Louisville WBB victorious in Pittsburgh 82-58; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS GET TO 20 WINS IN PITTSBURGH

We got a game-day, Cards fans.  I hope you're staying warm and safe out there if you have to be out.  After a week in between matchups for UofL, looking to close out the regular season strongly, Louisville WBB wins on the road at Pittsburgh propelled by a 28-13 third quarter rout. 

Dana Evans scored 29 points, 21 of them in the second half and has scored a tleast 20 points 16 of Louisville's 21 games played this season. Mykasa Robinson had 6 points on 2-3 shooting from field, along with 5 assists, 5 steals, 9 rebounds and went 2-3 from the FT line.  The Panthers were lead by Gabbie Green.  She was averaging 5.5 pts coming into the game and had 20 points on 5-8 from beyond 3. 

RECAP: Louisville WBB (20-1, 13-1) vs Pitt Panthers 82-58

The Cards allowed 3 offensive rebounds in Pitt's second possession but they were 0-6 in first 1:30. Pitt's second leading scorer Dayshanette Harris came out of game 2 min into it with a knee injury. Olivia Cochran picked up 2 fouls less about 30 seconds within the other about 3 minutes in. Liz Dixon got the scoring going for the Cards, she went 2-2 for 4 pts 0-1 FT line to start.  Losing rebound battle 6-4 first 3 min off the clock. 

The Cards defense only allowed 2 points up until the 5:25 min mark when it was 8-2 Cards. Mykasa had 2 steals 5 min off clock and took a charge for the Pitt TO. She also got to the line where she went 1-2.  The team was 1-3 for 33.3% at FT line in the first quarter. Liz Dixon went 5-5 for 10 points and 2 rebounds.  Kianna Smith 0-3 from behind the arc.  Hailey Van Lith contributed 3 reb 3 assists and a clock through her first eight minutes on the floor. 

End of 1Q 17-9 Cards
FG %
8-17 47% Cards
4-21 19% Pitt
Reb.  16-12 Pitt
3-pt %
0-4 0% Cards
1-5 20% Pitt

Back to back 3 point jumpers made by Green in less than a minute made it 19-15 Cards lead. With Cochran on the bench with a couple fouls, we saw a Ramani Parker sighting early in the second quarter.  She was headed to the free throw line not long after entering the game and went 2-2. With 3 minutes off the clock Pitt was winning the quarter 8-4. HVL got her first bucket about halfway through the 2Q.  

Everett secured her first bucket with 4 min left till halftime. With 2:39 Green hits her fourth 3-pointer to tie it 27 all. UofL was 0-6 from 3 point land for the game by this point. Pitt had landed 3 threes in the quarter and the Cards were losing the offensive rebounding battle 15-6.  The Cards finished on a 6-0 run and the refs waved off what I think should've been counted as the Cards first 3 point bucket on a last .1 of a second chuck by Dana Evans 15 feet behind 3 point line but the Cards ended up 0-7 from beyond 3 point arc.  Pitt finished the final 2:39 scoreless and UofL was 6-6 at the FT line for the quarter.

End of 2Q 18-16 Pitt 
FG %
5-13 38.5% Cards
6-19 31.6% Pitt
Reb. 11-11 
3-pt %
0-3 0% Cards
3-6 50% Pitt

HALF 33-27 Cards

 Dana hit the first 3 of the game for Louisville with 7 minutes left on clock in the third quarter. Dixon scored her first points since the first quarter with 5:45 offensive rebound off a Kianna Smith miss for the put back underneath. Dana Evans was 3-4 from the field with 4:19 still left on clock and Pitt scoreless for almost 3 minutes after that until they got to the line.  The Cards pushed the lead to 18 making it 57-39 with 1:56 left in the 3Q. Cards lead by 21 at 61-40. Dana lead the team with 13 points 4-6 and 4-4 at the FT line. Mykasa secured two buckets, a free throw, four rebounds and two assists in the quarter. 18 of the Cards 28 points were in the paint. 

End of 3Q 28-13 cards 
FG %
11-18 61% Cards
4-12 33.3% Pitt
Reb. 11-6 cards
3-pt %
1-3 33.3% Cards
2-4 50% Pitt

HVL hits a jumper from the FT line and Balogun scores on a fast break before back to back threes by Jayla Everett ,as she started to warm up to make it 65-51. Pitt was 11-4 in the quarter with 4:53 left in the game. Dana Evans then went on to score the next 8 points for UofL before exiting the game for the evening finishing 11-20 from the field, 3-5 from 3-point land a perfect 4-4 at the free throw line. Everett was 3-5 for 8 points in the quarter.

End of 4Q 21-18 Cards 
FG %
9-17 52.9% Cards
7-14 50% Pitt
Reb. 10-7 Cards 
3-pt %
2-6 33.3% Cards
2-4 50% Pitt

FINAL 82-58 LOUISVILLE WINS!! 

 

Coach Walz post-game:

Coach admits there were 'glimpses of good and glimpses of bad' in this one.  That there were 'tough stretches but overall did some good things' thanks to a really good second half.  Also mentioned how he thought Mykasa had a fabulous night contributing 5 assists, 5 steals 9 rebounds and no turnovers.  

Coach Walz also added on to the Dana Evans players of the year campaign with her 21 point second half effort and how she been able to consistently do this especially in the month of February. 

WALZ'S FULL REMARKS CAN BE HEARD HERE:  JEFF WALZ POST-GAME PITT.

 

FRED REPORT 

In honor of Pitt, we bring you former
Pitt WBB great Fred Potvin ! 

F-Free Throws Lead by Dana's perfect four attempts at the line, the team went 13-15 on the evening for a strong 87% effort. In comparison, Pitt went 8-17 for 47% from the line. 87% is better than the 70% requirement for a CAPITAL F

R-Rebounding The Cards were outrebounded by Pitt 27-23 in the first half losing the offensive rebound battle 15-6. The team bounced back in the second half to win the battle on the boards 21-13 and ended up winning the night 44-40 against the Panthers. Robinson lead the rebounding efforts with 9 for UofL. CAPITAL R

E-Effort/Efficiency It's always enjoyable to watch the show Dana Evans puts on for basketball fans, the way she can take over any game but I also wanted to shout out Mykasa Robinson on her performance. She cuts into every lane, dives for every loose ball and takes almost every charge opportunity thrusted at her. It really is a pleasure to watch if you're a fan of competition. CAPITAL E

D- Defense UofL forced 20 Pitt turnovers in the game. Mykasa had 5 steals herself, Pittsburgh had 3 total. Pittsburgh shot 32% from the field landing 8 from beyond 3. Pitt landed 25% of their 40 shot attempts in the first half while making one more and attempting 14 less in the second half good for a 42.3% second half effort. The Panthers scored 11 points less than their season average so I give it a solid CAPITAL D

 

FINAL Fred Report :  F-R-E-D 

 LACROSSE DOWNS COLORADO 12-9 

Getting four goals from Ally Hall and a superb defensive effort in goalkeep by Rachel Florek, Louisville got their first win of the 2021 Lacrosse season with a 12-9 win over #24 Colorado yesterday at the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium. 

The contest was an back=and forth affair early on, Louisville trading leads with the Buffs until UofL went on a 4-1 run to end the half and take a 8-4 lead. Hall had three of her goals in the first half and an assist. The Cards were having trouble winning draw controls, but were stopping Colorado after they gained possession. 

Louisville (1-1) increased the lead to 10-4 early in the second half after scores from Hall and Caroline Blalock, and the rout appeared to be on -- but a succession of yellow cards on the Cards allowed Colorado to play a "man up" and respond with four straight second half goals to make it 10-8 with 17:35 left in the second half. Three of the Colorado scores came from Sadie Grozier. 

The Cards were able to rally, though, and Blalock and Alex McNicholas went back-to-back over the next six minutes to push the Louisville lead out to 12-8. Colorado managed just one score the rest of the way, and Louisville "iced" a hard-fought 12-9 win. 

Scott Teeter was pleased with the win: 

"I thought we got off to an excellent start and we had answers whenever Colorado had a push -- we answered right back. Colorado is a great team, they are nationally ranked for a reason. We found a way to win, though, and we need to build off this." 

Teeter, goalkeeper Rachel Florek and attacker Ally Hall joined our own Paulie for these post-game remarks in the link below: 

TEETER, HALL AND FLOREK POST-GAME COLORADO

Have a great start to your weekend, we will catch you all the airwaves Saturday morning for another episode of the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast.  

As always, Go Cards!
- Daryl