Schatzel Era begins for UofL -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello readers, its Daryl popping in early again this week.   I hope you are safe and warm somewhere after the overnight storms came through. 

Jared is still with family mourning the loss of his grandmother, which is a tough one.  Grandparents are the best.  I lost my mom's mom almost 5 years ago now.. which seems crazy to me. 2018 was 5 years ago?  This time then, UofL WBB sported a roster of senior Myisha Hines Allen, junior Asia Durr, and freshman Dana Evans.  That team finished 36-3 and 15-1 in the ACC.  

When we lost my mom's dad, it was 2000 and the Cardinals were playing in Freedom Hall, they had a 19-10 record, were 14-2 and Conference USA champions and Martin Clapp 😵 was the head coach.  This is who I am named after, my grampa Darrell.   

My dad's parents live a couple states away and I try to call them a couple times a month to catch up.   They at least try to watch Louisville games when they are on the main channels because they know I will likely be watching too 💕 and then we can talk about them afterwards.   

CAMPUS NEWS

Hard to believe, February also begins this week which marks the transition for the Presidential administration... as UofL officially welcomes its 19th president, Kim Schatzel, to campus.   

Welcome Madam President!! 

WBB

The Cardinals WBB squad has the Thursday game off this week and will look forward to Sunday's matchup with North Carolina at 12pm on ESPN2.

What's the message here today, you ask?  The lesson here kids is, Time Flies!  Enjoy it! Spend it with people you love!  And gosh darnit, wear your sunscreen!

Have a great Tuesday

As Always, 
Go Cards!

~Daryl 

Strong second half leads Cards WBB past Syracuse 79-67 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

HARRIS HAS 18 TO IMPROVE CARDS TO 7-4 IN ACC CONFERENCE 

Louisville women's basketball got a big boost from freshman Nyla Harris in Sunday's win over Syracuse, Harris was one of several surprise starters for the Cards against SU, along with Norika Konno and Mykasa Robinson, as Jeff Walz looked for ways to shake things up a bit and end the Cards two-game losing streak. Walz was proud of the new-to-the-starting lineup trio, as well as who came off the bench for the Cards. 

Still, there were some lapses and areas for improvement. Louisville had expanded a two-point, end of first quarter lead into a 12-point lead early in the second quarter, but fell prey to a 19-2 run from Syracuse to trail by five late in the quarter. In this game of runs, the Cards responded with a 5-0 run to tie the contest at 34-34 with 24 seconds until half...going in at the break trailing 36-34.

The end of the third quarter was when Louisville statred the run that peeled the Orange for good. With the contest tied at 54-54, after a Syracuse three, Louisville got a Carr three, two Robinson free throws and two Harris free throws in the final two minutes of the quarter. That completed the quarter on a 7-0 UofL run and gave Louisville a 61-54 lead. 

How would the fourth quarter go? Would the Cards be able to avoid a scoring lapse and actually create some distance on their foe? 

Yes, they were. Quite convincingly, in fact, for awhile, at least. To start the quarter, two Harris baskets in the paint made it 65-54. A Harris follow up for a bucket and Morgan Jones jumper made it 69-56. Two free throws from Jones culminated a 14-2 UofL run and had the Cards comfortably in front and a Carr bucket pushed Louisville to a 75-56 lead with 5:29 left in the game. 

The Cards would gather only two more buckets the rest of the way-- baskets by Liz Dixon, but even a game-ending four minute, 9-0 Orange run could not catch the Cards and Louisville gets the regular season sweep over Syracuse. A scary ending for Morgan Jones, who sprained her ankle with 2:36 to play. 79-67, down from a 21-point lead at one time, but a nice, needed road win for the Cards Sunday.

A game of huge implications and proportions. Louisville goes into their bye week in a knot for fourth place with teams that have four losses in conference (NC State, Virginia Tech and Miami) and just two games back of league leading at 8-2 in Notre Dame and Duke. The Cards have yet to face the Irish. 

Sometimes, it's good to rest up a bit and watch the rest of the league beat each other up. 

Big tips of the cap for Sunday performances by Kasa Robinson (12 assists, seven rebounds and five steals ! ) and Liz Dixon (11 points in 25 minutes). 

(Walz put his cheaters on to go over the game plan with J. Fred Muggs )

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- 13 for 14 from the charity stripe is going  to help you win a lot of games and that's how the Cards shot it from the stripe today.  CAPITAL "F". no question...

REBOUNDS -- the Cards squeak by here 39-37 and we've already mentioned the heroics of Robinson and Nyla Harris. You win the game, you win the rebounding battle and you win a CAPITAL "R".

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- 25 assists on 31 made baskets is excellent, Louisville also had a whopping 35-7 advantage on points off the fast break. They also won the points off turnovers 27-17. We proudly bestow a CAPITAL "E"

DEFENSE -- The Cards had 14 steals, six blocked shots and look good *most* of the time. Those periods where they couldn't stop the Syracuse runs were a bit anxious, though . I'll go with a small case 'd'

FINAL FRED REPORT :  F-R-E-d

 

A much needed road win in a lot of aspects. Does Walz stay with this new starting five? Can Kasa stay hot all over the court? Will Nyla Harris just get better and better? Things we'll find out next Sunday, when Louisville faces UNC in the KFC.

POST GAME WALZ:  JEFF WALZ POST SYRACUSE 1/29/23

POST GAME HARRIS: NYLA HARRIS POST SYRACUSE 1/29/233

paulie..

A Busy Saturday and Basketball Sunday - Sunday Cardinal Couple

Track and Field

Case shared some of the first day results of the Lenny Lyles Invitational Track and Field Event at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center at 30th and Market.  We've got a couple of good finishes to report, both in jumping events.

Louisville has traditionally fielded some pretty good throwers, but it seems recently that jumping seems to be where the excellence is happening.  Of course, last year Gabriela Leon competed at the national level in pole vault, and former volleyballer Emily Scott won the ACC in high jump.

Scott is back and competing well, but she's joined by Soledad Jean who was the top UofL high jumper, clearing 1.75m (Scott cleared 1.70m).

Another third place in the triple jump, with a personal best jump of 12.72m for Alba Cuns Iglesias.

Track and Field heads to South Bend next week for the Meyo Invitational hosted by Notre Dame.  The event will span Friday and Saturday, the 3rd and 4th of February.

Tennis

Two events for Tennis yesterday.  They started the day, at noon, against Ball State.

The Indiana Cardinals got the doubles point to start, winning on the first two courts.  They'd go on to pick up the first two single court points, putting the Louisville team on the verge of defeat.  Cici Xin would hold off the defeat with a win on court five.  They did need a tie-break in the second set to decide the match, but Louisville would get the point.

The rest of the courts all went three sets.  Andrea DePalma got the win on court one, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, to pull another point back in the overall.  Ball State would take the victory on court three to clench the overall match.  Tatiana Simova would get the comeback win on court six, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to keep the overall close at 4-3.

The evening session would be better for the Cards.  With Eastern Kentucky entering the Bass-Rudd at 5pm.

UofL would get the doubles point with a pair of convincing wins at 6-1, and 6-1 on both courts two and three.  Jamilah Snells and Cici Xin got the win on court two, while Rhea Verma and Sasha Gorchanyuk won court three.  Andrea DiPalma and Tatiana Simova were in the lead at 6-5 on court one when they called it to got going on the singles courts.

EKU got on the board at court one when Andrea DiPalma had to retire from the match, and we're hoping it's not anything too terribly significant that caused that.  Louisville would then just run the rest of the board.  Rhea Verma winning 6-2, 6-1; Maria Campos winning 7-5, 6-0; Cici Xin winning 6-0, 6-3; Tyra Richardson winning 6-0, 6-0; and Sasha Gorchanyuk winning 6-3, 6-1.

The team heads to Nashville on Friday to take on Vanderbilt, with the time yet to be announced.

Swim and Dive

Coming off of a narrow loss to a well ranked Indiana squad, the Cards were looking for a win, and Cincinnati was the victim.

Swimming at the Ralph Wright Natatorium on Floyd Street, the Cards more than doubled up the score on Cincinnati, winning 198-92.

Some of the highlights include the 200 medley relay team comprised of Fernanda Gomes Celidonio, Gabi Albiero, Tristen Ulett, and Karoline Barrett touching the wall first.  Paige Kuwata touched first in the much longer 1650 freestyle.  The 200 freestyle individual was completely owned by the Cards with Julia Dennis, Christina Regenauer, and Ella Welch touching one, two, and three.

Paige Hetrick won the 100 backstroke, Madie Hall won the 200 fly,  Ella Welch (22.32), and Karoline Barrett finished one and two in the 50 free sprint, and Julia Dennis won the 100 free.  Fernanda Gomes Celidonio and Cecilaa Viberg took the top two spots on the podium in 200 breaststroke.  Liberty Williams topped the field in the 500 free.  Gabi Albiero set a pool record 51.40 in the 100 fly, and let's remember, there's been a pretty darn good butterflyers in this Louisville pool in years past.

Abby Hay finished off the individual events with a win in the 400 IM.  At the south end of the facility, Else Prassterink, Lindsay Gizzi, and Grace Leonard swept the podium in platform diving.  Also, Gizzi, Jiselle Miller, and Leonard took the whole podium in 3m springboard.

And finally, Julia Dennis, Ella Welch, Karoline Barrett, and Paige Kuwata finished first in the 200 free relay.

It was really just a dominating performance for the Cards on Senior Day.  The men's side of the competition also won in similarly dominating fashion.

Basketball Gameday

Now we get to look ahead to today's event.  Basketball is in Syracuse to take on the revamped Orange.  Gone are the days when you could hear crickets in the Carrier Dome with crowd of under 200 in a facility that seats 33,000 for basketball.  These days Syracuse are drawing anywhere from about 1,500 to 3,000 for WBB games.  Crowds that size are probably still lost in what is now called the JMA Wireless Dome, those are respectable numbers.

So where does Syracuse stand in the Atlantic Chaos Conference?  They're currently in 9th, with a .500 record of 5-5, 14-7 overall.  The two non-conference losses are to Penn State and Purdue, neither of which strike me as being particularly egregious, but looking at the non-conference win column, nothing really jumps out at me as being particularly impressive either.

In conference, a previous loss to us, along with losses to NC State, Notre Dame, and Duke are not terrible but a loss to Georgia Tech is starting to look a bit bad as Georgia Tech continues to settle towards the bottom of the standings.  The best conference win for them so far is against Clemson, who are at 4-6 in conference, so not spectacular, but not terrible, either.

The last time we face the 'Cuse, Hailey Van Lith went off for 24 points with a handful of rebounds and assists to boot.  Olivia Cochrane, Morgan Jones, and Chrislyn Carr all tallied double digit points as well.

On the Syracuse side, Teisha Hyman dropped 27 on us in that game.  The last time a Syracuse player played like that against us, she was wearing a UofL jersey the next year and went on to be drafted in the WNBA.  Dyaisha Fair is generally the scoring threat for the Orange, averaging almost 20 ppg, with Hyman averaging just shy of 12.

The ACC Network linear channel is carrying the game today with a noon start.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

It was back to four of a kind with Case, Daryl, Paulie, and myself for the CCRHP yesterday.  Lots of basketball discussion, as we picked apart what's going on with this team, and why it's struggling compared to what we typically expect from UofL WBB.

Check it out at anchor.fm:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/Basketball-Struggles-e1u4v8h

Another Track Record and a Tough Swimming Loss -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Successful on Day One of Lenny Lyles Invitational

After setting a school record in the long jump two weeks ago, Synclair Savage decided that it was rather fun and elected to do it again. Her 6.44 from a couple of weeks ago would have won the event again this week, but she pushed the jump to 6.52m (~21' 4.5") this week. The distance set a facility and meet record, as well, and Savage followed it up with a second place finish in the 60m dash. She was second only to teammate Taylor Herbert, who posted a time just 0.02 seconds faster. The top four finishers in the event broke the previous meet record of 7.47s, with Herbert finishing in 7.39s.

The Cards didn't see a  ton of success in other events, but they did finish second and fifth in the Open Pole Vault (Carly Pujol and Lily Fleetwood) and Aliyah Welter grabbed a podium in third in the seeded event. The Lenny Lyles Invitational continues at the Norton Sports and Learning Center at 11AM today.

Cards Fall to IU at Home

Louisville invited the Hoosiers into the Ralph Wright Natatorium yesterday evening and the men, at least, got splashed around. The Cards lost 193-10 on that side of the pool, while the women fared better but still came up short. The sixth-ranked Louisville squad was "upset" by the ninth-ranked team from Indiana by a score of just 155-145. Louisville's day opened with a victory in the 200 medley relay. They would go on to end the day with a victory in the 200 free relay as well, but Indiana was able to make up the difference in the middle. 

Despite the loss, Louisville had quite a bit of individual success. In addition to the two relay victories, the Cards got a win in the 200 fly (Tristen Ulett), had a podium sweep (Gabi Albiero, Christiana Regenauer, and Julia Dennis) of the 50 free, and had 1-2 finishes in the 100 free (Albiero, Ella Welch) and 100 fly (Regenauer, Ulett). 

It's a short rest for the Cards as they're back in action today against Cincinnati. Today's event begins at Noon in the Ralph Wright Natatorium, and the day will begin with Senior Day festivities.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're back for yet another week, although the basketball conversations may be a bit more sour than last week. We'll be without Jared this week, but the rest of the crew will be on board to try to keep on track with the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics despite the recent results. As always, you can check out the live stream of the show by going to the Cardinal Couple YouTube page and clicking on the live video. If the live time doesn't work for you, there are plenty of playback options, so be sure to check out whichever is best for you!

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

Anchor (podcast host): Link

Apple Podcasts: Link

Google Podcasts: Link

Overcast (free account required): Link

Pocket Casts (free account and app required): Link

RadioPublic: Link

Spotify: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

CARDS fall to Wake Forest 68-57 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Good Friday morning yall - I hope you have a warm weekend ahead! 

Seems weird to say there's only 8 games left in the regular season for the WBB Cards, 4 of them at home.  They will return to the Yum! Center on Sunday 2/5 vs North Carolina.  I encourage you to make it downtown for a game if you can!  Bring some friends/family out for some great time spent and hopefully a Cardinal victory! 

WBB

Photo: Jared Anderson

The Cards went on the road looking to get back in the win column but it wasn't "in the cards" for Louisville.  After winning the first half and looking like a team on a mission, the team fell apart in the second half, losing by 20 in 20 minutes.  Morgan Jones fouled out and was the leading scorer for Louisville with 15 points on 5-7 shooting.  Mykasa Robinson was also a leader for UofL going 3-4 for 6 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.  Louisville lost the third quarter 26-11 to the Deacons.  With the loss, the Cardinals move to 15-8 on the season and 6-4 in the ACC.  

Recap

End of 1Q  18-14 Cards  

FG %
6-11 54.5% Cards
5-9 55.6%   WF
Reb. 6-4 WF
3-pt %
1-2 50% Cards
3-5 60% WF

Morgan Jones, Hailey Van Lith, Olivia Cochran, Chrislyn Carr and Liz Dixon started the game but a minute into the contest Dixon turned the ball over and was subbed out for Josie Williams.  Williams made an immediate impact, scoring the Cards first points of the game and securing a defensive rebound in less than a minute on the floor.  WF committed 7 turnovers in the first 6 minutes in which the Cards converted for 11 points, 8 of them in the paint giving the Cards a 14-8 lead.  Jones lead the scoring for the Cards with 9 points 16-8 on 3-4 shooting and 3-4 at the FT line in the quarter.  The Deacons went on 5-0 run to make it 16-13 with a couple free throws from both squads to close out the first quarter. 

                                                                          

End of 2Q  16-11 Cards

FG %
8-12 66.7% Cards
3-10 30%  WF
Reb.  7-5 Cards
3-pt %
0-1 0%  Cards
1-4 25%  WF

Louisville came out to score the first 6 points in the quarter to give the Cards a 24-14 lead over the Demon Deacons.  There were about 2 minutes between 2 HVL buckets while the defense held WF scoreless for the first almost 4 minutes.  Mykasa Robinson forced a steal with 5 min left and got the  assist to Jones to make it 26-16 Cards.   The WF offense struggled with leading scorer, Jewel Spear with only 5 points on 2-7 shooting with 3:30 left in the half but then a little 6-0 Spear spurt made it 28-23 before the Cards went on their own 6-0 run to push back and give UofL the 34-23 lead.  Jones fouled Spear on a 3 point attempt to close the quarter where she made 2 of 3.  

HALF  34-25

 

End of 3Q  26-11 WF

FG %
5-10 50%   Cards
8-13 61.5%  WF
Reb.  6-3 WF
3-pt %
0-2 0% Cards
5-6 83.3% WF

Dixon returned to the floor to start the second half after finishing with no points and 2 turnovers in 5 minutes in the first half.  She had 4 points and a rebound in the opening 3 minutes.  The Cards committed 5 turnovers in consecutive possessions over a five minute period and while the Deacs went on an 18-0 run including a 4 point play by Spear.   Spear and Williams scored the last 24 points for WF to give the Demon Deacons a 41-40 lead.  A layup by Olivia broke the scoring drought for UofL to cut the WF lead 46-43, she went to the to complete the 3 point play. Spear was 3-3 from both the field and the free throw line.  WF shot 83% from three point land in the quarter. 

End of 4Q  17-12 WF

FG %
5-12 41.7% Cards
4-11 36.4%  WF
Reb.  7 all
3-pt %
0-3 0% Cards
0-3 0%   WF

 Louisville continued to struggle to take care of the ball into the final quarter, committing two turnovers to open the first couple minutes and WF grew the lead to 55-47 lead over Louisville.  Cochran and HVL scored the next 6 points in the game to make it 55-53 WF and 4:30 minutes left in the game. Cochran also recorded a block and a steal in that run but a failed defensive set by the Cards allowed WF to get open underneath the basket to score.  With the score 59-57 WF, a made up walk on Cochran with 1:30 left in the game and phantom foul on Jones at the end of a shot clock for Spear allowed the momentum to go the Deacons way entirely as they secured a 61-57 lead.   WF closed the game on a 9-0 run at the free throw line. 

FINAL 68-57 Wake Forest over Louisville 

UP NEXT

Louisville vs Syracuse

Sunday 1/29   12 p.m. 

ACCN or 93.9 The Ville 

FRED REPORT

(Most Cardinals Fans had to feel like Fred Thompson after the 18-0 WAKE run.)

FREE THROWS --  Louisville went 8-10 at the line where Morgan Jones lead the team going 5-7 from the charity stripe.  Cochran was the only other Card who went to the line and was a perfect 3-3. They were 80% but they did not get there far enough compared to Wake Forest's 19-24... Capital F  

REBOUNDING -- UofL was outrebounded 24-21 where WF Demeara Hinds lead all rebounders with 9.  Olivia lead for the Cards with 6.  Louisville only secured 3 offensive rebounds and had only 4 second chance points.  lower case r 

EFFORT/EXECUTION --  After coming off one of the worst quarters in program history, the Cardinals showed some similar signs of struggle in the final moments of the game.  UofL turned the ball over on 5 consecutive possessions.   HVL and Carr struggled to score combining for 13 points on 6-18 shooting, Carr scoreless in the second half.   As a team, the Cards committed 20 turnovers, 12 in the second half.  lower case e 

DEFENSE --  The wheels totally fell off the defensive bus for Louisville after a strong first half.  The Cards gave up 43 points in the second half to the Demon Deacons where Spear lead with 21, 11 coming at the free throw line.   Both teams had 6 steals in the game.  no letter 

FINAL FRED TALLY: F-r-e- _

POST GAME WALZ:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVztiItbrNg

As always 

Go Cards! 

~Daryl 

 

WBB on the road vs Wake Forest -- Schedule Change -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Hello readers, its me Daryl. Covering the preview of Cards WBB tonight for Jared. He had a family emergency come up so it'll be me with the recap as well.

First I want to acknowledge that today is the 3 year anniversary of the tragic accident that killed Kobe Bryant, his daughter GiGi and seven others. I mention it for a couple reasons... one of them being that I was with Mr. Jared Anderson the morning of the crash before we went over to the Yum! Center for a WBB game. Ill never forget that day. Rest in Peace to those who lost their life that day.




WBB

The Cardinals and Demon Deacons will square off at 6 p.m. ET and can be viewed on the ACC Network.

Louisville is 6-3 in road games and they won their last ACC road matchup, an 83-75 win over Florida State on Jan. 15. The Cardinals have not dropped back-to-back ACC games since the 2019-20 season. Going back, in their last 14 games coming off a loss, the Cardinals are 13-1. So far this season, Louisville is 5-1 after a loss.

Wake Forest enters Thursday's game with an 11-9 record and are 2-7 in ACC games this season. The Deacs haven't played at home since January 8th when they beat Georgia Tech 51-50. They went 0-3 on their 3 game road trip in decisive losses to #7 Notre Dame, Miami and #12 Virginia Tech. WF is 1-5 in their last six matchups and 8-1 at home. They are outscoring opponents by 15.3 points per game and have limited opponents to an average of 58.2 points allowed per game, ranking 54th nationally and fourth in the ACC.

FEAR THE SPEAR

Wake Forest ranks fourth in the ACC in scoring defense as it limits opponents to 58.3 points per game. Demon Deacons guard Jewel Spear ranks seventh in the league with 15.2 points per game. At home, Spear is averaging 19.0 points per game while shooting 51.8 percent (44-of -85) from the field and 48.3 percent (29-of-60) from behind the arc.

Virginia Tech recently passed Louisville in the ACC standings following the Cards loss to NC State on Sunday. UofL is sniffing the middle of the pack in the conference while Wake Forest is in the bottom three.

This will be the 10th meeting between the two schools and the Cardinals are 9-0 all-time against the Demon Deacons. All of the previous nine matchups have occurred since the Cardinals joined the ACC. Wake Forest is one of two ACC teams the Cardinals are undefeated against in their history (Georgia Tech). Louisville is 4-0 all-time in games played in Winston-Salem.

Walz discussed the upcoming match in the Weds. presser. LINK BELOW: 

WALZ PRESSER 1/25/23 PRE-WAKE FOREST




**SCHEDULE CHANGE**

The WBB matchup that is scheduled for Super Bowl Sunday against Clemson's has had a time adjustment. The Cardinals and Tigers are now set to play at 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 12.

The game was originally slated for a 6 p.m. ET start. The game will now be streamed on ACC Network Extra

(No more Jen Hoover to beat up on at WAKE. She's now an assistant at UK)

.

I guess even the ACC eventually figured out 6 p.m. Sunday games stink. Or that Super Bowl was that Sunday. 

 

Have a great Thursday everyone and keep Jared and his family in your thoughts and prayers! 

As always,

Go Cards!

~Daryl 

UofL Spring Sports Media Day -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 SOFTBALL, LAX AMONG THE SPRING SPORTS AT MEDIA DAY

From back when UofL started doing the fall and spring sports media days, to yesterday... we've seen in a variety of locations and formats. Even this year's spring version was moved around to a couple of different days and times, One thing has been constant, though, student-athletes and coaches talking about what they expect. They may not feed us lunch anymore, but...things are tough all over, right?

Tuesday's was at the Planet Fitness Kueber Center and featured men and women's golf, rowing, softball and lacrosse. A great bunch of coaches, as always, and some very talented and well-spoken student-athletes. I look forward to the spring event a bit more, maybe, each year...since I've gotten to know a few of those coaches better over the years.

Instead of trying to break each sport down for you, the vids and clips are below. Draw your own determinations and...Enjoy!  Also, attend Springs Sports! A spring afternoon at Ulmer or the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium is a wonderful time! 

And, if all that isn't enough to get you to campus, the Softball Cards have a "pickle" on the roster and lacrosse has the Japanese Nakawaza sisters! 

(As of press time, not all the sports had posted...we'll try and add them later, as they appear).

WOMEN'S GOLF

SOFTBALL

LACROSSE

paulie

Anouk Denton -- ACC WBB Standings -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Anouk Denton Signs with West Ham United

Current Louisville women's soccer player Anouk Denton has signed a contract with West Ham United Women of the Barclays Women's Super League in England. The defender is no stranger to the pros as she spent some time with West Ham United during the 2020-2021 season.

During her first two seasons with the Cards, Denton has been a staple. While primarily playing fullback and making appearances in the defensive midfield, Denton has logged 28 matches and 27 starts. She's also scored two goals in her time. She scored the game winner against ranked Memphis this past season.

Louisville went 7-7-2 and 6-8-2, respectively in her career. She's played alongside players such as Sarah Hernandez, Maisie Whitsett, Karsyn Cherry, and Ravin Alexander on the back line in those two years.

Louisville's spring schedule features friendly matches against Racing Louisville FC, Bowling Green, and Michigan State. The 2023 regular season schedule has not been released yet.

ACC Women's Basketball Standings

Despite losing to NC State on Sunday, Louisville women's basketball remains in the top group in the ACC. Their 6-3 conference record ties them with Virginia Tech for fourth.

Duke and Notre Dame continue to vie for the top spot with each team sitting at 7-1. Florida State is half a game behind at 7-2.

North Carolina and Miami are each 5-3 and NC State rounds out the teams five or more wins at 5-4.

Syracuse and Clemson are each 4-5. Virginia and Boston College both sit at 3-6. Wake Forest is 2-7, Georgia Tech is 1-8, and Pitt rounds out the bottom at 0-8.

Louisville has nine regular season games remaining. They visit Wake Forest and Syracuse next before returning home on February 5 to take on North Carolina.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Slow start and finish send Cards to defeat vs. NC State -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

CARDS POOR SHOOTING HELPS WOLFPACK WIN 63-51

It's a simple game in theory, this Naismith creation we love so much here in Louisville. You shoot the ball better than your foe and you make more baskets...and you're probably going to win. Louisville women's basketball couldn't do that, though, before a KFC YUM! Center crowd of 11,175 Sunday afternoon, falling by a dozen to the visitors from Raleigh, North Carolina 63-51.

For UofL, the afternoon began with a scoring slump where the Cards made just one of their first nine shots in the first five minutes and trailed the North Carolina State squad 10-2.  Jeff Walz got a time out to discuss and the Cards did get a three from CC Carr with four minutes left in the first quarter, but in the meantime -- NC State was building a lead that would put them up by 10, at 18-8 with 2:49 left in the quarter. We ever saw a rare Hailey Van Lith departure in the first quarter...she was 0-4 from the floor and a rough start for her

Louisville would see that Wolfpack advantage go to 11 before the Cards got the final five points in the final 3 seconds. Another Carr three and a Mykasa Robinson sinking a turnaround jumper in the paint as time ran out in the first. Carr had totaled Louisville's first eleven points, and at least she was fairly hot with 4-6 shooting and 3-3 from three-point land, but the Cardinals were not and registered a 5-17 (29.4%) first quarter number. NCST was on fire with a 7-10 (70%) shooting display and led the contest 19-13

The Cards needed to pick up the scoring frequency and cool Wes Moore's Wolfpack squad down a bit, and credit the UofL squad for not allowing the Pack to pull away. Carr nailed a three to start the second quarter and Louisville began to chip away at the visitor's lead.

The Cards would draw within three midway through the quarter (24-27) after a Van Lith basket and back-to-back Morgan Jones buckets. The Cards kept knocking at the door and Van Lith tied it at 28-28 with 2:13 until half. And, lo and behold, Louisville would get their first lead with 1:16 to go on a Robinson steal and basket and pad that lead to two when Robinson drove the length of the court and got fouled with a second left in the half. She made one of the two resulting free throws at it was Cards 33 - Wolfpack 31 at the half

UofL led the contest 37-35 after the first three minutes of the third quarter and had their largest lead of the game seconds later at 37-35.  In a closely played quarter, where the Cards held the lead for nearly 7-1/2 of it, it was NC State who scored the final five points of the third and grabbed the lead back at 48-47.

It's interesting to note that Louisville missed their final three shots of the quarter and had a turnover. Little did we know that it was the start of something much worse to follow. Jada Boyd and Saniya Rivers had substituted into the game and were using their speed over the final seven minutes of the third, and, along with Diamond Johnson, went 5-7 against UofL in the quarter.

There's just not a lot to say about the fourth quarter, except Louisville missed their first 13 shots, The teams were actually frozen at 54-48 for three minutes, bot NCST would regain their form and win the quarter 15-4. . 

The final was 63-51, NCST improves to 15-5 and 5-4 in conference and Cards drop to 15-7 and 6-3

THE FRED REPORT

(Maybe Fred Water would have help solve the Cards dry offensive spells)

Free Throws -- A substandard night from the line for UofL, going 7-11 for 63% No letter

Rebounds -- The Cards got out grabbed  41-37.  Cochran had 11 for the Cards, but a loss and losing the boards battle means no letter

Effort/Execution -- UofL lost the points in the paint stat, definitely got outshot from the floor and managed their second lowest point total of the year. Six assists on 20 baskets isn't a great number either. Add in the fourth quarter fiasco and no letter here.

Defense -- 63 points isn't too bad, forcing 15 turnovers and getting seven steals are things that could normally lead to a win, but NCST shot 46% and Louisville had no answer for Diamond Johnson, Jada Boyd and Saniya Rivers. small case "d"

FINAL FRED REPORT --  -_-_-_d

                                             ***********************************                                           

It wasn't Louisville's finest hour and it's a shame it had to happen in front of such a large crowd that realty wanted them to succeed. The inconsistent effort was maddening and frustrating. To fight all the way back and then go dormant .

Hopefully the Cards can regroup and rebound against Wake Forest -- who got handled by Virginia Tech yesterday by 17, 

Just another tricky day in the Atlantic Chaos Conference

PHOTOS BY JARED ANDERSON

THEY SAID IT

POST GAME JEFF WALZ

POST GAME CHRISLYN CARR AND MORGAN JONES

paulie

paulie

Basketball Gameday vs the Wufs - Sunday Cardinal Couple

 NC State Pays a Visit

(Paulie probably won/t get to see his gal -- Ms. Wuf --today. she doesn't do away game out of state.)

So, the day is here, maybe one of the most anticipated matchups of the ACC this season, but it's hard to articulate why.

We've had plenty of discussion about the weird year it's been here in the Atlantic Chaos Conference in Women's Basketball, and this matchup highlights quite a bit of it.  NC State is ranked 20th or 18th nationally depending which poll you look at but they're tied for eighth in the conference standings.

(So, how good is this team, Wes?) 

The question to answer is, how good is NC State?  We can look at their non-conference slate, where they waltzed through mostly mediocre competition.  They took a loss to UConn early in the season before the Husky's lost about half of their team to injuries, so that's not terrible.  They have a win over then 10th ranked Iowa, a good win to be sure, but the rest of the non-conference schedule?  It's just kinda meh.

OK, so let's look at what's gone down in conference for NC State thus far.  They came up against Duke early, and the Blue Devils are clearly a very good team this year, so fair enough.  A loss to Boston College is a bit of a head scratcher.  Yes, the Eagles are considerably improved this year compared to their usual level of play, but they shouldn't be much of a threat to a top-25 team.  Losing to Florida State is not that shocking, even if it was likely considered an upset by most.  Similarly, dropping the game against UNC was likely considered a mild upset, but mild is the key word, there.

And Wolfpack conference wins?  Clemson, Syracuse, Virginia, and Miami.  They're all just, kinda, "meh" wins.

So is this team any good?  Your guess is as good as mine, and guess seems to be about all we can do in the ACC this year.  They do absolutely have some really great talent on the squad.  Diamond Johnson shooting 46% from the field, and 42% beyond the arc.  Jada Boyd has similar shooting percentages, Camille Hobby also in the closer range shots.  Jakia Brown-Turner is also a threat from anywhere on the floor.

The biggest stats disparity when you look at NC State is in blocked shots, they have almost double the number of their opponents.  They best their opponents in turn-overs, but not by a big margin.  Overall, on the stats sheet, this has the makings of two team very similar ball and a close game.

So who's the favorite today?  NC State is ranked nationally while Louisville is the lower ranges of the "Receiving Votes" territory, but in conference standings, NC State is eighth, as mentioned above, while the Cards are tied with FSU for third place.

Nothing new in the keys for the Louisville game, we've been saying it all year, we've got to close the bakery and limit the turnovers.  21 turnovers vs Boston College was abysmal.  If we repeat that today, we likely come out on the loosing end of this one.  If we can keep control of the ball, I think the chances are good for a Cards win.

There will be a lot of eyes on the game.  Even in the Thursday post-game, Coach Walz mentioned that the lower bowl was already a sell-out and upper-deck tickets were being sold.  Combine that with national broadcast TV on ABC, and that's a recipe for a lot of viewers.  If you can't make it out the the KFC Yum! Center at 1pm for the game, you'll get Beth Mowins and Rebecca Lobo on the call, and I believe Holly Rowe roaming the sidelines.  All in all, one of the best coverage teams out there.

Of course, you always have the option of catching Nick Curran on 93.9, and Cortnee Walton is back on the microphone for color after being a bit under the weather recently.  We here at Cardinal Couple have always liked Cortnee and hope she is feeling better.

Swim and Dive

The Swim and Dive teams were in action yesterday against Kentucky in Lexington.  Kentucky came out on top on the women's side of the competition in a close score, 168-132.  The Cards are ranked 6th in the country with The Cats carrying a 14th rank.

Stop me if you've heard this one before, Gabi Albiero came away with four wins in the 50 free, 100 free, 100 fly, and 200 medley relay teamed up with Abby Hay, Cecilia Viberg, and Christiana Regenauer.  That performance was also an A-cut time, qualifying the team for the NCAA Championship at the end of the season.  Abby Hay also won the 200 fly.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

It was a basketball show for the CCRHP yesterday.  All five of us (Case, Daryl, me, Jared and Paulie) made the call, a delight when it happens.  Plenty of bakery critique was part of it, of course, as we discussed the Florida State and Boston College turnover fests.

We then tried to preview today's NC State game, but none of us had our Johnny Carson Amazing Kreskin hats on us, so who knows.

As always pick it up from your favorite podcast directory or it's home at anchor.fm:  https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/Basketball-on-a-Hot-Streak-e1tqcc5

-- JMcA