Cards WBB dismantles Notre Dame -- Softball Falls to Arkansas -- ACC Bracket

 CARDS WBB ROMP NOTRE DAME 86-64

Louisville women's basketball jumped out to a 31-3 first quarter lead (and, no Micale Cunningham was NOT on the court) and had Notre Dame totally dismantled by halftime 54-15 in Purcell Pavilion Sunday afternoon. 

The Cards were hot and Notre Dame was not in the first twenty. Forget the fact that Notre Dame won the second half 49-32. The Irish were never a challenge to the Cards, missing 15 of the first 16 shots and falling behind 18-1 in the first quarter. Louisville hit their first seven threes en route to handing Notre Dame their first home loss of the season.

Hailey Van Lith and Kianna Smith had 20 points each for the Cards and were joined in double figures by Emily Engstler (17 points) and Chelsie Hall (13 points) 

The Cards shot 80% in that sizzling first quarter and 58.5% for the game.

Notre Dame couldn't stop the Cards in a zone, went to man-to-man and fared no better and faced a 71-34 deficit at the end of the third quarter. 

Olivia Miles led the Irish with 13 points. She also got a bit chippy with 2:49 left in the first half and shoved Kasa Robinson after a layup that made it 48-10 Cards. After an official review, four players were assessed intentional fouls -- Miles, Robinson, Hailey Van Lith and Dara Mabrey. It may have been the stupidest move of the season for Miles -- woofing when down by 38.  

Norika Konno returned to the court for the Cards in this one and played eight minutes, hitting her only shot, getting a foul and committing two turnovers. 

" We could play them 50 times and I wouldn't expect a first quarter to be 31-3. It was one of those days for them, but, defensively -- I felt we caused a lot of it." -- Jeff Walz. 

For sure, Cards fans won't forget this beatdown of masive proportions for quite awhile.

THE FRED REPORT

We bring in Freddy Kruger for the
"Nightmare in Purcell" for Notre Dame. 

FREE THROWS:  The Cards went to the line four times and hit two of them.  Seriously.  (Notre Dame had 24 attempts). Any time Eric Brewton calls a UofL WBB game, the opponent never fouls. 50% won't get a letter, but, the disparity is glaring.... the striped crew called five fouls on Verhulst in just 11 minutes. Almost laughable. 

REBOUNDS:  The Cards dominated the boards 40-22. Engstler led the way with 10 for UofL. 30 defensive and 10 offensive grabs. No problem with a CAPITAL "R" here. 

EFFORT/EXECUTION:  That first 20 minutes may have been the best I have seen a Cards team  play against a top 25 team in the Walz era.  19 assists on 38 made baskets and just 14 turnovers. The Cards were unstoppable in the first three quarters. Crisp passing and excellent execution in the half court. A definite CAPITAL "E" here. 

DEFENSE:  A complete shutdown of anything Notre Dame wanted to do in the first half. The Cards had six steals and, if the fourth quarter was a bit sloppy for UofL, when you're up 42 in a game, your concentration tends to maybe waiver a bit, focusing on the ineptitude of your foe.  I'll go lower case "d" here -- for three outstanding quarters defensively and one that wasn't so defensive. 

FINAL FRED TALLY:  -_R-E-d

Two massive beat-downs of the Irish this year, and no one else I'd rather see the Cards administer them to. Dana Evans was on hand to watch the romp. it didn't change where the Cards would be seeded in the ACC Tournament (at #2) and Notre Dame still goes in as a #3 seed. The Cards play Friday at 6 p.m.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Ahlana Smith, who was not at the game. A death in her family and she was with them. 

paulie

SOTBALL FALLS 8-5 TO ARKANSAS

In the restructured Wooo Pig Classic in Fayetteville, Louisville played Arkansas Sunday and jumped out to an early 4-0 lead, 

It didn't last, though, and the Pigs came back with two runs in the fifth inning and four in the sixth for the win. 

All five Louisville runs came on three home runs -- Smith,.Otis and Miller going fence. Taylor Roby went four innings in the circle for UofL. The loss went to Gabby Holloway.. 

The two squads are scheduled to play two games Monday. Maybe...with the rest of the teams originally slated to play in the classic back home already, it seems like a plan.

ACC TOURNAMENT

 

 It's finalized and set. Louisville plays Friday at 6 p.m. 

In opening Wednesday action:

Game One -- Syracuse and Clemson                                                                                          Game Two -- Duke and Pitt                                                                                                          Game Three  -- Wake Forest and Virginia

I got my bracket copy HERE but there are plenty places to download it. Just do a Google search . (Make sure you have the 2022 ACC one, I nearly posted the 2020 !)  

Good luck to all in the Cardinal Couple Pick Em Challenge !!  Rules on "The right side of the site"  Entries are open, may the best one win ! Jared's e-mail is:  eupherjared@gmail.com  and Paulie's is: cardinalcouple@twc.com  Or ,you can leave your picks in any comments section up to Wednesday noon. (Don't forget the total score...) 

Sonja's Picks: 

Syracuse, Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Miami, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, Louisville, Georgia Tech, NC State, Louisville, Louisville  Points: 141

paulie

! 

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Bracket Pick Em -- Lacrosse, Softball and WBB -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

Cardinal Couple ACC Pick 'Em Contest

The Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast ACC "Pick Em" Contest returns for another year.

Your objective is to pick the most winners in the 14 games of the ACC WBB Tournament, which begins Wednesday at noon. We'll know how the bracket shapes up later tonight and when it's decided, feel free to send your picks. 

It's easy to enter, AND IT'S FREE ! You could win a gift card if you finish first or second -- plus the undying admiration of your friends, neighbors, selected dignitaries and The Cardinal Couple Chimps. 

You can leave your picks in any comments section here at the site today thru Wednesday noon. In case of a tie, please include a total score of the final game. Noon IS the cutoff time. 

You can send your picks via e-mail. to Bracket Czar Jared Anderson at eupherjated@gmail.com or to Paulie at cardinalcouple@twc.com . If we're able to, we'll send a confirmation that we got them if you choose the e-mail route.

Jared (allegedly) will post standings after each round.  (we'll see...) He and Paulie also have a discussion after each round to verify those standings, the price of grain in Topeka and how many "selfies" Jared took of himself during the day. 

Sample:entry

Kenny B's Picks:

Wednesday:  Syracuse, Duke, Pitt

Thursday: UNC, FSU, Duke, Ga. Tech

Friday: Va. Tech, NC State, Louisville, Ga. Tech

Saturday: Va Tech, Ga Tech

Sunday: Va. Tech

TOTAL PTS: 167 

We look forward to your entries and the ACC Tournament. 

Lacrosse

A good win yesterday for Scott Teeter's squad.  Lacrosse welcomed Virginia Tech into the Louisville Lacrosse Stadium and were able to beat them 14-11.

Three Cardinals got hat tricks to lead UofL to victory.  Caroline Blalock, Nicole Perroni, and Hannah Morris all tallied three.  Add a pair for Paige Richbourg and singletons for Alexa Steffens, Kokoro Nakazawa, and Allegra Catallano.

Virginia Tech got on the board first and led by 3-1 and 4-2, before Hannah Morris got a score with 10 seconds left in the first quarter to get the lead down to only one, 4-3 after the first frame.

Nicole Perroni scored in the opening minute of the 2nd quarter to tie it at four.  The Hokies would score a pair, and then be matched by Richbourg and Catalano to go into the half tied at six.

A good third quarter opened up by Morris in the opening minute, followed by Richbourg for the two point lead.  VT would tie it again, but Steffens and Blalock would each get on the board to get the Louisville lead back to two at 10-8.  The last four minutes of the 3rd quarter would go scoreless, along with the first three minutes of the 4th quarter.

Then the offense opened up again.  The teams traded goals with Blalock getting her 3rd with just over two minutes left in the game.  Nakazawa would that with her goal with only 37 seconds left to give the Cards a 14-10 lead.  VT would score a late goal, with only 10 seconds left to narrow the lead to 14-11, but that would be it.

The next action will be Tuesday when the Butler Bulldogs come down from Indianapolis to play an afternoon game against Louisville at 3pm at the LLS.

(Photos by Jared Anderson)

Basketball in South Bend

It's the end of the regular season for women's basketball.  One more game to play today, and the opponent almost always seem to be a challenge for the Cards.

Notre Dame is undefeated in Purcell Pavilion, all six of their losses on the season coming on the road, including a couple of weeks ago in the KFC Yum! Center in the previous matchup of these two teams.  The 73-47 win by the Cards in the game seemed to surprise a lot of people in just how big the margin of victory was.

The Fighting Irish have wins over Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, NC State, and North Carolina, all wins that gain attention for NCAA selections.  A loss in UConn won't be considered much of a blemish, though losing to Georgia in overtime is slightly concerning.  In conference, none of the losses to Duke, Boston College, Florida State, and Louisville, as mentioned above, will be thought of as catastrophic to their NCAA aspirations.

What are the stakes for each team, then?  For Louisville, honestly, they aren't huge.  A loss probably drops the Cards out the 1 seeds for the NCAA tournament, but nothing that happens today will change UofL's seeding in the ACC tournament.  Notre Dame might be playing to hold on to the double-bye for the ACC tournament.  They're currently listed in the 3rd place in the standings tied in record with Virginia Tech, and North Carolina only one game behind.  Notre Dame does hold the head to head wins over both of those teams, having played each of them only once, which I believe guarantees them a 4th seed at worst.

Plenty of threats for the Irish, of course,  Olivia Miles, and Maddy Westbeld get most of the attention for Notre Dame, but Maya Dodson, and Sonia Citron outscore Westbeld on average.  Of course, Dara Mabrey and Sam Brunelle contribute a lot as well.

This crew won't get easily flustered by UofL's intense defense, but they're not completely unflappable.  By now, we know UofL's general game plan...intense defense forcing turnovers or poor offensive possessions, leading to transition offense.  It can work against this ND team as well, but an outing such as the Cards had at The Pete likely won't get it done.

The game is on ESPN2, with Tiffany Greene on the call, with Steffi Sorenson providing color analysis.  A bit of an earlier start, at noon, so get in your seats early.

Softball

Let the Schedule Shuffle commence, or perhaps continue is the better word.

With inclement weather in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the Wooo Pig Classic has maybe been turned into the Meh Pig Classic.

Nebraska gave up on the event altogether and has headed to Kansas to play the Jayhawks in a three game series today and tomorrow.  The Cards are apparently made of sterner stuff and have stayed in Arkansas and will play three against the SEC hosts.  The first today at 6pm, and then they'll play two tomorrow.

SEC Softball is good across the board, probably the top conference in the sport, but Arkansas has lost three so far in this young season.  They dropped a pair to a quite good Washington team two weeks ago and split with Illinois last week.  Arkansas is helmed by former Louisville Assistant Coach Courtney Deifel, during the Sandy Pearsall era.

The game is listed with a watch link that points to ESPN's site.  That would suggest, given Arkansas' SEC membership, that it would be available on the SEC Network+, the streaming side of the SEC Network, but it's not listed on ESPN's site in upcoming games, so it's not certain that it will be available.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

Jared was out getting the Lacrosse photos yesterday, but Case, Daryl, Paulie, and myself were on the call, and good fun was had as always for the CCRHP.

Basketball, Lacrosse, and Softball were on the menu, along with some Butler confusion.

Check it out at it's podcast home on anchor.fm:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/A-Winning-Week-for-Louisville-e1euudm

JMcA