#1 Louisville WBB crush the Orange 67-54 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

13-0, 6-0, #1

Is Beth indicating "They went that-a-way?" 

Well Cardnation, your #1 Cards WBB are officially NCAA tournament eligible and remain unbeaten on the season moving to 13-0, 6-0 in the ACC.  The Cards capped off a great night of womens' hoops when the #23 Syracuse came to town Thursday night, adding another tally to the win column with a 67-54 win over the Orange. 

After a slow start for the senior Dana Evans, she finished with 21 points on 9-20 shooting.  Hailey Van Lith had 18 points, shooting better than 50% from 3 to lead Louisville to victory.  

CARDS VS CUSE RECAP

Olivia Cochran got the offense going for Louisville, scoring the first 4 points from the field. The Orange didn't score their first points until the 6:45 mark.  They were able to take their first lead 6-4 with 5:43 left on the clock in the quarter.  UofL went on a 10-0 run after that to regain the 14-6 lead.  HVL and Olivia combined for 12 of the Cards 14 points to start the match.  The Cuse then went on a run for themselves and were able to tie it up 14 all.. All of Syracuse's 14 points were in the paint. 

End of 1Q    Cards lead 17-14
        FG %
        7-16 43.8% Cards
        7-21 33.3% Cuse 
        Reb.  11-11
        3-pt %
        3-8    38% Cards
        0-5    0% Cuse 

With the second quarter underway, the Cuse regained the lead 18-17 at the 7:35 mark.  The first 22 of Syracuse's points were in the paint.  The Orange were able to do a good job of containing Dana offensively to start this game.  She was 0-6 with 3 minutes left in the half. 

The Cards were 1-9 as a team in the first 6 minutes of the second quarter.  Once Dana was able to find the bottom of the net with 3 minutes left in the half, UofL was able to regain the lead off a 3 pointer by Elizabeth Balogun.  Syracuse responded with their first 3-pointer in the game and then HVL landed her third three of the game to make it 27-26.

Both squads managed 15 points in the second quarter. 24 of Syracuse's 29 first half points were in the paint.  Dana had 7 points 4 rebounds 4 assists at the break.  Only three free throws were attempt in the first half and they were by Syracuse. 

End of 2Q  Cards lead 32-29
        FG %
        10-17 59% Cards
        6-13 46% Cuse 
        Reb. 9-8 Cards  
        3-pt %
        4-7 57% Cards
        1-4 25% Cuse

Our ol' buddy "Q" - Quentin Hillsman dressed casual
  chic and briefly foregoing the "mask up" mandate

Both squads came out firing in the second half... the Cards going 5-6 to start and the visitors going 4-4 on their first attempts. Dana matched her first half scoring with seven more to give her 14 points on 6-16 shooting from the field, 2-7 from 3-point land.  The Cards forced six Syracuse turnovers in the 3Q, managing only two of their own in the third quarter after having six in the first half.  

End of 3Q  Cards lead 52-44
        FG %
        7-13 53.8% Cards
        6-10 60% Cuse 
        Reb. 8-6 Cuse  
        3-pt %
        3-6 50% Cards
        1-3 33.3% Cuse

Let's just call it "the Hailey Hop" 

HVL tried to land another 3-pointer at the 3Q buzzer with the feed from Evans, but that connection would have to wait for the final quarter to get underway.  HVL landed her fifth three of the game to open the fourth quarter, assist from Dana. With 5:00 left in the game HVL hit her sixth three to make it 62-50 Cards.  She finished with 18 points and 8 rebounds on the evening, capping it off with an ESPN interview from commentators Beth Mowins and Debbie Antonelli. 

End of 4Q  Cards WIN 67-54 
        FG %
        6-12 50% Cards
        4-15 26.7% Cuse 
        Reb. 9-8 Cards  
        3-pt %
        3-5 60% Cards
        0-2 0% Cuse

FINAL 67-54 

FRED REPORT 

I think Freddy Mercury would have agreed...
"We are the champions, my friends."

F- Free Throws - They really let both squads play last night.  Neither team ever in foul trouble, a combined 15 FT attempts between both (Cards 3-4, Cuse only making 6-11).  Kianna Smith made both of her attempts at the line, Olivia going 1-2.  Can't hate on a 3-4 night from the stripe, the Cards were efficient when they got there but it's also hard to reward when the numbers don't stack the stat sheet.  I give it a CAPITAL F...it's 75% and our standard is 70%, no matter how many are attempted. 

R- Rebounds Total on the night... 35-35 for both teams.  Which is actually pretty great considering Syracuse's size.  I thought the Cards started off with great rebounding effort especially at the offensive end and giving themselves second chances.  Mykasa Robinson took advantage of her second start in a row to show off her game management skills with two grabs in a row to start the game. HVL lead the team and finished with eight boards.  The Cards held their own on the glass to match a very good team.  CAPITAL R 

 
E- Effort/Efficiency  - Besides the HVL highlight reel, what I took away from this game the most was the 6'3" Cochran vs. 6'7" Cardoso matchup. Coach Walz said they really practiced that fade away jumper this week because of the size matchup and being able to score underneath.   Olivia displayed excellent shot selection going 5-7 for 11 points from the field in 25 minutes while Cardoso was 6-13 for 13 points in 33 minutes on the floor.  Both bigs are freshman, I have a feeling this will be a matchup to look forward to for years to come.  CAPITAL E

D- Defense -  What was a high scoring Orange offense coming into the night, fizzled into the mighty Ohio River last night.  UofL held Q's bunch to 54 points on the night (39% shooting from the field, 2-13 from 3-point range).  The score was back and forth with 6 lead changes in the first half but the Cards had the lead for more than 30 minutes of this game, a 15 point lead at the most.  UofL forced 13 turnovers, scoring 13 off of those opportunities, which ended up being the difference in the game.  I give this effort another CAPITAL D 

Final FRED Report - F-R-E-D 

I gotta think Haley was thinking about her buddy Kobe Bryant this week as she's helped lead the program to a historic first time #1 ranking this year... It was this time last year that Kobe and his daughter GiGi were visiting Haley in Washington to show support.  He also made a shout-out to UofL WBB saying he couldn't wait to watch her play the following season.  I have a feeling he would've been here to show his support for the women's game for a #1 Cards vs #23 Cuse matchup at Yum! if he were still here today.  Its still a really tough subject for me to this day... 

I thought it was awesome seeing Kobe in a 'Win For Ware' shirt in 2013... Never in my life thought i would see him throw L's Up!  My heart nearly exploded when I first saw this post on Instagram last year. So thank you for this, HVL. 

MSOC News

We don't regularly cover UofL men's sports here but, of note:

Congratulations to the two Cardinal student-athletes who heard their names called in the MLS Super Draft on Thursday afternoon.   Senior midfielders, Elijah Amo and Lamine Conte were both selected in the second round to Real Salt Lake and NY Redbulls respectively.   The pair are the 24th & 25th Cardinals to be selected in the SuperDraft.  Amo would be joining former Cards Andrew Brody and Tate Schmitt at the Real Salt Lake and Conte would join Cherif Dieye in NY should they sign with the teams.  The Cards were 1-6-1 in the fall.  

Some personal news to share.. Earlier this week I got asked back to my first sport related job since the March shut down.  I very much look forward to returning to button pushing in the sport related realm.  Fingers crossed as we look forward to spring sports!! (I'm pretty sure they haven't installed a red "Diet Coke" button in my absence...)  

We will be back on the airwaves tomorrow morning to talk about the games as well as the other miscellaneous topics on THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR PODCAST, I am sure of it.  Cards WBB are on the road for the first time in a couple weeks at Wake Forest (7-5, 4-4 ACC) on Sunday 2PM.

Dana and Kianna doing the "Hailey Hop" 
with HVL

(ANOTHER EXCELLENT ROUND OF PHOTOS FROM JARED ANDERSON TODAY !!) 

Go Cards! 
-Daryl