Louisville WBB pounds Pitt 77-53 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CARDS WIN FOURTH IN A ROW AT PITT

Louisville women's basketball got 20 points from Hailey Van Lith, 11 points and 13 rebounds from Olivia Cochran and Alexia Mobley saw her first action of the season for the Cards, in the lopsided win in Pittsburgh. It was a Cardinals squad that looked far better than the one that lost two games in the Battle 4 Atlantis and, like in the Bellarmine game...the Cards defense came out and set the tone and the widening margin for three quarters of play. 

Louisville (9-4, 1-0) also gave the viewers a nice surprise when Alexia Mobley was cleared to play (finally) and she took the court in the fourth quarter with Norika Konno, Morgan Jones, Jalyn Brown and Zyanna Walker to finish out the Cards win. 

Hailey Van Lith hit buzzer-beaters at the end of the second and third quarters from three-point range and the Cards didn't do that badly from the floor, shooting 55% from the floor (19-53 and 58% from three-point range (7-12). It was the Cards defense, though, that was maybe the most impressive aspect of this game. Louisville held Pitt to 19 first half points, in blowing out to a 39-19, 20-point lead and bumped that up to a 30-point, 64-34 point advantage after three quarters. Pitt shot just 34% (20-59 for the game and 26% from three-point land (5-19).

If your opponent can't score, your chances of winning go up dramatically -- and Pitt played like the team that was picked to finish 15th (out of 15) in the ACC Pre-season poll of coaches. 

It was a 31-point lead with 3:44 to play (75-44). The 9-2 closing run by Pitt was nice for them, I guess, but it came long after the contest was over and was aided by four Cardinals turnovers. 

The Cards also got significant scoring from Merissah Russell ( 9 pts.) and eight points each from Josie Williams, Morgan Jones and Liz Dixon. Kasa Robinson did not play, still under percussion protocol. 

Maybe the Cards DID get better today, as Van Lith alluded to in the post-game interviews with the ACC broadcast crew. Maybe teams are supposed to after 12 games, unless they've already tanked for the season. What's impressed me, though, has been Louisville defense, not Van Lith ability to sink buzzer-beater threes. True, it hasn't been against "powerhouses" and you probably won't see Pitt or Bellarmine in the Sweet Sixteen come March, but as this group of players -- a lot of them new to each other as teammates -- continue to grow and develop...I can see more good things happening for Walz's squad. 

COMING UP

The Cards will go to DePaul for a Weds. night contest against Doug Bruno's Blue Demons next and then have eight days off for Christmas break. Doug's crew is 8-3, with losses to Northern Illinois, Cleveland State and Towson. It's a 8:30 p.m. game and the Cards are 4-3 against them in the two's last seven outings. FS1 is listed as having the broadcast, i know they're on my cable system at channel 551. Then, a week off for the Christmas break. 

THE FRED REPORT

(Our annual tribute to a women's basketball player named "Fred" 
Pitt's former star Fred Potvin { 2013-17 })

FREE THROWS -- You can't knock 12-13, can you? Only four players attempted them and Hailey led the way with 5-5 shooting. We'll award a CAPITAL "F" here, most definitely.  

REBOUNDING -- 41-26 in favor of the taller Cards, and an impressive 32-16 on the defensive portion of them. We mentioned Cochran's 13 and we have no problem in awarding a CAPITAL "R" here. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- 19 assists on 29 made baskets is a good number, and Louisville had a 32--22 edge in points in the paint. UofL did lose the fast break points and second chance points stats, though. Louisville also had 20 turnovers, compared to Pitt's 15, so we'll go with a small case "e". 

DEFENSE -- The Cards did a good job on limiting the frequency and number of Pittsburgh baskets, as we pointed out earlier in the article, but only managed 5 steals, compared to Pitt getting 10.  Still, when you are leading by "30 after 30" your defense must be doing something right, so we'll award THE CAPITAL "D" for that and the mere 53 points Scored. 

FINAL FRED REPORT:  F-R-e-D

SCHETNAN TO ENTER TRANSFER PORTAL

She came to Louisville to try and play both women's basketball and volleyball. After a season of sitting the bench on the WBB squad, she switched over to Volleyball and pretty much did the same. Washington H.S.(South Dakota) grad -- and high school teammate of PK Kong -- Sydney Schetnan has entered the transfer portal. 

Sadly, the road for playing time was pretty much blocked for her despite her height (6;5") at Louisville. Trying WBB first, she was on a team with Emily Engstler, Liz Dixon, Olivia Cochran and Ramani Parker -- so playing time was limited there. Then, moving to Volleyball, she was behind hitting and blocking veterans Anna DeBeer, Claire Chaussee, Kong, Aiko Jones and Amaya Tillman. Plus . Cara Cresse and Nena Mbonu.

(Kong and Schetnan)

Could things have changed for her if she had stuck it out another year or two? That's hard to say, but -- as a rule, a player will sit down with a coach and discuss the future if transfer is on their minds --  we can only guess that Schetnan didn't hear what she wanted to. 

So, there goes Walz's recruiting class of 2021, with Verhulst gone now, as well. Alexia Mobley, hampered by injuries seemingly sine she got to Louisville, remains -- but most considered her part of the 2022 class,  who just arrived early. 

We, at Cardinal Couple, wish Schetnan the best wherever she ends up. I wish things could have gone differently for her, I always thought she had that Volleyball height and skill to really be something at Louisville. 

paulie