Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Volleyball downs Rutgers...Completes perfect AAC slate

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards 18-0 AAC record may never be duplicated

- An early look:  UofL WBB v. UK

- Radio today!


VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS RUTGERS -- AWAITS NCAA


LED BY MAYA MCCLENDON'S 16 KILLS, THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE VOLLEYBALL TEAM TURNED AWAY THE SCARLET KNIGHTS 25-16, 25-13, 25-19 IN A STRAIGHT SET SWEEP FRIDAY AFTERNOON IN CARDINAL ARENA.

WITH THE WIN, THE CARDS WERE PERFECT IN THE AAC REGULAR PLAY...BUILDING AN 18-0 RECORD AGAINST THEIR ONE-YEAR CONFERENCE FOES. IT WILL BE THE BENCHMARK AND BAR TO HURDLE FOR FUTURE AAC PARTICIPANTS AND THE BEST EVER CONFERENCE SEASON IN THE HISTORY OF UOFL VOLLEYBALL. WITH THE WIN, THE CARDS GO TO 23-7 OVERALL AND AWAIT THEIR NCAA FATE. ESPNU WILL ANNOUNCE THE NCAA VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS ON SUNDAY NIGHT @ 9:30 P.M.

THE CARDS ROARED OUT TO AN EARLY 14-5 LEAD IN GAME ONE. RUTGERS RALLIED TO GET WITHIN FOUR AT 16-12 BEFORE LOUISVILLE STEPPED ON THE GAS AGAIN AND TOOK NINE OF THE FINAL THIRTEEN POINTS TO WIN GOING AWAY. MCCLENDON HAD FOUR KILLS LATE IN THE FIRST GAME TO THRILL THE CAPACITY CARDINAL ARENA CROWD.

GAME TWO SAW THE CARDS BREAK AWAY FROM  A 6-5 DEFICIT TO TAKE A COMMANDING 14FL-7 LEAD. THEY KEPT THE MOMENTUM FLOWING...GETTING KEY CONTRIBUTIONS FROM KATIE GEORGE, JANELLE JENKINS AND SYDNEY COOPER TO OUTDISTANCE THE RUTGERS SQUAD 11-6 THE REST OF THE WAY.

AFTER THE BREAK, LOUISVILLE AND THE PISCATAWAY VISITORS WERE ENGAGED IN A TIGHT 9-7 MATCH BEFORE A 5-1 CARDINAL RUN GAVE UOFL SOME BREATHING ROOM AT 14-8. R.U. DID BATTLE BACK TO GET WITHIN THREE AT 16-13...BUT THE CARDS PREVAILED 9-6 THE REST OF THE WAY AND A MCCLENDON KILL GAVE LOUISVILLE GAME AND MATCH.

THE CARDS HIT AN OUTSTANDING .400 FOR THE MATCH. EMILY JUHL ADDED TEN  KILLS, KATIE GEORGE PROVIDED 39 ASSISTS AND CAITLIN WELCH GOT OUT THE SHOVEL FOR 13 DIGS.

SINCE THERE IS NO AAC CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT, THE CARDS GET THE AUTOMATIC QUALIFIER TO VOLLEYBALL'S 'BIG DANCE'.

A EXCELLENT FINISH TO REGULAR SEASON THAT HAD SOME DINGS AND DENTS EARLY ON. ANNE KORDES WAS EFFUSIVE IN HER PRAISE FOR THE SQUAD AND PARTICULARLY THE SENIORS...BROOKE MATTINGLY, EMILY JUHL, CAITLIN WELCH, HANNAH KVITLE AND CARLY SAHAGIAN.  

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IS THAT BOBBIE BOUCHARD PLAYIN' THE BASSETTBALL?


UOFL WOMEN'S BASKETBALL HOPS ON 1-64 EAST AND HEADS TO LEXINGTON TOMORROW TO FACE MATTHEW MITCHELL'S UK WILDCATS. OUR BASKETBALL TOUR DE FORCE JENNY O'BRYAN WILL HAVE MUCH MORE ON THIS IN THE SUNDAY EDITION OF CARDINAL COUPLE...BUT TODAY, I'LL GIVE YOU 10 THINGS TO PONDER ABOUT THE GAME AND THE HISTORY OF THE SERIES.

-  THE SCHOOLS STARTED PLAYING OFFICIALLY FOR THE RECORD BOOKS IN 1975 AND ACTUALLY FACED EACH OTHER FOUR TIMES IN 1977...UK WINNING THREE.

-  KENTUCKY LEADS THE OVERALL SERIES 31-17 AND HAS TAKEN THREE OUT OF THE LAST FOUR MEETINGS.

-  100 POINTS BY EITHER SQUAD HAS ONLY BEEN ACHIEVED ONCE...WHEN UK DRUBBED A ROSTER-DEPLETED UOFL SQUAD 101-67 IN THE 2009-10 SEASON.

-  88 IS THE HIGHEST POINT TOTAL THAT THE CARDS HAVE ACHIEVED AGAINST UK...IN A LOSS BACK IN 1977.

-   LOUISVILLE WON FIVE IN A ROW AGAINST BIG BLUE FROM 2004-2008. THE CATS WON 13 OUT OF 14 IN A STRETCH FROM 1979-1989.

-  JEFF WALZ IS 3-3 AGAINST UK. TOM COLLEN WAS 3-1.

-  SAMARIE WALKER AND KASTINE EVANS HAVE PLAYED THE MOST MINUTES FOR UK THIS YEAR...EACH LOGGING 179 OR 25.6 PER GAME

-  UK  HAS HAD FIVE DIFFERENT LEADING SCORERS IN THEIR SEVEN GAMES.

-  AN ANNOUNCER'S NIGHTMARE...UK HAS A BERNISHA, DENESHA, MAKAYLA AND JELLAH ON THE ROSTER.

- THE KATS HAVE ACHIEVED THE CENTURY MARK THREE TIMES THIS SEASON WHILE ALLOWING OPPONENTS 70+ JUST THREE TIMES.

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AND JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO TURN YOUR INTERNET DEVICES BACK ON...

we're baaacckkkk....on the radio, that is....with another stirring episode of CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR this morning at 11 a.m.  balls will be flying through the air as we discuss women's basketball and volleyball. i've also prepared a quiz for my two co-hosts and we have comments from Jeff Walz and Michelle Clark-Heard following the WKU game.  be a part of Worldwide Jeff McAdams' quest for universal dominance and visit your local bakery and deli because it's small business saturday and you really should stop by there more often!

you can join in the fun and invite your friends to hear sheer lunacy and informative and affirmative dialogue on uofl women's sports and it don't cost nuthin'!

we'd like to think we're the kind of show that John Coffey would have listened to while he awaited his fate on the green mile...if there had been internet radio and wi-fi stations in prison back in the 1930's.

In yesteryear, people would do some pretty strange
things to get good radio reception...

we just hope the studio doors are unlocked today and a engineer shows up to work the switches, buttons, knobs and digital recording devices. or free pizza. either of the two would be fine. if you're a local pizza shop and reading this...send one over (on the house...) to 2520 frankfort avenue and come to the side door. jenny said she'd tip the delivery driver. we'll even mention your establishment on the ether. 

click the link below to go to the erstwhile and docile internet station we affectionately refer to as CHR:

WHO DEM PEOPLE ON THE INTERNET RADIO, BOSS?

-Paulie
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Friday Cardinal Couple -- Words from Watson

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Former CARDINAL COUPLE columnist and now occasional contributor DAVID WATSON offered to let Paulie sleep off his turkey slug and is our writer for the Friday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE. )


I hope CARDINAL COUPLE readers one and all are having a great Thanksgiving weekend. As someone said once -- if you aren't having fun, you aren't trying hard enough.

The family is off fighting crowds at Black Friday deals, so I contacted the hibernating Paulie and offered to do a write. I think he said, "Sure, go ahead." but it was hard to tell. He was in between snores. Doesn't everyone get up at 4 a.m. on Black Friday?  

I will talk about the Lady Cards today. I still use the term for the UofL women's basketball team. Wednesday night, I was listening to the game and started interchanging it with "Lazy Cards". They won, though, so I retract it.

Is there any thing wrong with calling Louisville women's basketball the Lady Cards? I think Paulie did a poll on this a few years ago and came up with the following results:

43% said they didn't have a problem with it
32% were offended.
18% didn't care. They were at the wrong site.
5%  put "Go Big Blue" in the 'other' category

My youngest daughter thinks it's a demeaning term. She asked:

"Do they refer to the men's team as the 'Gentleman Cards? I think that adjective is un-needed. You're my parent, do you want to be called teenager daddy? Dad works just fine, doesn't it?"

She's got a point.

I was at Notre Dame for years. The team there are called the "Fighting Irish". It doesn't mean they are constantly involved in brawls, fracases and fisticuffs. They were sometimes a battling bunch, but boxing and MMA weren't D1 Sports back then. And, should Irish always be associated with fighting?

So, does it matter? Should "Redskins" be "Red Storm" or "Pigmented outer layered climatic disturbance"? My Cleveland Indians and our fan base refers to their Major League Baseball team as the "tribe" at times. I refer to them as perpetual cellar dwellers.

I think we're just becoming a too-politically correct society. Pretty soon, we'll be forced to call bears "woodland animals with hibernation-oriented traits and sharp claws".

That'll go over well in Soldier Field.

Moving on...

I am excited about the annual matchup between Louisville and Kentucky in women's basketball Sunday. Louisville needs to get a "W" since they've lost the last two and we can't have Kentucky professing superiority in anything.

I think the Cards (that aren't men) have a good chance to go to Lexington and bring back a win. 8-0 would be a great way to start the season. I'll be the first bird to go out on the limb here at the Couple.

UofL 63 - UK 61.

Finally, an associate of mine who is just beginning to get into women's basketball after years of poo-pooing it asked me the other day if Louisville's coach Jeff Walz is a target of other high profile schools to take over their reigns. I told him that Walz had indicated he will coach the Cards until he is retired, fired (or the zombie apocalypse takes over the world.) I added the zombie apocalypse part. My son has me hooked on The Walking Dead TV show.) 

Even if The Walking Dead type apocalypse ever happened, my guess is you'd find Walz in the Cardinal Arena gym in his zombie state. Carrying a clipboard and still in his checkered shirt. Watching Shoni shoot.

My Thanksgiving holiday wish for you readers this morning is that you be thankful for the team that graces the Denny Crum Court in the KFC YUM! Center. They are 7-0, have bucketfuls of talent and their approach to the season -- the "unfinished business" mission statement sums up where they want to be this season.

Cutting down the nets in Nashville.

The Huskies of Connecticut look to be unstoppable this season. Many said the same thing about the Baylor Bears last season.

Stopped.

Have a great rest of the holiday weekend and now -- it's off to raid the refrigerator for cold turkey, pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce.

The breakfast of champions.

-- David Watson --

Thiursday Cardinal Couple -- Cards WBB avoid being turkeys...down WKU 74-61

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Smith's strong second half, fast UofL start tops Toppers

-Volleyball stays unbeaten in AAC with win over UConn

...From the writers, staff and management of CARDINAL COUPLE, a very happy Thanksgiving to one and all and we hope your day is enjoyable!

The way the University of Louisville women's basketball squad started the Wednesday night game against Western Kentucky was something to be very thankful of. A strong second half from Bria Smith helped keep the Cards from being turkeys in E.A. Diddle Arena...Louisville pulls out the hard-fought, less than picture perfect 74-61 win before 3725 loud Topper fans.

Louisville raced out to a 9-0 lead in the first four and a half minutes of the contest and it looked like a repeat of the Ohio University game might be in the works. Louisville had held WKU to 0 rebounds and all the starters but Asia Taylor were in the scoring column                                   

That lead balooned to 18-2 after a Shoni Schimmel layup and WKU finally tallied their second basket of the game when Micah Jones rattled home a three with 13:17 remaining in the first session. Jones added another trifecta and WKU responded with a 15-4 run over the next four minutes to trim the Louisville lead to 22-17. Jeff Walz had seen enough and re-inserted starters Shoni Schimmel, Nita Slaughter and reserve Monny Niamke into the fray...hoping to get the UofL offense rolling again.

A 6-0 run, keyed by two Emmonnie Henderson jumpers, gave the Cards a bit of breathing room with 7:27 to go and the squads stayed at 28-17 until WKU's Alexis Govan converted on a layup at the 5:03 mark. Louisville rediscovered their offense and led 33-22 after a Shoni three with 3:30 showing on the scoreboard.

The final 210 seconds produced two Chastity Gooch three-balls and a Alexis Govan jumper...spurring a 11-4 Western Kentucky spree that had them within three at 37-34 with 24 seconds until halftime. Slaughter followed up on a missed Monny three with four seconds left to make it 39-34 after 20 minutes.

Gooch, Govan and Jones had 22 of the Hilltopper points and Louisville had a eyebrow raising 14 turnovers in the books. Henderson, Shoni and Hammond produced eight points each in a half that had Cardinal fans wondering where the early "boom" had gone?

In the final 20 minutes...it would get worse before it got better. Gooch came out and buried a jumper to get WKU within three. Louisville realized it was time to respond and went on a 8-3 spurt to hold a 48-39 edge five minutes into the final half

That soon disappeared.

The Toppers made one last lunge at the lead and retaliated with 11 of the next 13 points and suddenly it was Louisville up only 50-46 and 14 minutes remaining. A clutch Shoni three was followed by a Bria Smith score. The point guard was starting to get untracked after a first half that saw her hit one only shot in nine minutes. She scored eight of the Cards next 18 points to put Louisville in command at 68-49 as the clock ticked down to seven minutes remaining.

WKU would not get within single digits the rest of the way...despite a yeoman effort by Gooch...who exploded with 12 more second half points to finish with a game-high 21.

Shawnta Dyer's free throw pushed the lead to 71-57 and the Cards spent the final 3:14 on even terms with the home team...taking a hard fought 74-61 win back to the Belknap Campus.


THE FINAL WORD

Today's final word will be:  Escape. That's what the Cards did Wednesday night in Bowling Green

-Louisville escaped the chopping block a couple of times Wednesday night and was impressive in the fact they shot 55.4% from the field for the game...despite 3-15 long range bombing. Louisville was shooting over 70% for most of the second half.

-I made a point of asking Coach Walz in the post game media interviews about the 25 turnovers...a season high for UofL...and he assured me that the team was very good at making turnovers and was creating new ways to give the ball up. Tune into the Saturday morning CARDINAL COUPLE for both Walz's and Clark-Heard's comments on the contest. His answer to my question:

''We can turn the ball over with the best of them,'' Walz said. ''We can come up with new ways, some I haven't seen before, but we can definitely make a basketball game very interesting.''

(Classic, deadpan Walz sarcasm which drew a chuckle from the assorted media on hand to hear the coaches comments. WKU does not supply players to their post-game media interviews...or, at least they didn't last night. I would have liked to ask Gooch and Govan a couple of questions.)


-A win on the road against a fired up opponent with a staff full of former UofL coaches and players is a good thing. Walz needs to fine tune the substitution patterns and free throw shooting is still less than his standard of 70%

-Bria Smith responded with 14 or her 16 points in the second half. She looks very comfortable with the mid-range jumper now.

-The Toppers entertain Morehead State on Dec 1st. Louisville heads to Lexington for the annual donnybrook with the UK Wildcats in cozy Memorial broom closet.

-When we weren't fretting about the Cards turnovers...we were kept entertained by a couple of students sitting behind media row that were screaming humorous and sarcastic comments about the Louisville players' on-court action and the referees
They were spot-on about the refs. "Charles-In-Charge" and his crew were woeful.

- We also got to sit with The Logan Journal's news and sports editor Jim Turner. A great conversation with him during the contest about a variety of topics. Check out his on-line site at:

www.loganjournal.com


-7-0 is good, though. The real test comes Sunday in Lexington. Credit to a Hilltopper squad that never quit, never gave up and probably has the best player in the SunBelt Conference in Gooch.

( Note: Jude Schimmel left the game with 1:51 to go and headed to the Louisville locker room in tears and holding her head...accompanied by the Cardinal training staff. Seems she caught an elbow to the head and will be evaluated Friday by the UofL medical staff...according to Coach Walz )

FINAL STATS:

http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2013-2014/game07.html

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CARDINAL VOLLEYBALL took a four set victory over UConn last night in Cardinal Arena. We're pretty sure our "Worldwide" Jeff McAdams was there and maybe he'll grace the comments section with more detail on the win. Louisville is now 22-7 overall and 17-0. UConn isn't.

Here's the skinny:

Emily Juhl and Maya McClendon had 15 and 14 kills respectively to lead the University of Louisville volleyball team to a 25-21, 20-25, 25-11, 25-16 win over AAC foe Connecticut to stay unbeaten in the league Friday night in Cardinal Arena. The Cards now post a 17-0 mark in the AAC and are 22-7 overall. U of L hit .289 for the match with 11 blocks and five aces. Maya McClendon notched her 12th double-double, adding 13 digs to her 14 kills. Katie George also notched a double-double with 46 assists and 15 digs. Randi Ewing led blocking with seven. Serving errors plagued both teams as the two combined for 22 total. The Huskies were led by Karson Ratlings 12 kills and two blocks.

And, WorldWide did contribute this!

I was, indeed, at the UofL vs UConn volleyball match last night.

A rough start for the Cards with lots of enforced errors, including a large handful of serving errors in the first set. Despite the errors, and only hitting .179 in the first set, they were able to pull out the win.

Not so much in the second set, with only .098 hitting(!) UConn picks up the set.

I'm not sure what Anne Kordes said to the team during the set break, but I hope she bottled some of it! The team came out and hit .692 in the third set. I'm not sure I've ever seen that high of hitting for a whole team in a set. They cooled off a little in the 4th in getting the win by "only" hitting .345, which is, of course, still pretty impressive for a team number.

Clearly, in the overall, Louisville plays a higher caliber of volleyball than UConn does, but to their credit, they are a team that doesn't ever give up.

Other highlights were 25 digs for Caitlin Welch as well as chalking up another kill. We almost had a play with a kill by Caitlin Welch where the assist would've got to Brooke Mattingly...that one would've been a lot of fun to write up, but alas the ball didn't drop on UConn's side.

Emily Juhl really is playing well in general right now. She had a serve where the crowd audibly gasped. She did sail one or two high, but that's the sort of thing you get with a high-risk high-reward sort of serve like she has (think Shoni Schimmel's passing and you get the idea...just without the flashiness).

One play that I really wanted to comment on was really great. Katie George with a quick set to the middle. Randi Ewing going up for the swing and drawing all of the middle blocking to her, but then the ball is hit...I should say *pounded*...by Janelle Jenkins running up the middle as well. The UConn defense and blocking was totally befuddled as was most of the crowd, including myself as I didn't see that coming at all either.

The last match of the season is tomorrow (Friday) at 3pm vs Rutgers at Cardinal Arena.


The Cards face Rutgers at 3 p.m. Friday to finish the regular season in Cardinal Arena and will then await their NCAA seeding and fate. The pairings will be announced Sunday night @ 9:30 p.m. on ESPNU.


-Paulie-

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     HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!!

Wednesday Cardinal Couple -- WBB, Volleyball in action tonight

WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Louisville WBB travels to Bowling Green for WKU

- Louisville Volleyball hosts UConn

Thanks to Burn Brother for forwarding this Jude picture

We all know the plot lines. Former assistant goes up against mentor. Former Cardinal and Louisville high school greats on WKU bench as assistant and staff. Frormer Cardinal assistant faces previous employer. Toss in a wise-cracking detective, blonde in an overcoat, and shadowy figures and you've got a great mystery thriller. (No...Jeff, Jenny, Paulie and Sonja are not playing the aforementioned character actors)


Yes, the University of Louisville women's basketball team travels to Bowling Green tonight. Michelle Clark-Heard (head coach), Candyce Bingham (assistant coach), Margaret Richards (assistant coach), Greg Collins (assistant coach) and Laura Terry (program assistant) all have ties to either UofL or the city in one fashion or another.

And Jeff Walz has ties to WKU, serving as an assistant to Paul Sanderford...who still has ties to WKU and mentored Jeff.

I know, it's beginning to sound like a Waltons' Mountain reunion (maybe Cortnee Walton will show up) or family picnic...so let's get to the game itself.

WKU hosts the Cards and is on a three-game win streak. Their only defeat on the season came to Vandy. Last out they went on the road and whipped NKU (another Commonwealth of Kentucky directional school) 74-64.

Louisville travels in with an unblemished record...downing Free Shoes University (aka Florida State) 69-59 in overtime in the YUM! Sunday. The Cards are either #4 or #3 in the nation (choose your poll) and can't get caught looking ahead to UK on Sunday.

The Toppers have talent. Alexis Gowin and Chastity Gooch put up a combined 36 points against NKU. The game is a big one for Topper fans, staff and players...a top five ranked team hasn't visited E.A. Diddle Arena since 1998 and the Toppers won that one...against LA.Tech.

CHASTITY GOOCH

Playing Louisville: “I feel like this is a huge opportunity for us. I feel like this game should tell us where we stand. It’s very exciting. How many teams can say they get to play a No. 4 team in the country?

Handling Cardinals’ pressure: “We just have to talk to one another. We have to calm each other down. If we see someone kind of getting out of control, we’ve got to tell that person it’s OK and just take care of the ball.”

WKU is rolling out all the stops for this one. Free tickets at area IGA grocery stores, 1000 free "white out t-shirts" for attending fans.  A food deal including a hot dog, bag of chips and soda for $7 bucks. A coat drive by the Bowling Green Jr. Women's Club.

Attendance should be huge. E.A. Diddle Arena holds about 7300. Can the Toppers fill it on Thanksgiving Eve?  

The Cards will be looking to perform a little better at the start of this one than they did in their only other away game this season (Oklahoma) or last game against FSU (at the YUM!).
Louisville has weapons galore, a surprisingly good rebounding margin over opponents this season and Shoni.
That should be enough to translate into a "W" for the Ville.

Game time is 8 p.m. EST and ESPN 3 has the broadcast. It's also on Cards TV, Cards Radio 790, WKU PBS in the Bowling Green area and the Hilltopper Sports Satellite Network.

Cardinal Couple will be there also and we'll have a full report on the action and events Thanksgiving morning. We sincerely hope that the Cards don't go down to Bowling Green and become turkeys. We'd love to see them carve WKU up. Drumsticks crossed, we'll have thankful news and a story line that involves a UofL win.

I have this feeling, though...this one is going to be a close one...decided in the final minutes. It's a potential season-changing game for WKU and Michelle Clark-Heard's team doesn't quit until the final buzzer goes off .

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Louisville Volleyball moves to Cardinal Arena for action tonight at 7 p.m. against UConn. The Huskies haven't had a season to boast about in the AAC...but it's a good idea to always be a little wary of any team that sports the Huskies logo.

Brooke Mattingly had 12 kills and six blocks to lead the University of Louisville to a 25-13, 25-19, 25-16 win over UConn at UConn on Oct. 27th.

We'll have a recap on this match also in the Thanksgiving edition of CC.

With the home slate complete, the UConn women's volleyball team (13-18, 4-12 American) hits the road this week to close out the 2013 season. UConn will face Louisville (21-7, 16-0 American) on Wednesday at 7 p.m., then conclude the regular season with Cincinnati (2-28, 2-14 American) on Friday at 12 p.m.

-paulie-

Tuesday Cardinal Couple

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

( Staff columnist and radio personality "Worldwide" Jeff McAdams gives us a meteorlogical dissertation this morning and looks at Softball, Shoni and sports performance.)  

 

Spring is Coming

A TV show has made the phrase "Winter is Coming" popular, but as I type this, its snowing, so I think Winter has arrived.  But, that means that we can now start to say, "Spring is coming."

OK, so basketball is only a few games into their season, but the teams for spring sports have begun their activities for the academic year.  The spring sports at UofL include Softball, Baseball, Lacrosse, and Track and Field.  

Softball is competing in their Oklahoma City Challenge, named for the location of the Women's College World Series that happens in Oklahoma City every year.  The OKC Challenge is in its fourth year and is an intra-squad competition, created by the mind of Teena Murray, Director of Olympic Sports Performance.  Teena is the...some student-athletes would probably add some unsavory adjectives to this description...person responsible for the strength and conditioning of many of the sports at UofL, including Softball and Basketball (she can be seen at the end of the bench at UofL Women's Basketball games and in the health and performance tips shown on the scoreboard during each game).

A real challenge would be moving Bill the Goat and his
pickup truck and then trying to get him out of it.

 The OKC Challenge has a variety of events that aren't known to the players ahead of time but almost invariably involve pushing, pulling, and carrying heaving objects like wooden beams, pickup trucks, exercise sleds, medicine balls, kettle bells, sand bags and the like.  Each event scores points with an opportunity for bonus points each day.  Today is the final of four days of the OKC Challenge with the Red team, consisting of Ally Vaughn, Brittany Sims as captains; and members Kristina Dillard, Tiarra Sanabria, Maggie Ruckenbrod, Kayla Soles, Katie Keller, Hannah Kiyohara, Rachel Houck, Jordan McNary and Brittany Duncan; holding a slight lead at 450 points to 400.

Best of luck to the Red and Black teams in The OKC Challenge and we here at The Cardinal Couple will be looking forward to the first home games of the softball season on February 21st.
 

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Shoni Makes Another List

The elder Schimmel sister was named to the pre-season Naismith Watch List.  Perhaps the Board of Selectors of the Atlanta Tipoff Club needs to consult a calendar as the season...UofL's anyway, and I don't think we were the overall season opener...started 17 days ago.

Regardless of timing, the honor is deserved.  The watch list is comprised of 50 players and is based on last year's accomplishments and their expectations for the current year.  A further winnowing of the list will occur in February down to 30 entries, with a final selection of the 4 players to go on the ballot happening in March.

Shoni was also named to two honest-to-goodness preseason watch lists, for the Wade award and the Wooden Award, which were released in October.

Shoni and her UofL teammates travel to Bowling Green, KY to face Michelle Clark - Heard's WKU Hilltoppers Wednesday night. CARDINAL COUPLE will be there at the game and have a preview of it tomorrow and full report of it in our Thursday edition.

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EDITOR NOTE:

 

 

Thanks to reader and commenter Kenny S. for sending the clip below of WKU head women's basketball coach Michelle Clark-Heard discussing the upcoming Weds. game against Louisville. WKU is looking for a big crowd for this one in the E.A. Diddle Arena and his offering fans free tickets at IGA Grocery Stores in and around the Bowling Green area.

All that and a bag of chips!

It's a "white out " game as well and 1000 white t-shirts will be given out to fans.



COACH HEARD SHARES THE WORD ABOUT UOFL GAME

 

Monday Cardinal Couple -- Louisville 69 - FSU 59

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Cards control 'Noles in O.T.

Asia Taylor scored six of her eight points in overtime and Louisville outscored FSU 15-5 in the extra session in the KFC YUM! Center Sunday afternoon to defeat their future ACC opponent 69-59 in front of a crowd of 10045 on banner revealing day for last year's runner-ups in the NCAA women's basketball tournament.

Louisville hardly looked like the second best team in the nation to start this one today...falling behind 19-4 in the first seven and one half minutes of play to the visitors from Florida. Down early 4-0, Sara Hammond produced a couple of baskets to tie the contest with 16:50 to go. It would be almost six minutes before UofL would score again...missing six shots and committing three turnovers before a Shoni three got the CARDS within 12. 

The Seminoles still had plenty of fight in them, though...and pushed the lead back out to 24-12 when All-American candidate Natasha Howard hit a layup and free throw with 5:30 left in the half.

Louisville got the message. A 9-0 run over the next three minutes...with Nita Slaughter getting seven of the points...drew UofL within three at 24-21. The final two minutes saw FSU push the advantage back  out to 29-22 before Shoni drilled a three with five second left in the half to get within four at 29-25.

A pretty ugly first half of basketball for the Cards...shooting 28.6% (8-28) from the floor and committing 13 turnovers. FSU was getting easy looks inside and Louisville seemed a step slow and out of position.

Whatever Walz and the staff said to the players at halftime worked. Louisville took their first lead of the game just 49 seconds into the final half of play when Shoni buried a three. The teams battled tooth and nail after that...neither team leading by more than four until the Cards capped a 8-2 run on a Cortnee Walton layup with 6:53 left in the game. .Louisville was up 46-40 and looked poised to run away with this one

FSU came back. They tied the contest at 46-46 with 4:39 showing and grabbed the lead 48-46 when Ivey Slaughter (no relation to Nita) put in a layup. Asia Taylor knocked in a couple of free throws to tie it back up but diminutive guard Cheetah Delgado led the 'Noles on a 6-2 run and it looked iffy for Louisville...behind 54-50 and 1:14 left in regulation.

A Tia Gibbs steal led to two made free throws and with 29 seconds left...Jude Schimmel pilfered another steal and drove the length of the court. Her twisting layup went miraculously through the net and she was fouled as well. The free throw missed, though, and a three bomb from Delgado fell short. Jude drove the length of the court again but couldn't get a shot off as time in regulation expired.

The extra session was all Louisville. With FSU's Howard on the bench with five fouls, it was time for the Cards to go to work.

Shoni connected on two free throws to put Louisville up to stay. 30 seconds later, Asia scored inside. She hit again 40 seconds later and Louisville was up 60-54 with 3:14 to play. A Gibbs steal led to a Nita layup and it was UofL by eight. FSU finally got on the board when their Slaughter hit a jumper. The Cards responded with a layup by Asia, layup by Gibbs an three from Shoni.

69-56 with 70 ticks of the clock left. FSU...you got "Taylored", "Schimmeled" and "Slaughtered". A late FSU three cut the margin to ten...but the victory belong to the Cards.

Louisville travels to Bowling Green for a Thanksgiving Eve tilt with WKU next. Game time is 8 p.m.

Game box score below:

BOX SCORE


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THE FINAL WORD

It was a fun start to the afternoon...watching the banner getting revealed and seeing Shelby Harper and Mo Reid back in the YUM! for the festivities. Walz addressed the crowd briefly and it was hoops time.

The afternoon then got a bit gloomier. If this is to be the mode of operation that the Cards start out against quality opponents...I may start arriving for games at halftime. Louisville looked awful early on against FSU. The Cards couldn't buy a shot, stop anyone inside or hold onto the ball when they weren't missing open looks.

FSU is a very good team and I expect they'll be in the top 25 before they start the ACC slate...they have six palookas in a row before what looks like a very interesting matchup against UT Martin on Dec. 28th. They managed to do what no one else has been able to this year (along with some Cardinal help) by holding UofL to under 70 points. 54 in 40 minutes before the depleted FSU roster (they dress eight players) got tired.

The Cards go to 6-0 but the next two could be a definite challenge. WKU Wednesday night in front of what will be a loud and rowdy group of Topper fans. Michelle Clark-Heard, C.B., Laura Terry...it'll be like homecoming in a fashion, I suppose...but a tough test.

Then the Wildcats to start out December. Fun (and) tough times ahead, Cardinal WBB fans. Roll out on the road with the team for these next two!

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NOTES OF NOTE:

Some notes from the Louisville WBB SID department on yesterday's game:

• The Cardinals are now a combined 46-58 all-time against current members of the ACC with their win against Florida State. Louisville's most common opponent from the ACC has been Virginia Tech having faced them 32 times with a 15-17 record. • Louisville's overtime win against Florida State is their second overtime game of the season, both wins. The Cardinals have won four of their last five overtime games, improving their record to 22-19 all-time in overtime games. • The Cardinals outscored the Seminoles 15-5 during the overtime period, the second time they have held an opponent to single digit points in overtime this season. They outscored Oklahoma 11-6 in overtime. • Louisville has overcome double-digit deficits in both of their overtime games as Florida State jumped out to a 19-4 lead to start the game. Against Oklahoma, the Cardinals were down 17-2 before fighting their way back. The 15-point deficits in both games are the largest for Louisville on the season. • For the first time this season the Cardinals were outrebounded in a game as Florida State won the rebounding battle 46-40. The 40 rebounds for Louisville are the fewest in a game this season. • Louisville tied their season-low in turnovers committing just 16 in the game. They also committed their fewest fouls in a game this season with just 16. • The Cardinals held the Seminoles to just 41.7% from the free throw line the lowest percentage by an opponent this season. Florida State also made and attempted the fewest free throws by a Louisville opponent going 5 of 12 from the charity line. • Louisville trailed 29-25 at the half, the first time this season they have not led going into the break. • For just the third time in school history, the Cardinals have opened the season with six straight wins after the victory over Florida State. The school record is 15 set during the 2006-07 season. Louisville also opened up last season with eight straight wins. Player Notes • Senior Shoni scored a season-high 21 points against Florida State, going 5 of 14 from 3-point range, both season-highs for her. Schimmel's 21 points is the first time she has scored 20+ points in a game since scoring 24 against Tennessee on April, 2, 2013 in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. • Shoni Schimmel tied her season-high in field goals made against Florida State with seven and set a season-high in field goals attempted with 20. • Junior Jude Schimmell tied her career-high in rebounds pulling down six rebounds against Florida State. She has pulled down six rebounds in four games during her career, including two this season. • Jude set a season-high in steals against Florida State finishing with three. • Redshirt senior Tia Gibbs tied her season-high in steals finishing with three against Florida State. • Tia Gibbs also tied her career-high in free throws made finishing 4 of 4 against Florida State.

 

-paulie

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Special ceremony makes Sunday a "don't miss" event

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Jenny previews the FSU visit to WBB

-Swimming splashing it up



The basketball squad is one of two women’s teams competing today.  Walz and Co. welcome to the KFC YUM Center future ACC opponent Florida State University Seminoles. 

Today at 2:00 p.m. the Cardinals will tip against FSU.  Prior to the game, however, will be a ceremony unveiling the 2013 National Championship Runner-Up banner.  A special video of the now famous tournament run will be shown during the ceremony.  Fans are encouraged to be in their seats by 1:40 for the start of the ceremony.  This is part of a Pack the House Challenge and tickets can be purchased for $3 at your local Kroger using one’s Kroger plus card.  Get there early so you do not miss this special event. 

The last time the Cardinals faced the Seminoles was in late November of 2011.  The Cardinals won that game 85-76 with double-digit performances from Shoni Schimmel and Mo Reid, in Tallahassee.   

FSU enters the YUM Center with a 4-0 record with only a 7 person rotation.  Expected to start for the Seminoles are forwards Ivey Slaughter and Nathasha Howard and guards Morgan Jones, Yashira Delgado (point) and Brittany Brown. 

Less Delgado, the starting four are living at the line with all of them visiting the charity stripe over 15 times apiece.    Delgado, Slaughter and Brown all have tallied double digit steals in just 3 games and 4 of the 5 starters are averaging double-digits in the scoring column.  Delgado leads the pack averaging 13 ppg and shooting 64.5%. 

Natasha Howard

Senior point guard Delgado and forward Howard will likely be the focal point of the Cardinal defense.   All American Candidate Howard entered the season with 26 career double-doubles, second in the ACC for active players.  Delgado is not only a facilitator but,  a huge scoring threat as well. 

The Seminoles are returning only 3 players from last years team, adding 8 new players.  Two of the newcomers are sitting out due to transfer rules and another will not become eligible to play until January.    Freshman center Kai James is the height of the bunch stepping in at 6-5.    This is a rebuilding year for the Seminoles.  While they only have 7 players, they are a talented bunch. 

I do expect the Cardinals to get the victory here.  Shutting down Howard and Delgado will go a long way in making this happen.  Taking care of the ball will be paramount with 4 known threats attempting to pilfer the ball.  Finally, continuing to refine the defense and playing more with their feet, than their hands, will keep the Seminoles off the line and will all be keys to ending up in the win column.  

If you don’t have your tickets yet, head out to Kroger and get your reduced ticket and get there early to help celebrate the hanging of a new banner for Cardinals. 

See you at YUM!

EDITOR'S NOTE:

Florida State is coming off a 76-68 victory at rival Florida on Nov. 21, which marked FSU head coach Sue Semrau’s 500th game as the leader of the ‘Noles. Florida State drained a season-high eight 3-pointers in the win. The total already ties a season high set twice last season against Virginia and Eastern Kentucky

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Swimming team causing some waves in Michigan Open

The swimming team will finish its’s 3^rd day of the Michigan Open today.  The team has had strong showings on each of the last two days. 

For full recaps of the successes of the team, you can read here:

http://www.gocards.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/112213aab.html

http://www.gocards.com/sports/c-swim/spec-rel/112313aaa.html

jennyobryan

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FINALLY,  In response to several e-mails we have gotten about Saturday's radio show being the same as last week's...yes, it was.  We ran into scheduling difficulties in doing it live yesterday and also when we attempted to pre-record it a few days ago.  

So, we're sorry that it wasn't fresh and current.  How about some Randy Newman instead?
 

IT'S MONEY THAT MATTERS

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