Lady Cards 73-64

CARDINAL COUPLE MONDAY REPORT:

-Lady Cards win 73-64 against Missouri State.

-Volleyball sweeps Georgetown in final BIG EAST regular season action

Cierra Warren with 16 second half points as the Cards overcome a shaky first half and defeat the Bears by nine. Warren was a perfect 8-8 from the floor for UofL and Becky Burke had three threes in the win.

MSU had a one point lead at the half. 41% shooting in the second half for Louisville and 25 forced turnovers for the game by the Bears. Sara Hammond with a double-double 13 points and 13 rebounds.





Hammond with a double-double tonight
in her first collegiate game.

The Cards started Shelby Harper, Shawnta Dyer, Bria Smith, Tia Gibbs and Sherrone Vails...but Louisville hardly looked like the #9 team in the nation in the first half..falling behind early to the inspired Bears 8-1 to start the game. The Lady Cards obviously missed the presence of Shoni Schimmel at point, who sat out the first of her two game suspension for playing in an NCAA un-sanctioned tournament this summer. Down by seven after three minutes, the Cards did rally to tie the contest at 8-8, getting two scores from Monique Reid. Louisville never led in the first half and actually trailed 25-16 with seven minutes to go before going on a late 16-8 first half run to climb with one at halftime at 33-32. Two Becky Burke threes helped cut the margin and the Cards held Missouri State two just two points in the final four minutes of the half. Sara Hammond led the Cards with seven points in the first half and Burke had six. The Cards needed to pick up the defensive pressure and capitalize on the height advantage they held over the Bears in the second half.

Louisville grabbed their first lead of the game to start the second half on a Bria Smith steal and layup but couldn't maintain it and found themselves down 49-42 with 11:47 remaining in the game. That's when Cierra Warren took over the contest for Louisville and scored eight points in a 12-2 run that had the Lady Cards on top 54-51 with 8:53 remaining. They never trailed after that and Warren would add eight more points the rest of the way to increase the lead and win by nine.

Bria Smith had six steals
against the Bears.

Louisville displayed a lot more energy over the final twelve minutes than the Bears did and Bria Smith and Jude Schimmel were effective in getting the ball into the paint for Warren to create and score.

Sara Hammond joined Warren in double figures, recording a double-double with 13 points and 13 boards. Bria Smith added 10, Becky Burke 9 and Asia Taylor 7. All 12 Cards available for the contest played and only Shelby Harper failed to score.  

Tia Gibbs sustained a right shoulder injury early in the first half and did not return to action. She is listed as doubtful for Texas A&M on Tuesday night. Monique Reid was slowed by an arch injury she suffered in the closed scrimmage last week against Illinois and did not practice all week. She finished with four points, all in the first five minutes of the game.

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Jeff Walz had the following observations about the contest in post-game comments:

-He felt Missouri State did a very good job defensively against the Cards and shut down any long-range shooting...Burke being the only Cardinal to score from behind the arc.

-He wasn't pleased with the Cardinal assist total tonight. Eight total, five of them from Jude Schimmel.

-Although Cierra Warren played well to end the game, she was a defensive liability in the first half and he had to sit her down and get her refocused.

-Very unhappy with the Cards 15 for 27 free throw shooting, especially Bria Smith's 2 for 8 charity stripe performance...but was pleased with her six steals. 

-Indicated he put Shoni back at point when she returns after the Texas A&M game.

All in all, a good - if late in coming - Cardinal win against a fired up opponent and loud and rowdy crowd in Springfield, MO. Louisville will need more scoring out of the guard position to fare well against Texas A&M Tuesday...but got outstanding play inside from Warren, Vails, Dyer, Taylor and Hammond...who accounted for 44 of the Cards 73 points.

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The Volleyball Cards downed Georgetown 25-19, 25-14, 25-23 on the final day of BIG EAST regular season volleyball action yesterday in Washington, D.C. Louisville will be the #1 seed in the BIG EAST tournament, starting Friday at Villanova and will face #8 seed Pittsburgh at 12:30 p.m.

Louisville (21-7, 13-1) started out Sunday unable to shake the Hoyas and the match was close until three straight serving aces by Caitlin Welch pushed Louisville to a 17-12 advantage. The Cards withstood a late Georgetown rally to win by six. 

Game two was all Louisville early, the Cards jumping out to a 9-4 advantage and going on a 9-1 run to lead 22-13. Emily Juhl  had five of her nine kills in the second contest and also served four of the five final points for the Cards in the win.

Georgetown put up a battle in the final game, roaring out to a 8-2 lead, but Louisville rallied back to tie it at 18. It remained tied at 23 until Lola Arslanbekova scored the final two points of the match on a kill and then a serving ace to give the Cards a hard fought win. Lola led the Cards with 11 kills in the match.

Other first round matchups in the BIG EAST Tournament:


#4 Syracuse vs. #5 Notre Dame 10 a.m.
#2 Cincinnati vs. #7 Villanova 3:30 p.m.
#3 Marquette vs. #6 Seton Hall 6 p.m.

All games will be shown on BIG EAST TV. The Cards must be wary of Pitt, who came into the KFC YUM! Center and defeated Louisville 3-1 during regular season play.

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didyouknowthatlouisvillehaswonthebigeastregularseasonortournamentforthelastthreeyears?thecardswerethebigeastregularseasonchampsin2005and2007
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