FIVE STARTERS HIT DOUBLE FIGURES IN CARDS ROMP
Jeff Walz called a 30 second timeout and inserted Megan Deines, Shawnta Dyer, Sherrone Vails and Arica Carter into the lineup over the next minute. That sparked a 19-2 run over the next seven minutes that put the Cards ahead 26-10 after a Mariya Moore free throw with 5:50 remaining in the half. The Cards finished the half on a 13-4 run, including a Sara Hammond three, to push out to a 39-14 halftime lead.
Defense did the job, especialy the Cards full court trapping which forced 17 UTM first half turnovers. For Louisville, it was just getting back to what they do the best...applying pressure and creating fast break, transition opportunities.
Consider this...Louisville had 22 points off turnovers and 24 points in the paint...while playing all eleven players available at least three minutes in the first half. Sara Hammond led all players with nine first half point. The Cards held the Skyhawks to 20% shooting and just 1-8 from the three point arc in the first half. Louisville would push that lead to 37 after two Moore free throws made it 57-20 with 11:52 left in the game...a 18-6 start to the half.
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| Shoni (top center standing) |
The Cards held a whopping 46-8 point advantage in the paint, 28-6 advantage in points off turnovers, 20-4 edge in second chance points and 10-0 points off fast breaks for the game.
Bria Smith and Myisha Hines-Allen led Louisville in scoring with 14 points each, Mariya Moore added 12, Sara Hammond finished with 11 and Jude Schimmel totaled 10. Off the bench Sherrone Vails, Shawnta Dyer and Megan Deines were good for four points each and Arianna Freeman and Emmonnie Henderson ended with 2 each. Arica Carter played but did not score. The minutes were pretty equally distributed...Moore 31, Smith 25, Hines-Allen and Schimmel 24, Hammond 19, Carter 18, Henderson 15, Deines 13, Dyer 12, Vails 10 and Freeman 9.
Attendance was announced at 7862..not bad for the home opener. Former Cardinal great Shoni Schimmel was in attendance to watch lil' sis and her teammates...#23 surrounded by adoring fans at halftime and during breaks requesting autographs and welcoming her back to the KFC YUM!. She almost seemed shy and embarrassed to stand up when Sean Moth introduced her during a timeout.
WHAT WE LIKED
- Myisha Hines Allen goes to the boards with aggression and runs the court well in the transition game. Her 7-11 shooting showed a nice touch inside, especially on followups.
- UTM got only one steal against the Cards while committing 23 turnovers. Louisville had 11 steals and turned the ball over only eight times.
- 21-26 from the foul line. Moore led the way...going 7-8, proving Walz's observation that she's a player that can go inside and get the foul and score to be a correct one.
WHAT NEEDS WORK
- Better recognition of shot selection in the early stages of the game. The Skyhawks were packed back in a 2-3 zone and Louisville was settling for outside shots early instead of passing and trying to score inside.
- Three-pointers. The Cards were 2-11 in trifecta land and most of them seemed hurried and early into the shot clock.
Louisville hits the KFC YUM! Center again Thursday night for a 7 p.m. tip against Belmont. The Cards welcome back former assistant coach Cam Newbauer...who has all five starters back from last year. Belmont was picked to finish atop their conference in the preseason coaches poll.
It's "Thirsty Thursday" too...where selected draft beers and soft drinks are only $2.
What else do you need to get out there?
LOUISVILLE VS UTMARTIN HIGHLIGHTS
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CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO ON WCHQ 100.9 !!
paulie
The freshman are better that I thought they were.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the shooting percentage if you eliminate the layups and follow shots...20%??? All the easy steals/layups and offensive rebounds/follow shots that we saw today won't be there against teams like Iowa, UK and the top teams in the ACC. Gotta find some consistent perimeter shooting somewhere. Haven't seen it yet. But it's early.
ReplyDeleteMariya, Megan and Jude seemed willing to take them when they had the looks but were a combined 1-8 on threes, Arica's was a desperation to beat the shot clock. Sara hit one of the two she attempted. 10 of the 11 steals came from the guard combo of Mariya, Bria and Jude. Louisville was 4-39 on shots out of the paint...23-27 in the paint.
DeleteWow... 4 of 39 is 10%. That's even worse than I thought. I'm not as concerned about 3-pointers as I am about12 foot -17 foot jump shots. That's what they need to be able to knock down. Bria Smith gets a lot of those kinds of looks but isn't making any more than she made as a freshman. She's a great driver, but good teams can slow that down.
DeleteBria was 5 for 8 from the field...all 5 scores coming from inside the paint..she was 0-2 from outside..a couple of mid range jumpers from the left side of the court just inside the 3 point circle in the first half . 2-4 from the field in the first twenty...3-4 in the second twenty. Hines-Allen was the Cards most effective shooter...7-11...all 7 goals inside the paint..one attempt outside the paint. .
DeletePaulie
Belmont is 0-2 on the season. They took a bad loss at home to NAU 78-80 after playing Vandy tough on the road.
ReplyDeleteReally encouraged with the limited turnovers, great defense and the performance of the freshmen. I really like what Megan has done in limited minutes too.
ReplyDeleteThe poor outside & free throw shooting is really a concern. Hopefully they will shoot their way out of it before we start hitting the conference schedule.
Overall a good start to the season.
The free throw shooting was much better yesterday, 21-26 for 80%.
DeleteNo doubt. If they can manage their free throw percentage to 80% for the season everyone will be thrilled. Time will tell.
DeleteCan you imagine if Gooch at WKU was on our team? I think she is the best player on either WKU or the Cards roster at this stage right now. Cards have 4 McDonalds All Americans on the floor and I would choose Gooch over any of them individually.
ReplyDeleteGooch is good, no doubt. Better than Hammond? That's a good debate. WKU will come into the YUM! and give the Cards a battle...no doubt.
ReplyDelete