Sunday, February 23, 2014

Sunday Cardinal Couple -- Time to shine



SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-WBB faces Rutgers today

-Softball sweeps in Day 2 of Cardinal Classic

-Lacrosse faces William & Mary today

-Swimming takes AAC Championships


Time to play.

The UofL WBB squad faces Rutgers tomorrow in the KFC YUM! Center at 3 p.m. in a showcase game of two of the hottest teams in the AAC (and the nation) tomorrow.

Louisville has lost just once in their last nineteen games and sits #3 in the nation with a 26-2 record. Rutgers is 16-3 since December and currently on a five game win streak. The Scarlet Knights are 20-5 and looking to close the gap on the Cards hold on second place in the AAC.

Oh, yeah...this one should be fun.

Louisville will look to put the hiatus on one of the best freshmen in the nation is Tyler Scaife. No problem, right? She's only 5'7".

Think again. She lit Louisville up for 25 back in Piscataway on Jan. 28th and is the reigning AAC Freshman of the Week.

She averaged 19 points in two Rutgers wins last week against Houston and UCF.

This Rutgers squad is not a one-horse stable, though. Kahleah Copper is shooting 56.5% from the floor this season, averaging 16.1 p.p.g. and will make you pay inside. Rachel Hollivay is ninth in the nation in blocked shots (81) and Syessence Davis 15th. in the nation in steals with 73. Betnijah Laney has 11 double doubles on the season, scores at a clip of 12.5 a contest and grabs 9.1 a night.


(OK...it's a little late for that but I like the pic...)
The Scarlet Knights are coming to town with their own 'unfinished business'...the trip to Louisville is their final away game of the year and hanging a loss on Louisville would assure them of a definite third place conference finish and a legit shot at tying the Cards for second place.

They will be running into a Louisville team, though, that beat them by nine in "The RAC" and one of the top-five players in the nation in Shoni. Another motivation factor for C.Vivian Stringer's squad.

Give Shoni 13-15,000 screaming fans and a Sunday matinee and she just might top the 24 points she put on them in Piscataway. She averages 17.6 per tilt.

Shutting down Shoni won't get an opponent out of the woods, though. Sara "The Hammer" Hammond pounds down 11.3 per tussle and has 6.4 rebounds. A-Tayy (10.9 ppg and 6.9 rebounds) is dangerous in the paint or with the jumper. If Nita Slaughter and Tia Gibbs are bombing threes successfully, "E" is on one of her point-per-minute rampages and Jude and Bria are slicing and dicing up defenses...well, you get the picture. There's more than one Card in this deck.

This one will be a classic college basketball matchup. You don't want to miss it. If you can't get there, it's a ESPNU game. Maybe one of the last times these two meet for a stretch in a regular season matchup, since Rutgers is off to the BIG 10 and the Cards to the ACC.

Show up. Get loud. Stay loud. Wear your pink because it is the annual Pink Game. Get there early and get one of the 2,000 Pink T-shirts being given out for a donation to Gilda's Club. Help your Cards get the 'W'. Help Louisville add to the 16-0 home record they have this season and increase on the 7-4 win/loss record UofL has against RU in the series.  

See ya there!

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CARDINAL SOFTBALL GOT BACK ON THE WINNING TRACK AT ULMER YESTERDAY WITH TWO WINS...BOMBING IUPUI 12-1 AND SCORING THREE RUNS IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEVENTH TO BEAT CMU 3-2

THE CARDS RUN-RULED THE VISITORS FROM INDIANAPOLIS IN THE FIRST GAME...BATTING IN ONLY FOUR INNINGS AND AMASSING 16 HITS. A NINE-RUN THIRD INNING WAS THE 'BOOM'.

AS THE WAY IT ALMOST ALWAYS SEEMS THIS SEASON SO FAR IN NIGHTCAPS, LOUISVILLE'S BATS DISAPPEARED IN THE SECOND GAME...GOING SCORELESS IN SIX INNINGS.

THESE GAMES ARE SEVEN INNINGS USUALLY, THOUGH...AND UOFL MADE THE MOST OF THEIR FINAL AT-BAT...SCORING THREE RUNS WITH JUST ONE OUT.

In the bottom of the seventh, Hannah Kiyohara led off with an infield single and Brittany Sims reached on an error by Cox. Katie Keller followed and sent a hard ground ball to third where CMU's Danielle Marlink fielded and stepped on third for the first out of the inning. She sailed a throw past first base on a double play attempt which sent Keller to second. With runners on second and third and one out in the inning, Whitney Arion powered a two-run double to left field to tie the game. Jones followed with an RBI double to center field for the 3-2 win..

UOFL WILL FACE NKU TODAY IN FINAL DAY ACTION OF THE CARDINAL CLASSIC.  12:30 FOR THIS ONE. YOU SHOULD MAKE A CARDINAL DOUBLEHEADER OF IT TODAY BY HITTING SOFTBALL FIRST AND THEN HEADING TO THE YUM! 



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Lacrosse looks for their second win in Virginia today when they face off against William & Mary at 1 p.m. in Williamsburg, VA.

The Tribe is 0-1 this season, losing 11-8 to Duke last Sunday.

Louisville is 2-1...coming off a road win against ODU. In the Cards 15-12 triumph, Nikki Boltja had five goals and Faye Brust added four. Two late goals by Cortnee Daly helped the Cards maintain the win.

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Congratulations to the men and women's swimming squads, who wrapped up the AAC Tournament championships at the Ralph Wright yesterday. Many of the Cards have put up times in their events that will give them a chance to participate in NCAA qualifying events and we wish them the best of luck in the continuing post-season.

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In case you missed Saturday's broadcast of CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO, do not worry or fret. It is on the Soundcloud and you can give it a listen at the link at the bottom of the article.

Hear Jeff heap abuse upon Paulie, hear Shoni and Sara talk about 2K. Hear Jenny narrowly lose in the weekly quiz. The agony and ecstasy...the pain and pride. The total nonsense we babble about weekly.

Come join us...

LINK:

THE AIRWAVES ARE NOT SAFE. STAY OFF THE INTERNET !!

paulie
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4 comments:

  1. The ("for recreational purposes only") online sports books have Cardinals as a 10 1/2 point favorite.

    If they play that "matador" defense that they played on too many possessions against Houston on Wednesday night, it could be a long afternoon. Rutgers is playing well right now.

    Speaking of Houston, how about UConn 92-41 at Houston yesterday? I did notice that Geno played four of his starters 30+ minutes. I know that he has a short bench, but still....

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  2. Geno always plays his starters a lot even when he has a multitude of players.

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  3. A Tay!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  4. Definitely. I'm thinking our secret weapons at Tourney Time will be Tia and Asia since they had to sit out during the run to the finals last year. Both have big performances in them for the tourney. Plus E has a Tourney coming out party game in her too. Good Stuff.

    ReplyDelete

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