Louisville women's basketball -- Fast Start, Solid Defense leads Cards past Mocs 63-47 -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

No Cards In Double Figures In Win Over UTC 

MARIYA GETS HER 1,000 CAREER POINT ! 

Another "quick out of the gate" for the University of Louisville women's basketball team Monday night at the KFC YUM! Center in the Cards final home game before Thanksgiving. Louisville flew to a 19-5 lead in the first 4:33 of the first period...Ciera Johnson getting six of UofL's first nine points and Myisha Hines-Allen bagging a three and jumper to have Louisville in the lead 11-2 just three minutes in. 

Asia Durr and Mariya Moore got involved in the shoot-em-up next...sinking trey balls and after a Moore layup it was 19-5 and Mocs head coach Jim Foster had seen enough and called a timeout to stop the hemorrhaging. The Cards would go on to take a 25-12 lead after the first ten...11 Cards hitting the court and seven of them scoring .

UTC is probably the best opponent Louisville has faced this year -- and they righted their ship a bit in the second stanza -- but not before Louisville put up the first eight points. Briahanna Jackson converted on a fast-break layup to set the score at 33-14 and also had the highlight of the non-game action in the second quarter...when she leaped to the sky and removed a stuck ball wedged in between the rim and backboard from a Durr three.  


B.J. is only 5'6". A generous 5'6". Her hop got oohs and ahhs from the crowd and an immediate response from media row.

The Cards slowed down a bit after that...maybe still in amazement over Briahanna's aerial feat...after Kylee Shook made a jumper to make it 35-17, Louisville did not score in the remaining 3:35 that led to half-time. The Cards were still comfortably ahead at the buzzer 35-19...Hines-Allen had seven points and four rebounds to lead UofL and (surely a candidate for Worldwide's all-name team) Queen Alford had ten for Chattanooga.

The third quarter featured seven different Cards scoring and Hines-Allen grabbing five rebounds in eight minutes. Louisville went on a 6-2 run to start the half after B.J. hit a jumper and after the Mocs followed with a couple of free throws at the 5:30 mark...neither team scored until Brianna Jones found the hoop after a nice Moore feed. The Cards led 49-29 after Ciera converted inside and Kylee Shook's buzzer-beater two gave the home team a 51-32 edge with ten left to play.

Once again, the Cards lost the fourth quarter. Jazmine Jones did all she could to prevent that...hitting two shots, two free throws, creating two steals and grabbing a rebound in her seven minute stretch. I did get to meet her parents and family...seated behind me on media row...who were up from Tallahassee for the entire three-day Hall of Fame Challenge and had a great chat with them after the game. I think I also got an invite to visit Reginald and Felicia when UofL plays at FSU on Sunday, Jan 22nd. 

Road trip, anyone? 

The Mocs made a go of it...cutting the Louisville lead to 59-45 with 4:12 to go and necessitating Walz's insertion of Myisha, Sam and B.J. back into the lineup. The Cards secured the fort and topped off the win when Jazz drove the lane and banked in a layup for the final basket...63-47. Cards win!  


AND WHAT SAY FRED? 

Dancin' Fred Astaire

-- Free Throws-- No complaints here, Louisville went 10-10. Only three Cards attempted them...Mariya, Taylor and Jazz...a tribute to the fine officiating job that Bryan Enterline, Maj Forsberg and Linda Miles turned in. They let them play and didn't get dramatic with the calls. More, please of those three. Give the Mocs credit, too on marksmanship from the charity line...they were 9-9. I made mention of it in the post -game presser with Walz. He dead-panned that they adjusted the rim height. No doubt here...a capital "F" bestowed. 

-- Rebounding -- The Cards tied the Mocs with 36 each. Hines-Allen grabbed 10 in 26 minutes and Shook found five grabs in 12 minutes. The most impressive effort, though. belonged to Chattanooga's Jasmine Joyner...who had 15 and also seven blocks. Tying is betting than losing the board battle and with that in mind...we'll award a small case "r" for the effort. 


-- Effort/Execution -- Louisville shot 43.9% but had a rough night from trifecta land...going 3-14. They were efficient with the ball, though...creating 18 assists on 25 baskets and only making 14 turnovers. We would have liked to see a wider points-in-the-paint-margin (26-22 Cards) and UTC won the "block party" 8-6...because of the human fly-swatter Joyner...but, all things considered...Louisville's flying start and overall hustle gets the Cards a small case "e". 

--Defense-- Holding UTC to 29.8% from the floor (including 4-21 from the deep) and forcing 19 turnovers get a big "OK!" from us. Five different Cards had steals...including an impressive four for Jazz. We'll give up a capital "D" here


FINAL GRADE: F-r-e-D


THINGS WE LIKED

She's special, isn't she?  We had a lot of fun watching the frenetic speed-burner Jazmine Jones in her 16 minutes. She's one of the fastest Cards I can remember and rapidly becoming one of my favorites on the roster. Yes, a couple of turnovers...but seeing her zip down the court and out-run and out-maneuver the defenders was awesome!  If she was a horse, we'd enter her in a 4-1/2 furlong sprint and she'd be leading in the stretch. (She might lose the jockey...but she knows one speed. Fast). All day, J.J....all day.

Cashing in on the freebies. Even though only three, and arguably the best three free-throw shooters on the squad had attempts...we're still proud of the Cards taking care of business at the foul line. 

Balancing the books. We all marvel at the out-standing efforts Mariya and Asia have had in games this season...but it's nice to see a team effort in scoring time-to-time. 11 of the 13 Cards scored and, even though we can't remember the last time no Cards reached scoring double figures in a game...keep in mind that no one played more than 26 minutes for Louisville. 

THINGS TO WORK ON

Becoming chairwomen of the board(s). No, Louisville wasn't schooled on the boards...but boxing out, holding your position...getting stronger in the paint are things UofL must work on and improve on in the tough five game stretch after Thanksgiving. 

How about a strong finish? We'd like to see the Cards dominate a fourth quarter. Or, at least win the fourth quarter consistently. Yes, Walz is playing everyone except me, Sonja, Al Greener and Sean Moth...but losing the fourth quarter in these next five just might equal losing the contest. We expect once Walz shortens the rotation a bit that the fourth quarter will belong to Louisville in the future. It better be...the cupcakes are all gone from the bakery case for the foreseeable future. 


A nice, workmanlike win Monday night against the best opponent Louisville has faced this year. So glad to see Mariya Moore get her 1000th. point of her career We've come to love these firing-out-of-the-gate starts the Cards have been providing and last night's "let's all jump in the scoring bus" was fun to watch also. Let's hope the momentum can hold when the #4 Cards tangle with #3 South Carolina on Sunday. 

Post game links below:


POST GAME WALZ AND HIS PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PAULIE

MARIYA AND B.J. DISCUSS THE WIN


paulie
xxxxx