Strong second half pushes Cards WBB past Kentucky -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 TEAM EFFORT GIVES CARDS WBB WIN IN BATTLE OF THE BLUGRASS 73-61

(It's always a good sign when Robbie sings the National Anthem)

For a while, it looked like (now) 4-7 UK WBB was going to give Louisville a game Sunday in the KFC YUM! Center in front of  11,291 fans. 18-16 after one quarter, and Maddie Scheer (ex Oregon) scoring 10 points against the highly heralded Cards defense. A one-point game (28-27) Louisville at the half, and UK enjoying seveal leads in the second stanza. It looked like a fight-to-the-finish, and close battle until the end. Sydney Taylor had nine for the Cards, all threes, and hard-working Olivia Cochran had six..but these Cats kept scratching back

And, then, the Cards just put the visitors away late in the third quarter. A quarter where UK had leads at 35-34, 39-36 and 39-38. Nyla Harris scored inside for Louisville with 3:48 left in the third quarter, to put Louisville ahead, as it turned out, ahead to stay the rest of the way. A Cochran jumper made it 42-39 and 14 seconds later, Nyla Harris scored on a fast break after a UK missed shot . Jada Curry canned a jumper next, and the Cards 9-1 run over two minutes had put the visitors behind 47-40. it wasn't time to sing "Turn Out the Lights, the Party's Over" just yet, but I was looking for Robbie Bartlett (who did the National Anthem superbly as always) to grab a microphone and ask the band to give her a "D". It was 50-41 with 22 seconds until the quarter was over and the quarter ended with UofL leading 50-44. 

I think 11,200 people inside the KFC YUM!  let out a sigh of relief (there were a few UK fans there...so I can't say the whole crowd was relieved. ) Harris and Jefferson had six points each in the pivotal quarter and Louisville outscored UK 14-8 in the paint in the third.  

The Cards pushed the lead to double digits in the fourth, UK would knock it down to seven or eight at times, and Louisville would build it back up again. A UK three with1:55 left in the game made it 62-56 Cards, and a UK free throw cut the Louisville led to five at 66-61, but the Cards would score the final seven points of the contest...five of them on free throws and walk away with their seventh straight win over the Big Blue women.

 

A third quarter Cardinals margin of 22-17 and a final quarter of 23-17 helped the Cards improve to 9-1 and a 9-0 UofL margin in second chance points were also key in sending the visitors back to Lexington with a "L" and no upside down "L's" were flashed today. 

THE FRED REPORT

(A Cards win was like "money in the bank" according to some folks I spoke with pregame)

FREE THROWS -- Louisville shot 13-19 from the line and, although that doesn't exactly stink, we cannot award a capital letter for that. Kiki did all she could going 7-8, Nyla not so much at 1-4. It's 68.4%,and I'll award a lower case "f"

REBOUNDS -- Did UK even try on the boards?  The Cards won the grab battle 45-23. Harris and Cochran with eight each for UofL. (I heard five fourth-graders from St. Margaret Mary challenged UK to a rebounding contest long after the crowd had left and won by six) . Ya might wanna work on that facet of the with your squad, Kyra....CAPITAL "R" here, obviously.. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- I think UK had it a bit better at these two areas inthe first half,, but Louisville had the upper hand in effort and execution the final 13 minutes of the game. The Cards won points off turnovers 23-11, second chance points 11-0, fast break points 8-2 and I think a small case "e" will work here.

DEFENSE -  The Cards had 8 steals, forced 19 turnovers. But, Scheer and Petty combined for 41 points aganst them. UK shot 45.5%, not bad at all. It was the final 14 minutes where defense made the difference and I'll offer a lower case "d" 

FINAL FRED TALLY: f-R-e-d

THEY SAID IT: 

HARRIS AND LOVE POST GAME PRESSER

JEFF WALZ POST GAME PRESSER

Other Jared photos from the game below

paulie