Lacrosse wins at Vandy -- Shook Honored -- other WBB News -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

INTERVIEWS AND PRESSERS FROM WEDNESDAY

LACROSSE WEEKLY WITH TEETER AND SHANAHAN

JEFF WALZ PRESSER


LACROSSE HOLDS OFF HOME-STANDING VANDY 15-13

The University of Louisville Lacrosse squad improved to 3-2 yesterday with a 15-13 win at Vanderbilt. A game of runs, a late-contest surge by the Commodores and strong start to the second half for Louisville. It all added up to an exciting but a bit nervous afternoon for this Louisville Lacrosse fan. 

Key for the Cards LAX squad was Shayla Scanlan's four scores. Three of them came in the second half and her final "find the net" throw gave Louisville a bit of security with 1:12 on the clock, turning a 14-13 game into the final margin. Also big was Brenna Shanahan's six assists, 

Louisville started a bit slow, surrendering the first two goals of the game, but went on a 3-0 run that gave them the lead just five minutes into the action. Two of the three goals were from freshman Allegra Catalano. Vandy responded with a similar run, firing in three straight to hold a 5-3 advantage with 17:33 until the half. 

The runs had begun and they weren't going to stop. 

Scanlan's first score and a follow up goal from --one of the Blalock sisters -- (Caroline), knotted it back up at 5-5. 

Your turn, anchor droppers.

Vandy followed with two scores in a minute and it was seven minutes before the next "drop the stick and celebrate" event took  place. With 1:45 to play in opening half action, Cards leading scorer Ally Hall connected for her first score and with a minute left in the half Paige Richbourg evened it up at 7-7. The half ended that way -- tied. 

A strong Cardinal start to the final 30 minutes ensued. Louisville outscored the 'Dores 4-1 in the opening nine minutes. Goals from Richbourg, Hall, Scanlan and Hannah Morris boosted the Cards into a 11-8 edge. Morris and Blalock built the lead to 13-9 with their second scores of the afternoon. Four minutes later, with 7:37 to play, Scanlan found success with her third goal, which gave the Cards a lead that looked insurmountable at 14-10. 

But, it was run time, again. This time, it was the home team. 

14-10 turned into 14-13 over the next five minutes. It was time for head coach Scott Teeter and the visiting Cards to talk about it. A timeout resulted in a drawn-up play, and the play produced a score from Scanlan...with just 1:12 remaining in the contest. 

It was the final goal of the game and the Cards had survived the Vandy run for the 15-13 victory. Five Cards finished with two goals each, Scanlan four and goalkeeper Rachel Florek had another big day with 14 saves. 

I'll visit Scott Teeter for another one of our Wednesday "Talks with Teeter" and post it at the top of today's site later today.

We'll also probably have a student-athlete, I let Coach decide who he wants to bring in...he has several good choices available today


SHOOK SELECTED AS SEMIFINALIST. 

When you think of Kylee Shook, you think of the blocked shots. You think about her strong rebounding skills. You also think of how she shuts down prominent opposing center's like "Big Smile" Cunane and Janelle Bailey. Yes, you also think of the three-point shooting skills (at least I do), but we'll stick with her defense. It's the defense, after all, that has her as one of ten semi-finalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award. 

The lone ACC nominee for the award. So, she's pretty much assured winning the honor in the ACC, right? Knowing the ACC, they'll probably go in a completely different direction...but it takes nothing away from what Kylee had done this season . 

Shook is UofL’s all-time leader with 217 career blocks. She recorded six blocks at UT Martin to become UofL’s all-time leader, surpassing Angel McCoughtry (2006-09) who had 162.

She has 80 blocks this year, which is the most in Louisville single season history. She had three blocks at Syracuse to eclipse Yuliya Tokoya’s 59 blocks in 2006-07 for the single-season record.

Shook leads the ACC and ranks 11th in the NCAA with 2.9 blocks per game and is averaging 3.1 blocks per game in ACC play, which leads the league by over half a block and is 1.3 blocks per game better than the third-best blocks per game average.

She is nearly averaging a double-double on the season with 9.6 points per game and 8.0 rebounds. Her 8.0 rebounds per game rank seventh in the ACC.

STATUS PENDING...

Word out of the Louisville WBB circles is that it is day-by-day on whether Dana Evans and Elizabeth Balogun will get the start against Boston College Thursday night. Both are recovering and receiving treatment for sprained ankles suffered in the Cards win at Georgia Tech last Thursday. 

Let's face it, you have a conference championship and NCAA Tournament coming up. Louisville is assured of a #1 seed in the ACC Tournament in Greensboro and why take the chance of playing either Dana or "E", if they're not 100% ready-to-go.

You don't want a re-sprain or any aggravation for either student-athlete. 

Yes, wins = seeding in the NCAA Tournament and I get that. I have to go with the premise, however, that you want your players who help deliver wins available when you need them in the tournament. Healthy. Ankles healed.  

We'll see what Coach Walz's thoughts are on this today at his weekly Wednesday presser today. I'll post the audio at the top of the page later today. 

Check back tomorrow, as Jared gets you ready for the Thursday night, 6 p.m. contest against Baldwin's Boston College Eagles. It's Angel McCoughtry "bobble-head" night and 1,000 of those will be available to the first 1,000 fans in attendance. Doors open at five. 


Have a wonderous, not-too-wet Wednesday! 



paulie
xxxxx