting, two assists. one steal and got her to cough it up four times.

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Obviously...defense got it done for Louisville last night but WE also look at the Cards excellent effort from the free throw line as another key factor in the win. The Cards shot 20-22 from the stripe. Reid went 8-8, Burke was 4-4 and Taylor and Schimmel 2-2. Hines ended 2-3 and so did Harper for the only Louisville misses. 90.9% is the Louisville high for the season from the line. DePaul shot 13-21 for a lower than average 61.9% for them.

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The Louisville freshmen produced 14 of the Cards 68 points...11 from Schimmel and 3 from Slaughter. 13 of the 38 rebounds and the three who played shot 4-13 from the field. No word on why Tay never saw action last night.

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FROM THE MEDIA INTERVIEW ROOM:

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Reid on containing DePaul point guard Sam Quigley:

"We just tried to stay in front of her and know where she was on the court. We knew she was their leader."

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Schimmel on NCAA chances with the win:

"This game was a key for us because it allows us to keep in the mix and continue to just go out there and keep running and it help us. Whatever we do, we just want to keep winning because it just helps us get a better seed...in the BIG EAST and the NCAA Tournament."

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Schimmel on the timeout discussion with the score 57-50 and 3:50 to go:

"He (Walz) just told us to go out there and execute the plays he wanted us to execute. To get down and defend people and that's exactly what we did...defend people and our offense came back. He was telling us what plays to run and it helped us right then and there. We worked on the double screens all week and it helped us tonight."

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(Jeff Walz had a slightly different version of what he said during the timeout...telling Paul that he probably couldn't put into print what he said during the break. Walz, suffering from upper respiratory problems last night, did not let the illness keep him from being vocal, demonstrative and active...but you could tell in the post game pressure he was feeling bad and ready to go home and rest.)

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Reid on Walz's words of advice:

"He told us to play them at their own game. They knew the double team, so we ran it and then kicked it out to our shooters and we were driving. We had success all night with it. We were well prepared for this game."

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Reid on the practices before the game and what was stressed:

"Defense and rebounding. Definitely, definitely. We held them to 11 offensive rebounds which is a big step for us because we've struggled with rebounding. We did a really good job with it. Defensively, we've been picking it up. We had a little struggle at Syracuse but we have definitely improved in practice."

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Reid on knocking off five ranked teams this year and the Cards being one of the most dangerous teams in the country:

"Yeah, I think so. When we have a beauitful arena and a crowd like this as momentum...we can do a lot of big things. We have a lot of lethal weapons. Never know what to expect..a point guard that can deliver a behind the back pass, shoot it from half court. She (Schimmel) sits down and we still got a dribbler and playmaker to bring in. We got shooters and post players. I'd fear us..."

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Reid on Burke's spark in the second half:

"That was one of the things we worked on in practice. We knew it was going to happen. Inviting the double trap, coming off the screens and we knew our shooters were going to be open. We kicked to the weak side and knocked down some big shots. She (Burke) is a junior and she definitely stepped up. She knew what she had to do."

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Reid on another win on her "payback list" from last season:

"Yeah, we're just checking them off...(Laughter).

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Reid on the defensive effort...holding DePaul to a season low:

"The key was just staying in front of them and knwing where the shooters were. We worked on it all practice and like I said before...we were well-prepared for this game. We executed the game plan... we did exactly what he told us to and that is why we came out with the "W".

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Reid on a possible letdown after such a big win:

"One could say that...but we're playing in the BIG EAST..any given night any team can win. It doesn't matter who you are or what team is on your jersey, you gotta play hard every night. If we come out hard and do exactly what Coach tells us to do..execute the game plan...we'll win again. "

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Reid on the team going 20-22 from the free throw line:

(Laughter) "Yeah, it makes you feel pretty good. we have been struggling from there.

Schimmel: We are getting better. Shelby hardly misses from the free throw line but you can't make them all, I guess...but she made up for it on the defensive end."

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Reid on her several bad performances earlier in the season:

"It's basically been a battle within myself. My confidence was down for a little bit because it's no fun when you are hurt. You're limited. I rolled my ankle again in practice yesterday. Again.

But, I just have to know my game and play within myself. Lately, my confidence has been really up . I feel like if I keep continuing to go hard in practice...I'll be more productive in the game and that's exactly what I did. I had a really good practice this week and hurt ankle or hurt whatever or not I still got to come out and play hard. This team needs me and I need them."

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A video of Coach Walz's post game comments can be viewed over at http://www.uoflsports.com/

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With the win, the Cards have now held 13 straight opponents to less than 27 points in the first have in the KFC YUM Center. Tennessee is the only team to manage more than 30 in the first twenty minutes. DePaul's 20 was a season low for them in first half production and their 55 total points were a season low as well.

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Louisville's 20-22 free throw markmanship (.909) is the best total from the line for the Cards since going 6-6 vs. Vermont in 2004. It is also their highest line percentage when they've tried 10 or more free throws since a 10-11 effort against Wofford in 2001.

Louisville is 5-5 against ranked opponents this year and has forced all ten into at least 18 turnovers. The average of all ten is 21.7 per game.

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Shelby Harper picked up her first career block against DePaul....swatting away a Sam Quigley layup attempt in the first half. Antonita Slaughter drained her only three point attempt of the game and has now hit 12 of her last 20. She is 26-54 (.481) from the deep this year. Slaughter's turnover was her first since Dec. 20th. against Nebraska.

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Reid has now made 18 straight free throws with her 8-8 performance last night. She is currently in fifth place on career free throw attempts. Becky Burke has 17 in a row now after making her four attempts against the Blue Demons. Reid's 28 points marks the ninth time this year that she has reached the 20 point plateau.

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Shoni Schimmel has hit at least (1) three pointer in her last 24 games. Her streak is 4th longest in Cardinal history...one behind Sara Nord's 25 game streak in the 2003-04 season. Nord is in first place also with 36.

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