Sunday Cardinal Couple - Basketball and Swimming Tidbits

 Swimming Olympic Trials

UofL had a couple of alumni competing in the Olympic swimming trials yesterday and wrapped up their involvement.  Zach Harting swam in the finals for the 100M butterfly, while Kelsi Worrell Dahlia swam in the 50 freestyle semifinals.

Harting finished in 6th place, while Dahlia finished in 10th in the semifinals, missing the mark to make it to the finals swim for that event.

If I've been able to follow the updates out of this event through it all, Harting is the only Cardinal affiliated swimmer to qualify for the US Olympic team.  He touched the wall first in the 200M butterfly several days ago.

While the Olympic Swimming Trials continue today, in their last day, there will be no Cardinals represented in the last finals swims.

FIBA Women's Americup

(Yes, there's still a headache-producer in Lexington) 

To the surprise of really no one, the US defeated Puerto Rico in the finals of the FIBA Women's Americup.  The mainlanders took this one by a solid margin, 74-59.  Kentucky's Rhyne Howard won the MVP of the event, averaging 13.2 points over the course of the event.

There were no Cardinal rooting interests in that game, but the 3rd round game, between Brazil and Canada did have Cardinal Merissah Russell on the Canadian roster.  Russell did not play in the game.

WNBA

Turning to WNBA action, the Chicago Sky beat the Connecticut Sun 91-81 in Chicago.  A back and forth game, the Sun did get out to a fairly sizable lead in the first half before the Sky closed it down in the 2nd quarter.  Several lead changes throughout the rest of the game kept the excitement level high.

Dana Evans saw just over four minutes of action, corralling a not-so-great pass to her just in front of the bench, collecting it, curling back out straight in front of the basket, with a pump fake getting the defender off her feet, and ripping it through the net from about 23 feet.

Evans is still struggling to find substantial playing time, though when you're in the lineup behind excellent guards like Courtney Vandersloot, Diamond DeShields and Allie Quigley, the challenge is real.

The Washington Mystics, with Myisha Hines-Allen sidelined, were able to beat the Indiana Fever in an 82-77 contest on the Mystics home floor.

That leaves the New York Liberty, among the UofL rooting interests in the WNBA, to play today.  The only game today in the WNBA schedule, meeting the Los Angeles Sparks.  The Sparks has the home court advantage today, but good TV coverage is great to see, with ESPN carrying the game.  Tune in at 4pm for it.

NWSL

Also today, after a couple of weeks break, Racing Louisville FC resumes their season here in Louisville, hosting the Houston Dash.

Emina Ekic is, of course, the UofL rooting interest here, and the hometown hero.  The game is at 3pm, and the only video of it is available via Paramount+.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The Wizard hat is a staple on Saturday mornings
when Paulie is trying to out-smart the knuckleheads. 

We had a full house for the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast yesterday.  We covered FIBA and WNBA, results from the Swimming Olympic Trials, some of the positive academic news for UofL sports team that were announced this week.  Of course we also had the Cardinal Couple Quiz.

This episode does run a little long as we underestimated how long it would take in this format to get through the quiz with four of us competing.  It was fun, and the quiz was quite competitive!

Check it out below.