Notre Dame WBB sinks Cards 68-65 -- Softball wins twice in Orlando --- CARDINAL COUPLE ACC TOURNAMENT PICK EM TIME ! -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

VAN LITH'S 23 NOT ENOUGH, WBB FALLS TO IRISH 68-65

Robbie Bartlett performed the National Anthem ! 

A tough loss for Louisville WBB Sunday, the Cards leading the game for almost 30 minutes in the 40 minute contest, but falling late to the rally by Notre Dame, and, namely -- Sonja Citron. 

A great pre-game ceremony where the Cards said "Good Bye" to six super seniors in Kasa Robinson, Chrislyn Carr, Morgan Jones, Liz Dizon, Josie Williams and Norika Konno. Jared's photos of the pre-game below:

This one was more like a rugby match than a hoops affair at times...Van Lith popped in the nose and went out temporarily to control the bleeding, Robinson decked several times by Irish players and ND's Olivia Miles blowing a knee out on fast break to the hoop after a steal.. 

A encouraging Cardinals-dominated crowed of 12,015 watched a first quarter where Louisville held a 14-10 lead with slightly over two minutes left. A quarter-closing 5-0 run gave the first to UND, though...15-14.  Lith had five first quarter points, and so did Citron. 

(Paulie caught up with Kianna Smith - in attendance ) 

Louisville would score the first six points of the second quarter to build a 20-15 lead. Notre Dame would battle back to make it a 24-22, two-point deficit, but the Cards went on a quarter-closing 9-2 run over the final four and 1/2 minutes to take a 33-24 halftime lead. A 19-9 quarter for UofL where Olivia Cochran totaled seven points and three Cards (Robinson, Van Lith and Russell) had four points each.

Citron led the Irish with 10 points in the first half, the Cards had held Miles to two. Miles had a steal from Robinson with 2:42 left in the half but her leg went out as she approached on the layup attempt and she was helped off the court after the trainers and staff worked on her. She would not return. No word on the extent of the injury as we went to print. 

Citron took up the slack in the third quarter with eight of UND's 19 third-quarter points. The Cards managed just 13 points and saw the halftime lead  diminish from nine to three at 46-43 after 30 minutes. Notre Dame was hanging on, without Miles, and one wondered if they would keep it up in the fourth quarter.

The Irish not only hung on... they rallied and grabbed the lead at 54-53 with 5:30 to play. Louisville would never see the lead again. 

That's also roughly when the fourth quarter free throw line procession began...Notre Dame would go to the line 12 times the rest of the game and make nine. Notre Dame held a 66-61 lead when Robinson hit a jumper with 35 seconds to play to cut the lead to 66-63.  ND still held that 66-63 lead with 18 seconds to play when Citron was fouled, went to the line and actually missed two free throws, Van Lith got the rebound and the Cards got a timeout. The Cards ran a play that gave Van Lith a chance to tie it with a three-point attempt with nine seconds left,  but it fell short. Prosper grabbed the rebound, was fouled and added two free throws for the Irish. Carr countered with a jumper with a second on the clock for the Cards, but, it was not enough...Notre Dame with the 68-65 win.  

("Fred, we lost in the fourth quarter? Fred? FRED !!")

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- The Cards were 21-26 (80.8%) for the game and that easily passes our 70% mandate. A CAPITAL "F" EARNED. 

REBOUNDING --  A 39-32 edge for Louisville on the boards. Kasa Robinson with nine and Liz Dixon with eight to lead Cards. A CAPITAL "R" EARNED

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Cards had just 10 turnovers and 14 assists on 20 made baskets, which we'll take anytime. It was the Irish bench who outscored ours 25-18, while playing just nine players that hurt the Cards. UofL 34.5% shooting hurt badly, especially in the fourth quarter when Cards went 4-15.  NO LETTER HERE

DEFENSE -- Louisville did hold Notre Dame to under 70 points and that usually means a win, but that fourth quarter saw ND outscore Cards 25-19 and shoot 54%..  Louisville forced 13 turnovers but they couldn't stop Citron and took the loss..  a small case "d" here.

FINAL FRED REPORT:   F-R-_-d

A tough loss on Senior Day and a game Louisville had control of most of the way.  It's all about the finish in close, competitive ones...and Notre Dame was playing for a #1 seed, so they were inspired as well. Let's hope we get a shot at them in the ACC Tourney. Third time might be the charm.

SOFTBALL

The Cards got the bats out in Orlando on Sunday and took both games, a come-from-behind win over PURDUE 4-3 in their first game and a five-inning walk-off win over #23/25 UCF 15-2.

 Louisville was 4-1 overall in the UCF Tournament and now stands at 10-4 on the season.. 

CARDS 4 - PURDUE 3

The Boilermakers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning of this one, but their bats went silent after that. The Cards used five pitchers along the way to contain Purdue -- Gabby Holloway stared and went 2/3 of an inning, Roby followed with 2 innings, Sam Booe and Taja Felder followed with 1.1 innings each and Alyssa Zabata finished the duties in the circle with 1.2 innings. 

Louisville picked up three runs to tie it in the top of the fifth, when Ornelas singled and eventually advanced to third. Daisy Hess got on base with a single that scored Ornelas and Hess came home on Korbe Otis' home run to left field. 

The Cards got a 6th inning, 4-3 lead on Hannah File's four-bagger to right field and it held through a scoreless seventh. 

CARDS 15 - UCF 5

Louisville benefitted from two Taylor Roby home runs and three Korbe Otis doubles in the score-fest in the second game. It was also a strong, five-inning pitching performance by Alyssa Zabala. UCF posted four runs in the bottom of the fifth, but could not score enough to avoid the run-rule loss. 

The Cards jumped out to a 4-0 lead, increased that to a 6-1 advantage and held a 9-1 lead after four innings. They added their final six runs in the fifth inning. Roby's homers came in the fourth and fifth innings. She is the career-leader in home runs for UofL and had four so far this season. 

Louisville comes home to face Bellarmine for a game at Ulmer on Tuesday.   A 5 p.m. start is anticipated.  Admission is free, bring your kids !

CARDINAL COUPLE ACC TOURNAMENT PICK EM

ACC WBB Tournament starts Wednesday and that means it's CARDINAL COUPLE TOURNAMENT TIME !!!

Leave your picks in the comments section. Leave a name or nickname and how we can get in touch with you if you win (or goof up your entry).  Total score in the final game breaks ties. 

WEDNESDAY - MARCH 1st -- FIRST ROUND

Game 1 -- 1 p.m.  #12 WAKE FOREST vs  #13 VIRGINIA

Game 2 -- 3:30 p.m. #10 CLEMSON vs #15 PITTSBURGH

Game 3 -- 6:30 p.m.  #11 BOSTON COLLEGE vs #14 GA TECH

THURSDAY - MARCH 2nd -- SECOND ROUND

Game 4 -- 11 a.m. #5 FSU vs. Game 1 winner

Game 5 -- 2:00 p.m  #8 NC STATE vs #9 SYRACUSE

Game 6 --  6:00 p.m.  #7 NORTH CAROLINA vs Game 2 winner

Game 7 -- 8:00 p.m.  #6 Miami vs Game 3 winner

FRIDAY - MARCH 3rd -- THIRD ROUND (QUARTERFINALS)

Game 8 -- 11 a.m. #4 Louisville vs Game 4 winner

Game 9 -- 2:00 p.m.  #1 NOTRE DAME vs. Game 5 winner

Game 10 -- 6:00 p.m.  #2 DUKE vs Game 6 winner

Game 11 -- 8:00 p.m.  #3 VIRGINIA TECH vs  Game 7 winner

SATURDAY - MARCH 4th --SEMIFINALS

Game 12 -- Noon -- Game 8 vs Game 9 winner

Game 13 -- 2:30 p.m. -- Game 10 vs Game 11 winner

SUNDAY -- MARCH 5th -- FINALS

Game 14 -- Game 12 vs. Game 13 winner

LEAVE YOUR ENTRIES IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. GOOD LUCK and MAY THE BEST ENTRY WIN !! 

paulie and jared