Louisville women's basketball -- Cards "bench" Boise St.

FOUR IN DOUBLE FIGURES AS CARDS WIN FIRST ROUND NCAA GAME 74-42

If I told you that Myisha Hines-Allen and Asia Durr combined for just 13 points in a 32-point romp in the NCAA Tournament, you might raise a questioning eyebrow or wonder if Paulie got into the Yuengling before writing this. 

But, buoyed by a 33-point bench effort and getting 14 from Kylee Shook and 10 from Bionca Dunham, Louisville muscled their way past Boise St. in the stretch and advances to Sunday action against Marquette at the KFC YUM! Center. 

The bench was impressive, no doubt but starters Sam Fuehring (14 points and 11 grabs), Jazmine Jones (10 points and six grabs) were also essential in the #1 seeded Cards going on a 42-20 second-half blitz that left the Broncos at the starting gate in the second half and proved once again what Jeff Walz has been telling us all year: 

The Cards play as a team and if someone needs to step up, they do. 

A 51-30 rebounding edge over BSU and 52 points in the paint, compared to Boise's 14. Louisville never trailed in the contest and after a first half that saw the Cards up only 32-22...it was Louisville's defense and a strong third quarter that put this one comfortably out-of-reach and moved the Cards forward in the "Big Dance". 

The Cards scored the first nine points out of the break, with Arica Carter and Asia Durr fueling the burst and Louisville went on to outscore the Broncos 22-4 in the first seven minutes in the third quarter to hold a 54-26 lead after Dana Evans put in a layup with 3:34 left in the third. Give the freshmen Evans a salute as well, she finished with seven points, and solid defense for Louisville. Myisha "Dooblay" Hines-Allen was a cold 2 for 7 from the floor but had 14 grabs (11 on the defensive end) in just 17 minutes. 

Kylee Shook got the crowd (no attendance provided but I guessed about 7900) roaring when she nailed two threes in the first quarter...the only two  threes UofL would sink in 10 attempts. Asia Durr 4-14 performance from the floor was the result of Boise throwing a lot of effort into stopping her. Fortunately, the rest of the team was there to pick her up and secure the lopsided win.  

"We just got beat by the #1 seed" BSU head coach Gordy Presnell matter-of-factly commented in the post-game presser and that Broncos 23.7% shooting for 40 minutes didn't help matters at all. BSU's two top leading scorers on the season (Marta Hermida and Riley Lupfer) were held to a combined 18 points on 7-26 shooting and BSU went a chilly 4-30 from three-point range. 

Cards advance to take on Marquette Sunday, who broke a 15-15 tie with Dayton to plow past the Flyers 84-65 in the second game. Louisville will need to pay heed to guard Natisha Hiedeman, who had 32 points and eight threes in the win and forward Erika Davenport, who offered 16 points and 13 rebounds to send the Golden Eagles to Sunday. 

I saw both Sam Purcell and Beth Burns intent on the scout of Marquette, so Louisville definitely knows who these two women are and that Marquette likes the "three ball", hitting 12 of 26 offered.


THE FRED REPORT

Using Fred McGriff today
because the Cards went fence

F-Free Throws -- The Cards went 12-17, which tops out at 70.6%. That's what we grade a capital "F" by Paulie standards...Bionca Dunham's 4 for 5 get a nod and tip of the cap. 

R- Rebounding. 51-30 in Louisville's favor. BSU Coach Gordy did remind us that their starting, all-conference last year, center went out early in the season. They still had height with three 6'3" players, but Louisville dominated. I award the capital "R " easily.

E- Effort. Despite MHA and "nite-nite"s average outing, everyone else really shone. 12-0 fast break points, eight steals and 16 forced turnovers. Kylee, Sam, J.J, Bionca and Arica were superb. I have mixed feelings, so I'll go with the small case "e" here. 

D- Defense. A nightmare if you had to go against it. No more than 12 points allowed in any quarter and the 23.7% shooting night say it all. I see a capital "D" here. 

Fred recap:  F-R-e-D

Survive and advance. It's what this time of year is all about. Mission accomplished and with the approval of a loud and amped-up fan base. See ya Sunday...

(A special "muchas gracias" to Mike Gilpatrick to the photos and post game today. Hear him on radio with us a 11 a.m. Saturday morning on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour).

POST GAME COMMENTS

BOISE STATE AFTER THE LOSS

CARDS DISCUSS WIN OVER BOISE STATE




NOTRE DAME SLUGS BY SOFTBALL 10-3

Meanwhile, back on the UofL campus, the Hit and Pitch Cards had trouble doing both yesterday against the visiting Notre Dame Irish, falling 10-3 to their ACC foe. 

A six-run third inning lifted the Irish to a comfortable lead over Sandy Pearsall's squad. Louisville scored all their runs in the fourth inning when Caitlan Ferguson's double cleaned the loaded bags full of Cards, but by then the score was 8-3 and Louisville would fail to push anything else across the plate in the final three innings. 

Danielle Watson got the loss for UofL, going 2.1 innings. She's now 12-4 on the season. 

Sandy Pearsall saw it this way: 

"We put together a game plan for today but simply did not execute it well at all. Credit Notre Dame for taking advantage of our mistakes." 

The two squads match up again today at Ulmer Stadium. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.


LACROSSE FACES BOSTON COLLEGE. 

A noon start for this ACC match at "the Ellis" for Lou Lax and the Eagles today.  The Cards have been on the road for the last two weeks and come into today's match after a 21-14 win at Mercer. 

Louisville (6-3, 0-2) faces a B.C. squad that is ranked #3 in the nation and sports a 9-0 record. The Chestnut Hill gals have knocked off four top-twenty teams this season and defeated Louisville 14-11 last season. 

If you can't attend, it'll be on the ACC Network Extra. I'll be dashing over there after radio this morning. They got a food truck and Tessa Chad. Who could ask for more, except maybe a upset win for Scott Teeter's squad? 


ON THE AIR AGAIN

We invite you to get your day started the right way....by listening to The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour this morning at 11 a.m. 

We're on WCHQFM 100.9 on the air AND also present to you a Facebook Live broadcast at the very same time! 

We're without one of the "A" team for a considerable while...Case Hoskins tore his Achilles playing soccer...just hours after our broadcast last week and is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. Subbing in this week is our ol' buddy Mike Gilpatrick, from River City Cards, a guy who can tell you just about anything you ever wanted to know about Detroit Tiger MLB. 

We'll review the WBB win with him today, the Sunday match-up, softball, lacrosse, the men's NIT quest and as much as we can crowd into  mere hour.  The other "knuckleheads"...myself, Worldwide Jeff and Jared will be in the magnificent media mansion on Mellwood to bring you the best in UofL athletics! 

Paulie
xxxxx