Louisville women's basketball -- Future WBB Cards shining brightly -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ROBINS, EVANS HAVING SUCCESS

Two girls, two different teams, two different states and two different recruiting classes...two reasons that Louisville women's basketball fans should be excited abut the future of Cardinal WBB. 

Seygan Robins and her Mercer County Titans entered the St. Elizabeth Healthcare/KHSAA Girls Sweet Sixteen at BB&T Center on the Northern Kentucky University campus as one of the teams to beat for the title. They did nothing to diminish that status...with a run-away 78-50 win over Boyd County on Wednesday night. The Titans set a new state tournament record by making 14 of their 28 three-point attempts and Robins led all players with 25 points. 

Head Titans coach Chris Souder wasn't surprised: 

"That doesn't shock me. They've all got the green light. We shot fifteen threes in the first half, which is not uncharacteristic for us...but they were quick threes. We wanted to attack a bit more. We did much better in the second half and that came from our energy and our defense." 

The Titans had a few sputters before getting the engine cranking. Boyd County pulled to within one of Mercer County near the end of the first half. A few adjustments and a more disciplined approach in the third quarter allowed MCHS to jump out to a 14-3 start and the game was never in question after that. 

Seygan Robins provides the details on the halftime discussion. 

"At the half, he was definitely in our face. We expected it, though. We weren't playing up to our potential." 

Whatever was said...and Coach Sounder is not a shy nor silent man...it worked.

Any NKU Norse WBB fans in attendance got a glimpse into the future. Emmy Souder, a Titan junior along with Robins and coach's niece, is a NKU verbal commit and had a 18 point, 10 rebound double-double. 

28 attempted threes. Somewhere Syracuse Coach Quentin Hillsman is nodding in approval. The Titans advance to The Great Eight...where they'll face a dangerous Clark County team on Friday that knocked off Harlan by 18 in the final game of day one action. 

It would appear that "Robins' hood" and her band of merry hoopsters is thriving very well in the Sweet Sixteen forest. 


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DANA EVANS NAMED TO TWO ALL-AMERICA TEAMS

The senior from West Side High School in Gary, IN headed to Louisville this summer has been selected for the Naismith Trophy and WBCA High School All-American teams. 

It's two more accolades for Dana Evans in a season where they've been falling in her lap like fall leaves on a front lawn. She'll also play in the McDonald's All-American Game on March 29th in Chicago for the East squad and face future teammate Loretta Kakala.

Evans is currently ranked seventh overall in the 2017 class and third at the guards position by the folks over at espnW HoopGurlz. 

She's also a Miss Indiana Basketball candidate and has led the state in scoring the last two years. This year stats...a whopping 36 points per game and 7.6 rebounds...along with 6.2 assists and 4.8 steals. 

At 5'6"...she also qualifies for our Attack Yorkie team (players 5'6" or shorter). Evans ended her high school career with 2382 points...which is fifth-highest of all time. She also received the Times Indiana Player of the Year award for the second year in a row.

Robins and Evans. Two guards that should be able to up the quality of Cardinal guard play for a long time and when you think of a possible back-court of Carter, Durr, Zambrotta, Duvall, Evans and Robins two years from now...it could be just as good and talented as the current stellar back-courts that Duke, Syracuse and Notre Dame currently have. 

The madness of March. It's a wonderful thing, ain't it folks? 

it's nice to be important but it's more imprtant to be nice paulie
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