WBB Cards Soar Past Oklahoma State -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Evans, Cards Soar Past Oklahoma State

In their second game in as many days in the US Virgin Islands Paradise Jam Louisville women's basketball defeated Oklahoma State 69-48.

Dana Evans led all scorers with a career-high 28 points.  Elizabeth Balogun posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

The Cards had a strong defense in the first half and won the quarters 19-13 and 18-12, respectively.  However, 12 turnovers in the half were plenty to keep the Pokes within striking distance.

A 14-5 run for much of the second quarter pushed the Louisville lead to 15 right before the half.

Louisville's defense turned on the jets even more, slowing down the Oklahoma State offense and surrendering just 23 second half points.

The Cards managed to get the lead to as high as 24 points late in the third quarter.  After that, the lead
never faltered and remained above 16 the remainder of the game.

Evans, who decided to knock out one of my bold predictions by just one point, shot 6-9 from three-point range and added five assists.  Overall, the Cards shot 9-14 (64.3%) from deep.

From the field, Louisville went 28-59 (47.5%) as the short range accuracy continued to be a hassle.

Trips to the free throw line were slim- Louisville shot just 4-5.  The Poke didn't get to the line much either, going 7-11.

Eight of 11 Cards to see the floor saw double-digit minutes with the other three all recording below three minutes.

Louisville (7-0) will have a tall task today as they face #1 Oregon.  The 6-0 Ducks defeated Oklahoma State 89-72 and UT Arlington 91-54.

Another lights out performance from three-point range and cleaning up the turnovers will give the Cards their best opportunity to win, and a chance to prove me wrong on a second bold prediction.

The two foes will tip off at 3:15 on the silly $29.99/month website.  Or just listen to Nick and AJ give you detailed play calling on air. They'll move to either 970 WGTK AM today or  1080 WKJK AM since Louisville Football will be on the usual channel 790.  I'd check both, the UofL Sports information site listed 1080  WGTK, which doesn't match up on call letters and radio dial number. You can always go to the live stream on the UofL website and we've linked it up for you below.

 LINK: LOUISVILLE WBB VS OREGON


THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR

Speaking of on air, it appears Paulie and Worldwide will be on the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour alone.  I will be battling the elements on the field as Louisville football has a showdown with rival Kentucky for the Governor's Cup. Case is down on the farm and Daryl is throwing a party at her place for the Football game.

Sonya will join the guys in the studio to observe, she doesn't like to "mic up" We're also on Facebook Live !  LINK:  THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR


OTHER

On a quick side note, congrats to Chris Mack and the men's team for defeating WKU and moving up to #1 in the country.  Walz will get his squad up there soon, and we could see the first school to have the women's and men's teams win the national championship in the same year since UConn in 2014.

We usually don't do anything here about non-women's sports here at Cardinal Couple, but a lot of you will be tuned in to Louisville vs. Kentucky Football in Lexington today at noon, so GO CARDS, BEAT UK.

Since Paulie edits most of the articles here at Cardinal Couple, I'll leave the FRED report to him as an add-on.


THE FRED REPORT

Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst says "Scream for those Cards!" 

FREE THROWS -- Hardly anything to mention here, as Dee Kanter and her crew swallowed the whistle and let them play. Louisville attempted five and made four. Kylee and Dana tried two each and made them. "E" got one and missed it. Still. 80% is 80% and we'll award a Capital "F" for the limited but productive marksmanship. 

REBOUNDS -- Louisville won the battle of the boards 47 to 39 and it was Bionca Dunham and Elizabeth Balogun leading the way with 10 each. Louisville only managed seven on the offensive boards, a quite low number, but overall the "grabs" effort was enough to earn them another Capital "R" for running down missed shots. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- No slow start Friday for the Cards, leading by six after the first quarter and increasing that lead as the game went on. Turnovers, though, another bugaboo with 21. Walz likes to tease that if you throw the ball to someone in the same colors as yours, those turnovers will drop. The Cards did win the points-in-paint battle, fast break points and second chance points stats, though, so...based on that, I'll offer a lower case "e" for hustle. 

DEFENSE -- Louisville WBB held OK State to 25.4% shooting. The Cards had eight blocks. They forced 14 OK ST turnovers and scored 14 points off them. They allowed just 48 points. All that leads to a Capital "D" for their defensive efforts. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-R-e-D


Happy Saturday and Go Cards!

Jared