WBB Dips Chips 76-63 -- WSOC and FH start NCAA Tournament Today -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

JONES, EVANS AND SHOOK COMBINE FOR 64 IN 76-63 WIN

Sometimes the old is the best. 

IT WAS SEVENTIES NIGHT...BUT I
DRESS THIS WAY EVERY DAY

Louisville WBB looked to veterans Jazmine Jones, Dana Evans and Kylee Shook last night to win their third game of the season, and the trio combined for 85% of Louisville's points in a 76-63 win over scrappy Central Michigan last night in the KFC YUM! Center. 

Maybe it's fitting on seventies night that the Cards tallied 76 points in a contest where the Cards had their woes in a struggling first half but eventually put CMU away. 

Louisville didn't gain the lead until five minutes played in the first quarter. A driving Jazmine Jones layup put UofL up 10-9. It was part of a six-point run in the quarter where Jones had eight of her career high 25 points and, despite shooting only 38.9%, Louisville forged to a 22-15 lead after 10 minutes. 

The going was treacherous and tricky in the first and, at times, not very pretty...UofL had a battle on their hands

The Chippewas were being the Matt Bevin's of women's college hoops and refusing to secede.  CMU guard Micaela Kelly responded with nine of her team-high 23 points in the next ten minutes and the visitors chopped the Louisville lead to three on several occasions, ending the half with a Kelly jumper at the buzzer. The second quarter for Louisville belonged to Kylee Shook and Jones -- they went five for eight and had 11 of Louisville's 17 points in the second quarter.

Your halftime score = Louisville 39- CMU 36.

Caption This Picture in the comments section

The Cards were having trouble stopping Chips guards Kelly and Maddy Watters on their drives to the basket and CMU forward Kyra Bussell was giving the Louisville front line all they wanted. Walz wasn't happy and had to inspire his guards to get into the game with more passion and hustle.

Out of the break, Dana Evans took heed of those words and took over. 

She owed the third quarter, with 11 points, while Shook took  over on the board with six grabs and four points as the Cards went on a 5-0 run to start the third session and closed it out with an 8-2 run to hold a 59-46 lead. 

Jeff Walz and the 7605 Louisville fans were getting increasing annoyed with the calls from "Godzilla and King Kong" -- refs Joe Vaszily and Carla Fountai... some inexplicable and unexplainable whistles, but the Cards appeared out of danger. Despite Bionca Dunham, "E" Balogun and Jones being in foul trouble.

Wrong. 

Central Michigan opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run. It was two-and-a-half minutes of Cardinal frustration until Jaz connected on the first of her eight points of the final quarter. She and Evans had 14 of Louisville 17 points in the fourth and the Cards methodically built the lead back to double digits. Seven free throws -- six from Dana and one from Jessica Laemmle closed out the Cards scoring in the final minute. A minute that seemed to take 10 minutes to play

I can understand CMU's strategy there -- foul and hope for misses -- but when you are down by 11 and 28 seconds remain on the clock...do you really need to commit a foul? Especially on someone (Dana) who was eight-for-nine in the game. 

CMU employs and illegal double team with coach and player
to guard Ya Ya. 

Still wondering here why Ya-Ya Diop isn't seeing more court time. Somehow, they have to find more than eight minutes for her, unless it a case of not working hard in practice or an ailment. 

Seygan Robins did not play -- her foot in a boot -- Walz explains the reason (her heel) in the post-game interview we have for you. 

Nevertheless, Cards win 76-63 !!




THE FRED REPORT

Today's Fred is Fredrick Douglass

FREE THROWS -- Nothing to worry about here. Louisville was 23-27 from the line (Dana 10-11) for 85.2%. They get a capital "F" for that. I'll even award a complimentary "F" to CMU...their 23-28 wasn't too shabby either.

REBOUNDING -- The Cards got tough when they absolutely needed to on the boards, but, the 42-34 edge against a considerably smaller squad wasn't what I expected. With Liz Dixon seeing just 14 minutes, the rebounding title went to Kylee with 12. A double-double for the "Rocky Mountain Rebounder". Good, but not great for UofL overall. I'll award a small case "r" 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Louisville was playing hard -- no doubt about it -- but something has to be done about the Cards close-in shooting. Liz, Kylee and Bionca were a combined 8-25 and that's not going to win you a lot of games in the ACC. Still, the brilliant efforts from Dana and "J.J." were spectacular to watch. Dana, with a career high 24 points had NO assists, though. Liz was 1-7 from the floor. I'll grudgingly hand out a small case "e" here...and, in my opinion, CMU out-hustled the Cards for a great portion of the contest.

DEFENSE -- Holding an opponent to 38% shooting is good. Forcing them into 19 turnovers gets a thumbs up. The Cards allowed just 49 shots, compared to taking 67 of their own. Winning the points-off-turnovers 21-18 and the second chance points 15-6 is a plus for UofL. They couldn't stop CMU guards Kelly, Watters or Davis for most of the game, though, and that has to get better. I'll give a small case "d" here, because CMU tallied just 63 points. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  F-r-e-d

All in all, an exciting contest where a visiting team came in swinging and the Cards survived the punches. Walz has a lot to work on, between now and next Thursday, when UofL brings in UT Chattanooga...granted....but he can point to Jazz, Dana and Kylee and tell the rest of the squad "Give me efforts like this if you want court minutes." 


THEY SAID IT

-- Link to post-game presser with CMU head coach Heather Oesterle (a delightful person, actually)...  HEATHER HAS HER SAY 

--Dana and Jazz had the podium for players' post-game. Insightful words out of those two for sure and a bit of humor... JAZZING IT UP WITH DANA AND JJ 

-- Coach Walz had calmed down considerably from the contest and was as eloquent as I've heard/seen him. You could tell he was still a bit frustrated, but, for once...didn't call me out about anything. Maybe it was the blood pressure medication... WALZ WORDS 


FIELD HOCKEY AND WOMEN'S SOCCER BEGIN THE NCAA


A wild day on Floyd Street today, beginning with Louisville Field Hockey vs.Michigan at noon, in first-round NCAA Tournament action  more NCAA first-round action at Trager with Northwestern vs. Boston College after that. Then, to Lynn Stadium we go for NCAA first-round action for WSOC...taking on Lipscomb at 6 p.m.

There's also Volleyball at the LNFCU tonight with UofL looking to avenge their earlier road loss to Syracuse in a rematch against the Orange at 7 p.m. We'll have reports on all three Saturday here at the website and on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR at 11 a.m. on 100.9 FM and Facebook Live. 

C'mon down to the campus and "get some"! Leave work with a "headache" at 10:30 a.m. , grab some food and head to Floyd for fun on Friday ! 

Have a fantastic Friday! Be kind to people on Twitter and Facebook. Not everyone is as "brilliant" as you and, what do you gain by making fun of someone's struggles? 

(GAME PHOTOS FROM JARED ANDERSON..WHO WASN"T AROUND IN THE "SEVENTIES")


paulie
xxxxx