A Win over UVA, and Pedalling for a Cure

Basketball Gets it Done vs Virginia

Much like Courtney Williams in the USF game, Faith Randolph was going to get her points.  The goal is to make her take more shots to get them, and much like the Cards did against Williams and the Bulls, they made Randolph take as many field goals as she would get points.  Doing that while largely holding the rest of the team to single digit point totals, Breyana Mason had 11,  was what it took to get UofL the win over Virginia, 74-59.

UofL got the job done with what is becoming a fairly familiar formula.  The M&Ms had their usual dependable games, with Myisha Hines-Allen having a particularly good game with 22 points and 11 rebounds.  Then UofL depends on someone, and we're never quite sure who it's going to be, to step up and also have a good game.  Last night it was mostly Asia Durr, with 15 points, though it should be pointed out that Briahanna Jackson tallied a pretty respectable 11.

Photo by Charlie Springer - UofL Card Game

The Cards continue to play unselfish basketball, with Mariya Moore and Taja Cole both giving it up five times for assists, with Briahanna Jackson with another four.

A 37-33 Louisville halftime lead was paced by 16 Moore points. Hines-Allen carried the weight of the scoring in the final half with 19 for the Cards. UofL put the Cavs away for good in the final period, out-scoring them 22-14...12 of Hines-Allen's second half points came in those ending 10 minutes. 

THE FRED REPORT

Fred Gwynne aka Herman Munster

Free Throws?  Yeah, just don't ask.  Under 60% from the charity stripe, is it possible to award an anti-"F" for this one?  The only individual free throw shooting worth a darn was Hines-Allen who went four of five; and Taja Cole, who collected on both of her attempts.

Rebounds get a great big ol' pink (it was Breast Cancer Awareness night) "R",with the final tally 41-27.  Unfortunately, those only turned into eight 2nd chance points, which can't make Coach Walz a happy camper.  The Hoo's turned their 27 into 15 points, for comparison.

The Cards are looking better at dropping the easy ones, but there are still a number of simple ones that aren't finding the bottom of the net.  UofL took the points in the paint category 28-24, so there's a slight edge there, and a pretty good total, but I still saw a number that didn't drop that really should've, so I'm only giving a lower-case "e" on this one.

Photo by Charlie Springer -- UofL Card Game

There's a similar sort of conundrum for the Defense category.  The stats from both teams are remarkably similar with both turning the ball over 13 times, seven of those being steals, and turning those TOs into 15 points.  The only advantage UofL came away with in these categories was in blocked shots, with four to UVA's two.  The good news here is in the fast break points, which the Cards dominated nine to none.  I think we have to go with a lower-case "d", on this as well.

What We Liked

Photo by Charlie Springer -- UofL Card Game

• The M&M's are solidly in the groove.  As you all have been commenting, we've got two solid contributors, but we're all suffering a little bit of heartburn seeing who is going to be a third, and hopefully a fourth.
• Slowly, but surely, Asia Durr is awakening as the threat that we all thought she could be coming out of high school.  She still is not playing nearly aggressively enough for Coach Walz's...or my...liking, and still passes up some fantastic shooting opportunities, but her numbers continue to be good, and she is starting to take some shots that she would've passed up three weeks ago.  Progress is good, though more is needed.

Photo by Charlie Springer -- UofL Card Game

The Cards head out on the road for a game at Boston College at 1pm on Sunday, and then to sunny Miami for a Thursday night game at 7pm.  They return home for Not Senior Day (since there are no seniors on the team) on Sunday the 28th at 12:30 to play the second half of the home and home with Pitt.

Pedal for the Cure

If you followed me tweeting as @CardCoupleRadio last night, you heard a lot about the "Pedal for the Cure", a promotion and fund-raiser that UofL did during the game as part of the annual Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Game festivities.

The Pedal for the Cure pitted two teams against each other on stationary bikes.  Each team had 4 competitors, and each competitor pedaled for the duration of one of the quarters.  The competitors were drawn from UofL coaches, and former student-athletes.  The team that put the most miles on the bike won, with spectators urged to contribute money to the box of the team that they thought would win.

The 1st quarter pitted former Soccer great Christine "Ex" Exeter for Team Red, vs former Lacrosse great and current Community Relations Assistant, Monica Negron for Team Black.  Both tallied just over 11 miles, with the soccer program claiming a slight 1/10th of a mile lead.  It would be the last lead Team Red had.  The 2nd quarter saw Team Red put forward Baseball Coach Dan McDonnell with Team Black putting up Men's Soccer Coach Ken Lolla.  Lolla claimed an extra third of a mile over the Baseball Skipper putting Team Black up by about .2 of a mile. 

"Wake Up, Coach! It's GO time!" 

After halftime, a Field Hockey matchup was up.  Coach Justine Sowry, the Aussie, for Team Red, vs the Kiwi, Victoria "Vic" Stratton for Team Black.  When queried during halftime if she could keep up with Vic, Coach Sowry answered simply, "No." 

Sowry did complete a respectable 13 1/2 miles but Stratton impressively topped 15.  That left Team Red with a good sized hole to climb out of.

The 4th quarter was a Volleyball matchup.  Team Red put forward setter extraordinaire, beauty queen, and TV reporter Katie George, while Team Black put forward Volleyball coach Anne Kordes.  If you know these two, you know that neither of them was going to leave with anything left in the tank in competing with the other.  Impressively, Coach Kordes edged out George by a few tenths of a mile to cement the win for Team Black.  Commenting on the win, Kordes said, "I thought we were just going to pedal tricycles around the court!"

The Pedal for the Cure was clever, and a lot of fun.  I hope it returns again next year.

jmca
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Lousiville women's basketball -- Virginia has "Faith" tonight in Pink Out game, Softball travels again -- Thursday Cardinal Couple

CAVS 2ND LEADING SCORER BACK FROM THUMB INJURY

When Louisville WBB faced Virginia in Charlottesville back on Jan 14th., the Cards took a 59-41 win back with them to Louisville...Myisha Hines-Allen scoring 16 for Louisville. UVA was without Faith Randolph, their second leading scorer. The second team All-ACC selection in the 2014-15 season had broken her thumb a week earlier in a lopsided loss to Notre Dame...in the fourth quarter and long after the outcome had been decided. 

With her gone, the 'Hoos went 2-7 over their next nine games. Makayla Venson, Virginia's leading scorer tried to pick up the slack but head coach Joanne Boyle was missing the speedy senior guard...Randolph is the only senior on the Cavs roster. 

She returned on Valentine's Day, appropriately enough, and played 36 minutes in the UVA win over Boston College. The doctor's time-table had her on schedule to return tonight against the Cards. Randolph lobbied for action against Syracuse on Feb. 11th....a game UVA lost 91-57. 

Randolph will be ready for tonight and will be taking pre-cautionary measures: 

"My thumb will be wrapped in tape the rest of the season but that's kind of a blessing in disguise, though, because when you shoot the ball...your really not supposed to bend your thumb...so it's good form." 

Virginia (14-12, 5-8) is probably not an NCAA Tournament this season...unless they get hot late and win their final four -- plus make a strong showing in the ACC Tournament.

Louisville (20-6, 11-1) is ranked #11 in the nation. Besides keeping an eye out for Venson and Randolph, the Cards will need to contain Lauren Moses...a strong post that is capable of a double-double anytime she steps on the court and shut down Aliyah Huland El off the bench. 

Following a blueprint of the strategy that got the Cards past the Cavs last month would work well here. Louisville held Virginia to six first period points in the first meeting and the Cards forced 19 turnover while allowing UVA just 33% shooting. 

Be sure to wear your pink tonight for Breast Cancer Awareness. Even if you don't own pink, wear a pink ribbon to show your support. The game tips at 7 p.m. and ESPN 3 will have coverage. We also recommend the audio from Matt and AJ on Cards Radio KRD 790...and if the sync up gets too annoying, stick with the radio call and then glance at the laptop for a replay of the really good plays. 

I'm offering WorldWide the write-up for Friday. He has gone "groundhog" on me and hasn't written in what seems like six weeks. Regardless, one of us will recap it here at the site later today or early Friday. 

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SOFTBALL READY FOR NEXT CHALLANGE

Coming off a 4-1 stay in Corpus Christi, the Louisville Softball team heads to Raleigh, NC for the ACC/BIG10 Challenge this weekend. While there, they'll team up with NC State in cross-conference games against Wisconsin and Nebraska...four games over a three-day span. 

I caught up with Coach Pearsall and got a great interview that we'll air on our Saturday radio show...the highly acclaimed CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR.

Here's a couple of teasers to listen for in the interview: 

-- Who did Coach Pearsall have to 'bring back to earth' during the Islander Invitational? 

-- What impresses Coach Pearsall about ACC Co-Pitcher of the Week Megan Hensley? 

-- What worries Coach Pearsall about the Cards home-opening weekend? 

For these answers and much more, be sure to catch the broadcast Saturday at 11 a.m. on WCHQ 100.9 FM or on the Internet at www.crescenthillradio.com. 

You can also catch our archived broadcasts there, too! Please listen to and support local, non-profit community radio. You just might find out that you like what you're hearing...

paulie
xxxxx

UVA blows by Cards late to win 75-59 -- Monday Cardinal Couple

28-10 run sinks UofL on Wahoo Senior Day

Louisville WBB got a dose of the medicine they've been serving ACC opponents this season...Virginia blowing by the Cards in the final eight minutes to put a 75-59 drubbing on Jeff Walz's crew on Senior Day in Charlottesville, VA Sunday afternoon.

The potentially bad thing for Louisville and the rest of the ACC is that the Wahoos (17-12, 7-9) graduate just one and have a nice recruiting class coming in for 2015-16. UK transfer Sara Beth Barnette the lone loss. We had originally thought Sarah Imovbioh was leaving (and wouldn't mind seeing that 22 point, 17 rebound performance from today disappear) but she'll be a redshirt senior next year. 

Louisville led early in this one. Mariya Moore nailing an opening three a minute into the contest and Jude Schimmel's trifecta had the Cards up 8-7 five minutes in.


The homestanding Cavs went on a 6-0 run to regain the lead over a three minute stretch but the Cards did return the favor with their own 6-0 run...capped by a Dyer putback to lead 14-13 at the 9:27 mark. The teams battled evenly as the half wore down...Virginia leading 32-31 at the break. 

The Cards were having trouble containing UVA stars Faith Randolph and Imovbioh from scoring and Imovbioh owned the boards, especially on the defensive end.

Louisville saw Virginia go on a 11-3 run over the first five minutes of the final half but the Cards mustered one last rally over the next seven minutes...getting strong interior play from Emmonnie Henderson, Sara Hammond and Shawnta' Dyer.

Unfortunately, the Cards became the gang that couldn't shoot straight over the final 1/5th of the game...Louisville battling back to lead 49-47 at the 8:06 mark after a Shawnta' Dyer jumper...after being down by 43-34 with 15:56 in the half.

It got ugly for the Cards after that. UVA shot 53% in the second half and made 20-25 free throws to pull away. The Cards starters (Sherrone, Jude, Dyer, Sara and Myisha) ended up with only 31 of UofL's 59 total points. The offensive uncertainly was glaring at times.

Henderson led Louisville with 13 points in 13 minutes. In typical "E" fashion, though...she committed five fouls in that space of time and watched from the bench as UVA pulled away. Dyer joined her in double figures with 12. the Cards shot 33% (25% in the second half) and were outrebounded 39-28. 

In the final eight of the game, the Cards defense seemed a step slow and almost resigned to the defeat and Virginia scored time after time and grabbed the Cards missed shots. It got hard to watch, honestly. A memory one would like to forget as the regular season ends.


On an afternoon where Louisville hope to gain momentum going into the ACC Tournament on Friday, it was Virginia who climbed on the back of Uncle Mo and rode him to the wire to secure a #9 seed in the ACC Tournament and avoid a necessity to play on Wednesday. 

Louisville will have plenty of time to review and improve on this one....they'll play the final game Friday night against whoever emerges from the first and second round battles in their half of the bracket into the quarterfinals. 

Imovbioh is now what we all believe Henderson could eventually be. Randolph is a top five guard in the ACC, maybe top 10 in the nation. Yesterday, they combined to pull off their biggest win of the season...and give Louisville something to ponder as they head to Greensboro.

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Softball stings Yellow Jackets series finale

Louisville softball finished their stay in Atlanta with a sweep of the Yellow Jackets Sunday afternoon. The Cards got the bats unpacked for this one, winning 15-2 in six innings.

Madi Norman (3-4) got the win for the Cards, allowing the two runs on just two hits in 3.2 innings...Maryssa Becker finishing up with 2.1 inning of shutout ball and just one hit.

The Cards loaded the bags in the first but got just one run across. They atoned for that with four in the second, Hailey Smith with a two RBI single and Becker delivering the same. 

Brittany Sims had a solo home run in the third to make it 6-1 UofL. It was her second round-tripper of the season. 

The Cards tacked on two more in the fifth when Sydney Benz drove home Becker and Nicole Puhafl to make it 8-2 .

They saved the fireworks for the end...the top of the sixth produced seven UofL runs...Becker blasting a three run homer with Kayla Soles and Smith on board and Whitney Arion sending one out that brought home Benz and Puhafl.

Louisville will open up play at home with the Louisville Classic March 6-8. Illinois State, Ball State, Massachusetts and Northwestern come to town.

paulie
xxxxx  

Louisville women's basketball looks to continue win streak against Cavs -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

CARDS HAVE WON EIGHT STRAIGHT AND ARE 4-0 IN ACC

The University of Louisville women's basketball team faces Virginia today in the KFC YUM! Center at 3 p.m. Louisville will be looking to go 5-0 in ACC play and 17-1 overall. The women's sports programs at UofL will also be looking to get their first win of the season over Virginia. Field Hockey, Soccer and Volleyball have all fallen to the Cavaliers in this first season of ACC play for the Cards.


Virginia (13-4, 3-1) has won four out of their last five. Most recently, they handled Boston College 68-56 on Thursday in Charlottesville. The Wahoo hit 13 three pointers against BC and went 11-13 from the charity stripe. 

Faith Randolph had 23 in the win and she's leading the Cavaliers with 17.8 ppg and steals (27). The 5'10" junior guard gets backcourt assistance from Mikayla Venson (11.8 ppg) and Brevana Mason (9.2). Big on the boards for Joanne Boyle's team are Sarah Imovbioh (14.6/11.2)...a season double-double performer and Lauren Moses who averages 6.2 grabs a game and has 23 blocked shots this season.


Losses to Toledo, Illinois and Davidson early in the season raises eyebrows...their sole conference loss to Syracuse perfectly understandable, the 'Cuse is as good as advertised.

The Wahoo was picked to finish 10th in ACC in preseason polling. Louisville and UVA have faced each other one time...Louisville losing in Charlottesville 74-60 back in 1985.



The Cards will need to curtail the activities of Randolph and Venson when they have the ball...they are well capable of driving the lane and scoring inside. Louisville will also need to be aware of the board-busting ball play of Imovbioh and Moses and block out while denying second chance opportunities. 

This one will be on Fox Sports South if you can't attend. Drew Deener faces up at center court and Christy Winters Scott will provide color. Matt and AJ handle the radio duties in case the two minute delay gets to be too much....radio feed being first in game action...

An early arrival for CARDINAL COUPLE at the KFC YUM! Center today...the Atlanta Dream is making a special announcement at 2:15 p.m. Watch our twitter feed on the right hand side of the site for updates. 

DID YOU KNOW?

-- Bria Smith was verballed to Virginia until the coaching change that brought Boyle to Charlottesville. 

-- The Cards have a player from Virginia...freshman reserve Arianna Freeman.

-- Virginia's Faith Randolph is third in the ACC with a .895 free throw % 

-- Virginia reserve Sara Beth Barnette was the 2010 Kentucky Miss Basketball and started her career at UK? 

-- Sarah Imovbioh had 24 rebounds for the Cavs against Ohio State back on 11/14/14..the highest ACC rebounding total this season.

We'll have a full recap of the action in the Monday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE.

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Our latest CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO broadcast is up and

archived on WCHQ 100.9 Crescent Hill Radio's Soundcloud!

We had a busy show recapping WBB, Lacrosse, Volleyball, Tennis, Track and Field and much, much more. 

Give it a listen at the link below:

THE VILLAGE IDIOT HAS RETURNED TO HIS VILLAGE !!


paulie