Tuesday Cardinal Couple - Jude Found Her Groove

Seven Cards in double figures in 100-46 win

Old Dominion University stepped into the KFC Yum! Center to meet a very motivated Cardinals basketball team, and it showed.

Walz's players hit the century mark Monday night, while holding ODU to under 50.  Unusually for this team, much of the offensive punch came from the 3-point line with the team going 9-14.  Free throws were reasonable at 13-19 (68.4%) and the hustle stats all looked pretty good with 25 assists, 4 blocks and 11 steals, while only turning the ball over 13 times and forcing 17 turn overs on ODU.  An impressive seven players scored in double figures, with an eighth, Shawnta' Dyer making a pretty good run at it with 7 points.

Jude drops a 3

What will probably get most people talking, though, is that Jude Schimmel seemed to find some of her shooting touch at halftime.  After the first half, she was 2-6 shooting and missed the only 3-point shot she took.  In the second half, though, she finally showed us what we all knew she was capable of and didn't miss a single shot.  Jude ended the game 5-9, and 2-3 from 3-point range.  She also chalked up six rebounds, 10 assists (for a double-double), and had two steals. 

Jeff Walz made a point to say that he thought that Jude had been playing generally well in the season thus far, and that she had been contributing in other ways, but it has to be a bit of a relief to put some points on the board as even Jude acknowledged in the post-game that she found it frustrating to not be shooting well.

Also putting on a late-game surge was Megan Deines.  Only playing for three minutes in the first half, and earning no points, she played the last nine minutes of the game, but still hadn't scored until 4:41 when she hit her first shot for a 3.  Still flying under the radar, Deines got a lay-up with less than a minute and a half to play, another 3 pointer with just under a minute to play and a lay-up in the final 30 seconds to reach her 10 point total.

Some other quick stats and thoughts:

• Emmonnie Henderson hit 4-8, but she is still struggling to find her touch with 2-3 foot shots, particularly when contested.
• Sara Hammond gets two 3-point shots on her way to 14 total points.
• Mariya Moore went 3-6 from beyond the arc with yet another good game, 4-9 overall for the team high 15 total points.
• Louisville outscored ODU 29-6 on points off turnovers, and 52-24 on points in the paint.

The Cards head on the road now for a game at Grand Canyon in Phoenix, Arizona.  As this is a homecoming of sorts for Cortnee Walton, she should get some time on the hardwood there.  While Walton wasn't dressed for the game against ODU, Walz did confirm that they were planning on getting her in the game in her hometown, and then they would evaluate how she was doing in recovering from her broken toe. 

A medical redshirt for her is still a possibility, and would be considered if she would only be ready to play five or six games.

In other injury news, Sydney Brackemyre is apparently continue to recover from her knee surgery well as she was spotted at the ODU game walking without crutches, though not without a little bit of limp.  Syd the Kyd is red-shirting for the year.

-jmca-