Dream drop another one...Youman, Juneau BIG EAST All-Academic... Okoro wins shot put

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SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE PRESENTS:

-Dream interrupted by Di & Mercury

-Five from UofL named to BIG EAST awards

-Chinwe Okoro wins Nigerian shot put

-What do you think?

The tough early season sledding continues for Angel McCoughtry and the Atlanta Dream. Last night it was our favorite here at CARDINAL COUPLE, Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury putting an "L" on the Atlanta record...with a 92-83 win in Atlanta.

Di is seen here asking George Bush to
give up the presidency and join the WNBA

Di had 20 for Phoenix and Candice Dupree contributed 18 in the Mercury win. Atlanta got Angel McCoughtry to toss in 24 - her second best performance of the season- and Courtney Paris added 13 but it wasn't enough to keep Atlanta from sliding to 2-6 on the season.

The Dream trailed by 20 points in this floater with five minutes left and never had an answer for the Mercury's fast paced tempo. The Dream used to run the ball pretty well too...but never got rolling last night. Atlanta gets San Antonio Sunday.

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Two Lady Cardinal student-athletes were selected for BIG EAST Scholar-Athlete Sport Excellence Awards. UofL's Nicole Youman (Field Hockey) and Sara Maude Juneau (golf) received the prestigious honors- a total of five Cardinals were named...giving Louisville the most student-athletes on the list out of all the BIG EAST schools. Joining Sara and Nicole were Chris Philpott (football), Michael Eaton (cross country) and Austen Childs (tennis).

Youman also had 19
assists her senior year.

Youman was the 2010 BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and scored 17 goals her senior year. She was a four year starter for former Cardinal field hockey coach Pam Bustin and hails from Black Mountain, Australia.

Juneau was also named BIG EAST Player of the Year in her sport...golf...and it was the second year in a row she captured that honor. She led the BIG EAST with a 73.2 stroke average and was ranked in the nation's top 25 women's collegiate golfers by Golfstat. 

Congratulations to these five Cardinals who have combined successes on the field of play with academic excellence. The award is given to only one student per sport each year and academics, athletics and volunteer service to the community are the judging criteria.

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Former UofL track and field star Chinwe Okoro won the Nigerian shot put event, throwing her career best of 16.79m/55-1. Her toss qualified her for the 2011 All-African games. Okoro will also attempt to qualify in the discus today.

Okoro was part of the
Cardinal throwing team.
They were the best in
the BIG EAST

She was a valuable thrower for the Cardinals program a UofL and finished her senior season with All-American honors in the discus and shot put at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships

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Does it matter if college athletes
are gay or lesbian?

All across college campuses, student-athletes are leaving their high schools and hometowns to arrive on college campuses as incoming freshmen and begin classes. Whatever happened to a summer break? Sue Favor takes a look at the issue on her They're Playing Basketball blog. It's an interesting read and you can access her blog over on the infamous left side of our blog. Also, does sexual orientation matter when it comes to athletes? We've posted a poll over on the left side and feel free to leave your comments and opinions on it here in our comments section. ESPN recently did an article on it that you can read on Sue's blog.
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