Durr Back...Cards Smack UNC 87-57...MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DURR, HINES-ALLEN, MOORE COMBINE FOR 60 IN CARDS WIN

The University of Louisville women's basketball team overcame a slow start and roared past North Carolina by 30 Sunday afternoon in the KFC YUM! Center in front of 9739 fan on Play 4 Kay Day.

Asia Durr returned to the Cardinal lineup and produced 28 points in 28 minutes and the M&M girls added 32 in Louisville's 87-57 win. Cardinal fans were treated to the trio's strong performance, a near brawl at the end of the first half and Sydney Zambrotta lighting up the arena late in the contest. 

It wasn't the strongest of starts for Louisville. With Myisha Hines-Allen provided the early punch for UofL...her layup at the 5:09 mark in the first quarter gave the Cards a 8-3 lead...but the Cards would produce only six points in the next five minutes and found themselves holding a rather tenuous 14-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. Durr was on the Cardinal bench saddled with two early fouls and the Cards couldn't seem to get an offensive flow going. The TarHeels were without leading scorer Stephanie Watts (bruised knee) but guards Paris Kea and Taylor Koenen were picking up the slack. 

Louisville slowly built on the lead in the second quarter...Durr's back-to-back buckets midway through the period put the Cards ahead 22-14...but the TarHeels would battle back and cut the margin to 26-20 with 4:14 remaining until halftime. Hines-Allen picked up the scoring role with three straight scores and after a Durr layup, UofL had a 30-20 advantage on the visitors with two minutes to go. 

At the 1:04 mark, Hines-Allen grabbed a missed shot by UNC guard Taylor Koenen and was tied-up by TarHeel forward Alyssa Okoene...a bit too aggressively...a few words were exchanged and then the rest of the Cardinals on the court swooped Hines-Allen away from the paint and the offender. After an official review, Okoene was assessed both a foul and technical foul. Durr would hit both the technical free throws and Hines-Allen scored in the paint with 10 seconds left in the half to set the score at 34-21. 

Louisville was dominating in the paint with a 16-2 scoring edge and had forced 10 UNC turnovers...but the Cards were getting out-rebounded and were 0-6 from the three-point line. The Cards needed a spark to start the second half and found one from the Douglasville, GA sophomore. 

After UNC got the first two buckets to begin the final half, Durr connected on two straight threes and created a steal leading to a layup. The 8-0 Durr run put the Cards ahead 42-25 and UNC would get no closer that 11 points the rest of the way. Mariya Moore followed with a three and Durr sank her third of the quarter to make it 50-31 with 2:43 left in the period. UNC star Jamie Cherry went to the floor with 1:05 on the clock after a scramble for a loose ball and had to be helped off the court. She did return later for UNC...Durr's fourth three of the quarter...with 16 seconds left...gave UofL a 54-39 lead. The TarHeels shot 50% for the quarter...Kea getting 12 of the UNC 18 points. 

The Cards erupted for 33 points in the final ten minutes with Moore, Jazmine Jones, Sam Fuehring and Hines-Allen getting involved on the offensive front. After Fuehring's two free throws made it 78-55 Louisville with 1:51 to play, Zambrotta put on a fireworks show...hitting three threes in 58 seconds and driving the crowd crazy. 87-57 Cards win...hitting ten threes in the second half.

HOW DID FRED DO? 

Brazilian soccer player simply
known as "Fred" 

-- Free Throws. Louisville went 7-10 from the line...Durr hitting all four of hers and Fuehring going two for two. We ask for 70% a game and that's what the Cards provided...so we award the capital "F" 

-- Rebounding.  After the slow start, where Louisville lost the boards battle 22-20 in the first half, the Cards "rebounded" well and had a 32-10 second half performance. 52-32 edge overall with Hines-Allen getting 12 and Jazmine Jones corralling eight in 27 minutes of play. That's good enough for a capital "R". 

-- Effort/Execution. We loved the way UofL sealed the deal with the explosive fourth quarter and slowly built the lead in the third...but the first ten minutes weren't a thing of beauty. Durr on the bench for almost seven minutes probably had a lot to do with that...but the 31% shooting and being up by just three after ten minutes...plus 15 turnovers will force us to bestow a small case "e" here. 

-- Defense. The TarHeels shot just 31% on the afternoon and had no success inside on the Cards...scoring just 16 points...Louisville forced 17 turnovers and had seven steals. UNC had just seven assists in the 40 minutes...which tells us that the Cards were effective in forcing a lot of one-on-one attempts. The fourth quarter was a bit sloppy...though... and Key did go for 26 on Louisville...so we see a lower case "d" the decision here. 


FINAL FRED COUNT  F-R-e-d


THINGS WE LIKED

Former Cards Syd Brackemyre catches the game on
her day off at University of Indianapolis

The Big Three proficiency. Another game where the Cards got good, almost great efforts out of Hines-Allen (19 pts. 12 rebounds) Durr (28 points) and Moore (13 points, six rebounds and assists). 

JJ Came To Play. A nice overall effort by freshman Jazmine Jones. Her defense looked as good as it has all year and she gave UofL four points, eight rebounds and two steals in 27 minutes. 

Look What Syd Did! She's a three-point specialist and she delivered just that...knocking down all three attempts. You could tell she wanted that fourth one...but Walz diplomatically insisted the Cards hold the ball in the final possession. 

THINGS TO WORK ON

Ceasing the slow starts. Against a depleted UNC squad, it wasn't a big factor but a first quarter effort like that against Virginia or Wake Forest might spell trouble in the Cards final two regular season games. 

Closing the bakery on the weekends. 15 turnovers isn't exactly awful but we see 12 or less as the objective here for 40 minutes. The Cardinal reserves had eight of them and no Cardinal had more than three...but protecting the ball gets more and more important the deeper you go in the upcoming tournaments. 

SO...

The majority of the nation will see the 30-point win and surmise....blowout for Louisville but the TarHeels were within 17 or so for a long time. Let's face it, UNC is having a rough season and without Destinee Walker and Watts available, their chances Sunday weren't very good for coming in and getting an upset win. We did like the way the Cards blew this thing wide open at the end...and the second half definitely looked better than the first. It's always nice to get a 30-point conference win and see all thirteen that could go get some good minutes.

Now 23-6 and 10-4 in ACC play, Louisville did what most hoped and expected they would today in beating a lesser foe and doing it convincingly. 

A classy move by having a breast cancer survivor accompany each starter during the pre-game introductions. 

Win and advance. It's what you hope to do this time of year and Louisville accomplished the goal while throwing in a few fireworks as well. 


SOFTBALL FALLS TO OHIO STATE


Lillie Goetz drove in three runs for the Cardinal Softball team on the final day of the ACC/Big10 Challenge against Ohio State...but the Buckeyes posted two runs in the top of the seventh and the Cards could only counter with one...falling 4-3. 

Three home runs on Megan Hensley in the contest. Louisville with a tying run on second base and no outs in the seventh and unable to get Goetz home. Learning aspect of the game early in the season. Hensley going the distance, just six hits allowed...but Louisville's bats a little more silent than they've been recently. 

The four game Cardinal win streak snapped but an overall excellent three days of softball for the Cards in Chapel Hill. Louisville (7-2) returns to action next week when they travel to Cathedral City, CA. for the Mary Nutter Classic.

UofL will see some quality competition on the left coast....facing #4 Oklahoma, #10 Arizona, #22 California, #25 BYU and Cal State-Fullerton.


THEY SAID IT

MYISHA AND ASIA POST GAME

JEFF WALZ POST-GAME




AROUND THE ACC IN WBB

Six games on Sunday for the ACC...a couple of close calls and a major upset. 

Louisville ran past UNC 88-58

Duke held off Miami 83-70

Georgia Tech held home court against Pitt 71-57

Wake Forest with a nice upset over NC State 89-77

Virginia over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg 63-55

Notre Dame visiting Syracuse and leaving with a 85-80 win. 

A so-so 3-3 day for the Paulie. 


paulie
xxxxx