Carter, Cards Down Duke 73-51 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

A.C.'s 23 LEAD LOUISVILLE TO 14TH WIN


Arica Carter recorded 23 points and the Louisville women's basketball team won their first contest ever in Cameron Indoor Stadium Sunday afternoon with a 22-point, 73-51 win over ACC foe Duke. 

After a Sam Fuehring score to start the contest, Carter went on a 150 second run where she nailed four straight three-pointers and the Cards a 14-2 lead over the home-standing Blue Devils. It was 12-2 Carter over Duke at that point and the Cards never looked back.

Duke defense, say "Hello" to A.C. 


UofL progressed to a 18-11 first quarter lead (Duke going on a 5-0 run to end the quarter) and the Durham players still had to be shaking their hands over the marksmanship of the Los Angeles, CA senior's first ten minutes. Those first ten minutes saw only three UofL players score...Fuehring added four points and Asia Durr sank a couple of free throws to give the Cards a lead that Duke would never overcome. 

As the teams moved toward halftime, Louisville continued to increase the margin. Back-to-back Dana Evans and Carter threes push the Cardinal advantage to 31-19 halfway through the second quarter and Kylee Shook completed the UofL scoring with four points in the final five minutes to set the tally at 35-23 Louisville at the break. 



It was a afternoon leading to 12 made threes for the Cards on 24 attempts (50%) while Duke struggled from the distance...going just 2 for 13 (15.4%). The Blue Devils were n their way to their worse loss in Cameron in five years and Louisville continued to increase the margin as the game went on.  

Asia Durr sunk a bucket for just her fourth points of the game to begin the second half, in fact the first four UofL scores of the third quarter came from four different players, and Louisville commandeered a 42-29 edge when Carter hit a jumper with 4:25 to play in the third session. Another quarter that the Cards won (15-13) ended when Shook got loose on a nice inside move to put the board at 50-36 with ten minutes remaining.  

Durr became the third leading scorer in Cardinal WBB history when she passed Myisha Hines-Allen and her 2030 career points when she drained a "three" at the 2:16 mark of the third. 

One had to wonder if the Cards could maintain the edge in the fourth, based on how Louisville had fared in fourth quarter performances as of late. A quarter that previously had been known for losing sizable leads to Kentucky, Central Michigan and North Carolina. And, the quarter started out that way...with Duke logging the first four points. The "here we go again" thoughts were starting to surface, but...



This Sunday was going to be different.

At 50-40, the Cards went to work. Carter drained her sixth three of the game. Then Evans knocked down a trifecta. Dana added two free throws and when Durr's steal/layup went through the net, two minutes had passed, the Cards had gone on a 10-0 run and held the 60-40 advantage with 6:31 remaining in the contest. 

Door closed. Game over.

UofL would push that to a 25-point edge after an Evans drive-the-lane-floater found success and the Cards got a three from Lindsey Duvall to end the scoring and eclipse 70 points for the 10th. straight time this season. 73-51. Cards win, the Cards win ! 

Carter led the parade with 23 points, Evans had another nice outing with 16 and Asia found her way to double figures with 13...11 of those in the second half. Shook almost reached a double-double with nine points and seven grabs (in just 21 minutes). Jazmine Jones totalled just five points (all in the first half) but found a way to help otherwise with 10 rebounds. Fuehring ended with four points and Duvall's three completed the scoring. Walz played them all and goes to 14-0 while sending Duke to 8-6 on the season. 


THE FRED REPORT

Fred the Wonder Mule approves of the
Cardinal win. 

FREE THROWS -- 11 for 15 is 73.3%. The story here is that refs "TV Dee" Kanter, "Silly" Ed Sidlasky and some other stumble-bum sent the Devils to then line 22 times and Coach "P" squad made 17 of them. But, we only grade our own in the Fred report...and 73.3% is small case letter worthy...so we hang a "f" on the message board. 

REBOUNDS -- Louisville got good efforts from Jaz, Kylee and Sam on the boards but lost the war 39-34 to Due in the grab department. Of course, Louisville shot 41% and Duke a paltry 31.4%...but facts is facts. Leanna Odom and her Dookie teammates take the battle of the boards and....we cannot award a letter in this category. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Hustle stats line up in the Cards favor.   15 steals for UofL and 10 for Duke. The Cards had 15 fast break points, Duke 8. Louisville made good on 11 second chance points, the Devils just 6 and the Devils committed 24 turnovers, Louisville 14. I have no problem rolling out the capital "E" here and parading it throughout the Raleigh-Durham airport. 

DEFENSE -- The low shooting percentage for the Blue Devils and their high turnover and steals rate...plus Louisville shutting everyone down except Gorecki and Odom, who most figured would have a good outing was a positive notable. The Cards allowed just 51 points as well . We'll put a capital "D" up on the stage here and watch as Louisville either steals it or knocks it out of bounds.

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-_-E-D 

(I can hear Case protesting in the back of the teacher's lounge about my liberal, objective grading already...) 




THEY SAID IT...

Maybe Jeff Walz said it best in the post-game: 

Coach reacting to the news that
the Bears "double doinked" a
field goal at the end of the game. 

"Every game in this league is going to be a grind-it-out game. I'm not really expecting to blow anybody out in the ACC. You have to steal a few wins on the road and I'm glad we were able to come in here and do that today." 

I also liked Joanne P"s impromptu math lesson in the post-game: 

"I liked three of our quarters (in the loss) against N.C.State. I liked our two middle quarters today. That leaves three quarters where we have to improve."

As far as her "two dollars" worth goes...I'm seriously considering just leaving 75 cents (three quarters) in front of her chair at Cameron, plus a 25-cent tip...always tip your wait and support staff well, kiddies...and wager the additional dollar on Duke starting the ACC 1-4. Chances are, Dana Evans just might run by, steal that money, and toss it to Arica or Asia for deposit in the net. Dana had five steals (maybe $1.25 worth, in Coach P. numbers-to-monetary-value-conversion-rates) in the game. 

This Cardinal theft, on the Sabbath, was perpetrated by a blazing hot Arica Carter start and the Cards throwing a bucket of ice water on the Devils shooting success. 

Larency? Maybe. Grand theft? In a fashion.

I'd like to think of it as Louisville "Breaking" the loss streak at Cameron and "Entering" the 70-point club again. Carter is the one we'll put up under the lights for witnesses to make a positive I.D. on and Judge Paulie will also consider accessory plus aiding and abetting charges on Evans, Shook and Durr.

Court dismissed. Bring on the next defendant (Notre Dame) and we'll begin this epic trial Thursday night (with plenty of "discovery" information by the prosecution here before then). 

All rise. (For coffee, preferably). 


paulie
xxxxx