Louisville women's basketball -- Paint perfection leads WBB to 72-59 win over I.U. -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

MYISHA HINES-ALLEN'S 25 POINTS, 12 REBOUNDS LEAD CARDS TO WIN AT I.U.

Teri talks about the game...

"She's a professional, no doubt about that. We didn't have an answer for her tonight." 

Indiana head women's basketball coach Teri Moren was effusive in her praise of Louisville WBB senior Myisha Hines-Allen during the post-game presser last night after Louisville's 72-59 win over the Hoosiers in Assembly Hall. And, she was quite right on the assessment. 

Hines-Allen went 12-17 from the floor in Louisville's win against the Big 10 foe and grabbed 12 rebounds. DOOO-BLAY got her double, all right, and left a crowd announced at 2853 speaking her praises as they filed out of the hall. A nice contingent of Cardinal fans were in attendance, stationed behind the Cardinal bench for the most part, and drew the praise of head Card Coach Jeff Walz: 

'Thank you to all our fans who made the trip to Bloomington tonight. We are so blessed to have the best fans in Women's basketball." 

Walz made his remarks via Twitter...he didn't appear at the post-game presser...IU women's sports information director Melanie Kramper offering an vague explanation of "he is doing his radio show". 

Nevertheless, the Cards came out strong to start...taking a 6-1 lead after three minutes. Indiana would regain their composure and tie the event at 6-6 and 9-9 before the Cards went on a 9-4 run to take a 18-13 lead on a Hines-Allen paint popper. 

The Hoosiers never led in the contest and trailed 22-18 after one, 37-28 at the half and 59-47 at the end of the third quarter. The Cards has blown out to a 51-36 lead with 5:40 left in the third after Hines-Allen gathered in a missed Arica Carter three and stuck in back in the cylinder. It was their largest lead of the contest...Indiana would fight back to a 65-57 deficit with 4:25 left when Amanda Cahill connected in the paint...but the Hoosiers would get no closer...Louisville ending the game on a 7-2 run. 

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING....

-- Louisville dominated the paint with 54 points and allowed IU just 30 inside. 

-- Louisville won the 2nd chance points battle 14-4. 

-- The Cards shot 48.4% for the game. Five Cards had eight points or better. After Hines-Allen's 25...Jazz Jones registered 12, both Sam Fuehring and Asia Durr contributed nine and Dana Evans finished with eight. 

-- The Louisville starters were responsible for 59 points. Evans, as mentioned came off the bench for eight and Kylee Shook was good for five to complete the reserves scoring.

She made sure that "this one belonged
to the Cards"!! 

So, the Cards travel to their second Big 10 opponent's venue and get out with a win. Turnovers were a serious problem for UofL in the first half with ten...but the Hoosier were even more inept with 13. The Cards settled down and committed just four in the final 20 minutes. 

Hines-Allen was spectacular and dominated both ends of the floor. She also held IU's Cahill to just nine points and five rebounds...breaking her consecutive streak of double-doubles. Physical, yes....that would be a good description of the Cards performance against an Indiana squad who played just seven players and got 191 minutes out of the five starters out of a possible 200. 

The Cards went into a loud road environment, took a few bumps and bruises, didn't play very well at times and still took home a 13 point win. Let's run Myisha Hines-Allen for Mayor and this one belongs to her...with a little help from her friends. 

DOOO-BLAY rocks. 

THE FRED REPORT

Another three? Lilly !!!"

F- Free Throws.  Louisville went 10-11 from the line. On the lone miss, it was the first of three for Asia Durr, who was fouled on a three-attempt, so the 'Three is better than two' Walzian Theorum did not come into play. WE PROUDLY AWARD A CAPITAL "F" FOR 90.9%

R - Rebounding. The Cards held a 38-27 advantage on the boards. 19 of the 38 were grabbed by Hines-Allen and Jazz. You control the boards, you control the game and Louisville did just that. Hines-Allen had eight of hers in the final half...being there when possessions were crucial. NO PROBLEM WITH A CAPTIAL "R" HERE. DOOO-BLAY! 

E - Effort/Execution. Louisville did not look especially sharp in the first twenty and some of that, I suppose, could have been because of the defense efforts of the Hoosier guards. There were several unforced turnovers that, at times, were almost comical. 30 baskets on 14 assists, is so-so. I'll go with a small case "e" here...better care-taking of the ball early would be something to work on. 

D - Defense. A mixed bag here. Granted the Cards held IU to under 60. They contained Cahill from getting a double-double. They also did a less the satisfactory job stopped the three and saw a nice lead late dwindle in the fourth. I'm going smallcase "d" argue it if you want. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-R-e-d

SOOOO...

Let's not forget the prime objective of CARDINAL COUPLE, though. It is to promote the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports and Cardinal Athletics. And, this was a positive win for the Cards. Myisha Hines-Allen brought a bucketful of joy and excitement to the Cardinal fans there...and me. Jazz Jones had a wonderful game. And how about Kylee Shook leading the way on two straight fast breaks and making the layups! 

What happened to Paulie...well, that was neither joyful or exciting...and I elaborate on that below. But, for UofL basketball, advance and conquer was carried out and a team effort spear-headed by Myisha gave Louisville a road win over a better-than-average Hoosier bunch. 


THE ADVENTURES OF PAULIE

I should have known shenanigans were destined to be with me Thursday when they closed a portion of Hwy 150 on my journey to Bloomington and I had to take a 29 mile detour to hook up with State Road 37. My cell phone voice navigator got me through it, though.  

Things went well, though, with check-in and the pre-game hotel time. When I arrived at the Hall around 6:15... arrived at the main entrance and they sent me around back to go in. When I presented my I.D. and took a loyalty oath at the "round back" media check-in that I would be a good boy, they informed me I didn't have credentials. I showed the booth lady my e-mail from IU. She looked again and !Voila! I had credentials. They were for PAUL SKYKES, not Paul Sykes. I told her I knew him. She issued me a hanging tag. 

They don't wand or inspect baggage at IU, so that part went smooth. Finding the media room and where I was sitting was quite the opposite. Mutt and Jeff at the check-in gate said take a right and left and go down the hallway. No media room. I asked a security-type and he was almost sarcastic before relenting to radio his boss. His boss shows and says I need to go back to whence I came from, take the escalator, climb 50 steps and go to Section J or K. 

The IU folks took me on a journey, all right...

So, I do. I get up there and it's vacant except for the IU student radio guys. I ask about a media room, maybe some stat sheets. They were generous (thank you Jack Grossman!) and showed me how to get to the media room, which was down on ground level and on the other side of the court. So, down 50 steps, to the escalator and off to Grandmother's house we go...I'm thinking there is no way I'm gonna make it back up to Mt. Everest South with my bum knee and vertigo....plus replaced hip. 

Fortunately, things took a turn for the better. I see friendly faces in the media room. Al Greener, of pep band directorship fame, lets me know that I'm actually sitting at half court, just down from the radio crew and five rows from the court. I coulda hugged him.

After a wonderfully delicious (insert snark here) meal of cold, breaded Chick-Fil nuggets and stale cookies (we got it good in Louisville with media food, y'all) I limp to my seat. It was a section packed tighter than a tin of sardines but I squeeze my way in my chair between a student newspaper guy and some sort of board operator. He didn't talk much. The student guy was obviously at his first WBB game. I was entertained beyond belief...

I'm beginning to wonder if road trips are worth it, anymore. I never saw the IU S.I.D. in charge of media stuff until the post-game and it was OUR guys who got me in the right direction. Maybe I need a guidance counselor at away game. I know this, it'll be my last trip to Bloomington to watch WBB. Take that to the window. 

PAULIE REPORT: 

P - Personality. They were cold fish up there, except for Jack Grossman and our folks. No letter here. No personality.
A - Accessability. OK once I got in the right place but my legs are screaming and knee throbbing as I write this up this morning after my wild goose chase. No letter here. 
U- Understanding. None. The security guys, their boss and gate folks have the combined arena knowledge of Donald Duck and a pet rock. No letter here
L - Learned. I learned a lot. Bloomington is 40 years behind the rest of the world in arena management and employees who know what they're doing and where stuff is. A capital "L" for what i learned. Positve, no. But knowledge, yes. 
I -  Idiots. They've gathered them all from the various villages and brought them to Assembly Hall and Bloomington. BIG CAPITAL "I" 
E - Experience. I've had better experiences having syringes injected in my knee. Which I'm going to need again soon. I made the trip. I represented. I regret it. No letter here.

PAULIE RECAP:  _-_-_-L-I-_


OTHER SPORTS STUFF

Best of luck to Louisville Volleyball and Men's Soccer as they go to battle in the NCAA today. Get 'er done Cards! LIC4. Well recap it here, tomorrow, in Case's article and on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM as Paige Sherrard, Daryl Foust and Julie Sullivan join me in studio.

GO CARDS! BEAT UNI and Arkon. Game times are 5:30 p.m. For Volleyball and 7 p.m. Soccer. See you at Lynn, if I can walk. 
paulie
xxxxx