Louisville women's basketball -- Cards ground Golden Eagles early, fly to 90-72 win -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

HINES-ALLEN LEAVES YUM! IN STYLE WITH 18-POINT WIN

Has there ever been a more delightfully fun to watch and more loved senior than Myisha Hines-Allen in Louisville women's basketball history?  She said her goodbye's to the KFC YUM! CENTER with 24 points, 13 rebounds, kissing the Cardinal Bird at center court, hugging children, babies, adults and almost breaking into tears and needing a composure moment in the post game press conference. She is real, delightful and has captured the hearts of Cardinal fans forever, including mine. DOO-BLAY, you are a champion and our "Queen of the Ville." 

Even though the Cards WBB squad won't be back down by the river this rest of this season...that season is not finished...as Louisville rolled out to a 34-point first quarter and never looked back in the 90-72 elimination of the Marquette Golden Eagles yesterday in front of 8017 in the downtown arena to advance to the Sixteen Sixteen...

A game where The Cards found a bit of resistance real early in the affair with a 6-6 score after 2 1/2 minutes. Then, it happened. Myisha inside, Sam inside, Asia with a three and then another one after Sam creating inside again. The clock showed 3:52 left in the first quarter. The scoreboard read 22-8 Louisville. The crowd was going crazy, the Cards effortlessly enforcing their will on the visitors and the feared slow start was nowhere to be found.

This one was over.

By the half, the Cards has pushed the lead to 52-27 and a joyous celebration was well underway among Louisville fans. That had every reason to. UofL was shooting 69.7%, three Cards were already in double figures and had a 24-11 rebounding edge, plus 32-12 scoring advantage in the paint. The Cardinal Cannonball was rolling down the tracks and unstoppable.  When all five on the court are acting as one, it's a beautiful thing to report on and observe. 

You can credit Marquette with winning the second half. A strong, determined and, at times, chippy and aggressive effort to try to climb back into the frey from those Eagles...but after three it was still still 71-53 Cards and Hines-Allen was still dominating on both ends of the court with eight third quarter points and already 22 for the game. 

PRETTY WOMEN ALL IN A ROW! 

The Montclair, NJ senior had plenty of help in leading the Cards to a Lexington appearance coming up Friday. Asia got her groove back and tossed in 19 points, with three three-pointers and that old Asia swagger and fist pumping present again. Sam Furhring went ballistic in the first tem minutes with 13 of her 19 points and continued to show that there is no one that will out-work this other Jersey girl when it comes to controlling the paint. Jazz Jones, was precise and deadly, with a 6-9 performance from the floor and 14 points. That grin stretched from Shively to Anchorage by the end of the game and her star is just beginning to rise on the horizon.

Allazia Blockton did her best to stem the flood known as Cardinal hoops with 32 points (22 in the final two quarters). A very outstanding performance from her and one that might be the headlines in another setting. Yesterday, though, it was Myisha hitting her first 10 shot, Asia and Sam their first five shots and Louisville delivering the goods to join the Sweet Sixteen. Utter paint dominance for the red and black yesterday...60 to 36 points-in-the-paint edge and 42-26 rebounding advantage. 

We know not yet who the Cards will tangle with in Lexington...upstart FGCU and Stanford will fight for that right tonight on thr Cardinal campus. 

(Photos from my delightfully outdated Samsung cell.) 


THE FRED REPORT

Cards were so hot in shooting that they needed water tossed
on them to cool them down, right? 

F - Free Throws. Not a lot of those were awarded to the Cards yesterday, but they made the most of them...going 6-7. That's 85.7% and easily passes the standard for a CAPITAL "F" in our eyes. 

R - Rebounding. The ball was ending up in Cardinal hands quite a bit yesterday. The 42-26 advantage and 21 combined for the "Jersey Skyscrapers" Sam and Myisha warrant a definite CAPITAL "R" for excellence in grabbing the stray orb. 

E- Effort/Execution. Louisville won the second chance points battle 15-5 and fast break stat 21-6. 15 turnovers by the Cards is still too many but 40-63 shooting and 90 points forgives a lot of sins. Let's keep the big letters rolling with a CAPITAL "E" here. 

D- Defense. Louisville did what they needed to do in the first half in containing the Golden Eagles but 32 points from Blockton in a "Kobe" effort was a bit trifling and of a tad of concern. We'll award the small case "d" here. Argue it if you wish. 

FRED RECAP:  F-R-E-d

On to Lexington. Buy those tickets, Cardinal faithful. The survive and advance, just survive somehow theory is a perfect 2-2. Louisville won the first of the three two game tournaments. Congratulate them and keep the just survive somehow predication rolling. 

To Myisha, we hope you have four more chances to wear that #2 jersey and shine for UofL. Keep that train, that jalopy, that motivation going in a setting that hasn't always been kind to Cardinal efforts. Let's turn it into "Erupt Arena" Friday. 

Hear the Cardinals talk about it and a touching Myisha moment below: 


PRESSER AFTER MARQUETTE: WALZ, MHA, SAM and ASIA


SOFTBALL SUNK AGAIN

So, whose bright idea was it to bring Notre Dame to town on St. Patrick's weekend? The Irish held advantage and took a 7-2 win over the Hit-and-Pitch Cards yesterday at Ulmer Stadium to sweep the three game series. 

The Cards did show early muscle...jumping out to a 2-0 advantage, but it was all Notre Dame after that...with the final seven runs over the last four innings.

Getting them to touch home plate continues to be a worry for Sandy Pearsall...UofL stranded seven base-runners yesterday and managed just six hits against the Irish. 

Kudos to Sidney Melton, part of the "Sid-Syd-Szyd" configuration, for a solo home run shot. Megan Hensley went the distance in the circle for UofL, allowing seven runs, six earned...on eight hits. 

The Cards take to the road to swing against Indiana in Bloomington next. A Tuesday late afternoon contest. 


Paulie
xxxxx