Butler Bearettes Off to Torrid Start -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Molly Lockhart's Squad Dispatching Most Opponents with Ease

Lockhart fighting for a rebound
(photo from CJ)

Last week I mailed Saturday's article in. Today, though, refreshed as I begin a short staycation from work, coffee in hand, I decided to tackle something I hadn't done before. I graduated from Butler Traditional High School in 2012. I'm sorry if that makes anyone feel old. Six years after I graduated, some 350 odd seniors from Butler will walk across the stage in late May or early June, most likely at Freedom Hall. One of those graduates will be Molly Lockhart, a signee in Jeff Walz class for next season.

Molly is the 6'-1" center at my alma mater, and will step into an important forward position for the Cards next year. She was listed as the 21st best player at her position by ESPN with a prospect rank of 90. That's pretty good. If she can be the kind of leader that another Bearette turned Cardinal was (you might remember Tia Gibbs), then Lockhart could have a huge impact on teams loaded with talent in the years to come.

I bring up Butler because, in addition to having an important future Louisville baller on the team, they're off to a great start to their season. The Bearettes are off to a 9-0 start according to scoreboard.12dt.com, which I'm pretty sure is the official scoreboard site of the KHSAA. At least, that's the one I remember using for high school soccer. I'm also going to stick with the scoreboard site for my information because Max Preps has Butler listed at 4-0. I'm going to assume that's incorrect. The two can't even agree on when matchups were or are to be played.

Lockhart playing hard defense in last year's
game against Manual

Butler has two close wins this season, both by five. One came against Male earlier this month and the other came over Graves County Thursday night. The Bearettes followed up Thursday night's scare with a 63-20 drubbing of Livingston County last night. Every other win this season has been by at least 16 points, with the most lopsided victory coming on December 12th, when they defeated hapless Western by a final score of 76-1. It was the second of three games this season where the Warriors have been held to six or fewer points and allowed 75 or more.



Yikes.


Butler is currently on break for Christmas before heading down to Orlando next week for The Rock Holiday Classic. They are sure to take on stiffer competition in such an event and it will be good for them to test their mettle against other top teams.

Butler is seeking their 6th state championship this season, which would give them the most all time. They are currently tied for that honor with Laurel County. Louisville won the first girl's sweet sixteen in 1975, and have won two of the last four in 2014 and 2016, meaning Molly already has one state championship ring. The stats haven't been updated for the last two games, but through the first seven, Molly was averaging 11.7 points per game, just edging out junior guard Jaida Wiggins for the team lead. She also averaged 8.6 rebounds per game, which is what you'd expect your star center to do for you. Lockhart has attempted no three point baskets but shot 65% (37-57) through the first seven games. She's unfortunately a rough 11-18 from the free throw line so far this season, the last two games excluded.

Being only 6'-1", Jeff Walz is likely to move Lockhart out of the center position, which means she'll need to work on her shooting ability all over the floor, especially at the stripe, in order to see much playing time early on. Her rebounding ability will definitely help put the R in FRED, though.

Junior guard Jasmine Elder is another proven scorer for the Bearettes and freshman guard Dynastee White give head coach Larry Just a lot of possibilities. Whether Butler can challenge #1 Mercer County and Louisville signee Seygan Robins for this year's state championship title remains to be seen, but

There are a lot of games remaining in Lockhart's senior season. She has plenty of time to work on honing her craft, and playing for a good team can afford her the opportunities to open up her game a bit, provided coach Just will allow her to do so.


She was also troubled with an injured finger to begin the season.

 I'm sure, as a signee, that Jeff Walz has already been in contact with Molly and her coach about some of the things he'd like to see her improve on this season. I'm excited to be cheering on a fellow alum from Suda E. Butler at Louisville, and I wish the Bearettes the best in their championship quest this season.

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It's Saturday, so you'll surely expect to see something about the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour in today's article. If you are expecting it, you haven't read Jeff's wonderful article from yesterday, so be sure to do that! There will be no Cardinal Couple Radio Hour today nor next week due to a combination of our studio home relocating and the holidays tying everyone's time up. If you need a CCRH fix, you can go to WCHQ.com and browse through the archived shows. Find one from this summer. With all of the Louisville women's teams on winter break, today's show would have effectively the same message as a dead period show anyway. I'm looking forward to being back in the studio on January 6th and hope you'll all join us then!

www.wchqfm.com

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

PS: Please note that I took a ridiculous amount of time looking through old Facebook pictures for fun ones from Butler before ultimately striking out. I hope you enjoy the random Butler photos I found on Google instead.