Louisville WBB bounces back and sweeps Boston College 97-68 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

DESPITE MINUS TWO, CARDS PULL THROUGH

Good FRIDAY morning Cardinal fans  

Louisville traveled up to Boston College Thursday night looking to bounce back from Monday nights first loss of the season. I was actually able to make it out to the Yum! Center for that game with a friend of Cardinal Couple, Cindy!  It was our first time back at the Yum since last season and our first as fans only in many many years.  A pretty frustrating night for the Cards then but the team was able to put another tick in the win column in a convincing fashion on Thursday night. 

As for last night, not long before the game tipped off, we learned that two pretty regular starters would be out for the Cards in the matchup with the Eagles.

Elizabeth Balogun was away from the team training with the Nigerian national team down in Atlanta. Olivia Cochran got 'dinged up' with a sprained knee in practice on Wednesday.  So, it was Mykasa's 6th start of the season and it ended up being Dana Evans 13th 20+ point game on this season. Evans finished with 23 points on 8-19 shooting, three of them from behind the arc, four rebounds, five assists and no turnovers. 

Around the ACC

Georgia Tech avoids upset in a 71-69 win against Clemson                                                           Syracuse rolls over Wake Forest 85-78 
Virginia Tech pounds Pitt 74-55
FSU 61 sticks it to UNC 61-51. 

RECAP: Louisville WBB vs. BC Eagles 97 - 68 

With four minutes off the clock, Kianna Smith lead with 5 pts, the Cards were shooting 5-7 for 71% with 2-4 coming from three-point range, one for Dana and one for Smith.  Not long after, Dana swished her second 3-pt attempt, Kianna Smith knocks one down again just a minute after that.  The score was 18-15.

BC was hanging in there shooting 60% from both the field and beyond the arc..

Eagles guard Makayla Dickens scoring 8 of the team's points making 3 of 4 of her shot attempts, two of them from three. The Cards had 4 assists on 8 made buckets at the time.  The score was 20-15 both teams were going back and forth offensively.  BC was four of their last four and the Cards were four of their last five. 

Dana came out of the game for a rest with a minute left in the quarter.  Evans had just stolen the ball and the Cards found themselves at the FT line when Dana came out.  Merissah Russell made her two FTs to make it 26-19.  BC finished the quarter with two threes and Haley Van Lith managed a three point play of her own. 

End of 1Q 29-25 Cards 
FG %
10-16 63% Cards
10-15 67% BC
Reb.  7-5 Cards 
3-pt %
4-8 50% Cards
5-8 62.5% BC

Coach Walz began the same lineup that finished the quarter... Ahlana Smith, Norika Konno, Liz Dixon, Mykasa and  Kianna Smith lineup.  First three minutes off the clock in the 2nd quarter, BC was winning 5-4 and was 6-9 from beyond 3 for the game.  Dana and HVL came back in.  Makayla Dickens tied it up at 33 landing her fourth three of the game, HVL responded.  The Cards were winning the rebounding battle 13-8.. 7-2 offensive rebounds.

The Cards went on an 8-0 run after it was tied up.  By then, BC was winning shooting better than UofL with 54% to 52% from the field and 58% to 50% from 3-point range.  But the Cards had converted at the FT line making 6 made of 8 attempts, none had been attempted yet for the Eagles.  With two minutes left in the quarter, Dana grabbed her own the offensive rebound and had the backwards put back underneath, and a layup on the fast break on the following possession to lead the Cards to a 14-0 run and a 47-33 lead. 

End of 2Q 21-13 Cards 
FG %
9-19 47.4% Cards
5-14 35.7% BC
Reb. 14-6 Cards
3-pt %
2-3 66.7% Cards
3-5 60% BC

HALF Cards 50-38

After coming back from the halftime break, the Cards committed two turnovers in the first minute back in back to back possessions. Halfway into the quarter HVL managed three of Cards six turnovers.  Kasa was leading the team with 7 rebounds.  Dana was 7-14, 3-5 beyond three with 19 points, three rebounds, three assists and no turnovers. With four minutes left in third quarter BC had managed only one trip to the FT line and came up empty on the attempts.  The Cards were winning the rebounding battle 28-15. Dana, HVL and Kianna were hitting from beyond three for the Cards... making seven of the teams 15 attempts.  The Eagles finished the quarter making one of their last nine, where the Cards went four for five.  Dana was 4-4 at the FT line in the quarter. 

End of 3Q 22-16 Cards 
FG %
8-13 61.5% Cards
6-20 30% BC
Reb. 12-11 Cards
3-pt %
2-6 33.3% Cards
1-3 33.3% BC

The Cards opened the final quarter with another turnover to match BC with 11 for the game. Offensively, they went on 6-0 run to open the quarter.  By this time, the deep bench was getting more minutes than in recent weeks.  Merissah Russell and Ramani Parker saw seven minutes each in the 4th.  HVL finished with five turnovers, at least one each quarter. The Cards finished the game shooting 6-8, going on a 9-0 run over the last 3:30 minutes, BC shooting 0-5 and didn't score in final 3:47.

End of 4Q 25-14 Cards 
FG %
10-17 58.8% Cards
6-14 42.9% BC
Reb. 10-5 Cards 
3-pt %
2-6 33.3% Cards
0-2 0% BC

FINAL 97-61 CARDS WIN 

FRED REPORT 

"Lamont, I watched the entire Boston
game and didn't hear "More than A Feeling"
once !! 

F-Free Throws Dana lead the team going 4-4 from the line and the team was a solid 13-16 on the night.  At one point in the match, the FTs were the difference maker in the scoring which goes to show how important it can be on the stat sheet.  The team was an efficient 81% from the line which is better than the 70% requirement for a CAPITAL F 

R-Rebounding Even without Olivia on the floor, the Cards dominated the boards 43-27, doubling the defensive rebound column 26-14.  Stop me if you've heard this before, Robinson lead the rebounding effort with 8, Konno with 7, Dixon with 6 and Parker with 5. Consider me impressed.. CAPITAL R

E-Effort/Efficiency From the opening tip, the squad was ready to rumble.  The team was able to get inside and score, they were hitting from 3 point range and outrebounding the Eagles despite a solid opening quarter effort from BC.  The Cards secured the 26-10 second chance points advantage over their opponent.  Dana had 5 of the teams 15 assists on 37 made buckets. UofL had 32 points come off the bench.  It was a really fun game to watch for Louisville basketball fans.  CAPITAL E 

D- Defense BC was averaging seven 3-pointers a game coming into this one.. they had that many in the first half, but managed just two over the final 20 minutes of play.  They were 9-18 on the evening, good for 50% from 3-point land and 27-63 good for 43% from the floor.  UofL managed to turn BC over 16 times on the night giving the Cards 21 points.  I think this defensive effort has warranted a lower case d, it will need some polishing in the coming weeks. Walz wants the Cards to "toughen up"

FINAL FRED SCORE  F-R-E-d 

                                      Looking AHEAD

* ALERT ALERT *

DANA EVANS PLAYS AT THE YUM CENTER TWO MORE TIMES

**** Sunday vs ND (Pink Out Game) ****

**** Thursday vs Georgia Tech  (Senior Night) **** 

We will be back on the airwaves tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. for another episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio  Hour Podcast, I believe another full house on deck.  Have a great start to your weekend, Louisville fans! 

Go Cards 

~Daryl