Academic Accolades and Softball Final Series -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB Lands 8 on ACC Academic Team

Louisville women's basketball continued a tradition we've grown accustomed to in covering Louisville women's athletics, which is performing well off the court in addition to on it. This trend was kept up with the announcement of the 2025 All-ACC Academic Team by the conference earlier this week. Jeff Walz's squad placed eight on the team. As a unit, Louisville WBB posted a 3.37 GPA as a team in the fall semester. They had 12 team members earn at least a 3.0, 11 with at least a 3.25, and one pick up a perfect 4.0. 

All-ACC Academic Team honorees must post a 3.0 GPA for the previous semester and maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA over the course of their collegiate career. They must also compete in at least 50% of the team's athletic contests. Louisville had three freshmen on the team, all obviously picking up their first honor: Isla Juffermans, Mackenly Randolph, and Taj Roberts. Three players earned their second honor: Jayda Curry, Elif Istanbulluoglu, and Ja'Leah Williams. And two players earned their All-ACC Academic Team placement: Merissah Russell and Nyla Harris. 

Congratulations to all as commencement is just around the corner for UofL's Spring 2025 graduates.

Softball Takes on Pitt in Regular Season Finale

Louisville softball, as is tradition, is on the road for their final series of the regular season, with the Cards heading to Pittsburgh for a Thursday-Friday-Saturday matchup with the Panthers. Today's series opener will get underway at 6PM and air on ACC Network Extra. With their win over Florida State on Sunday, the Cards did a lot to improve their ACC tournament positioning. That is to say, Louisville is almost guaranteed to make the ACC tournament. 

Louisville sits at 7-14 in conference play, which is good for 10th. As a reminder, 12 teams make the tournament. The Cards need to only be ahead of three opponents to lock up the 12th spot. Two of the teams below them in the standings cannot improve. Notre Dame and NC State have already completed their regular season, with the Irish at 7-17 and the Wolfpack at 6-18. Louisville holds the tiebreaker over Notre Dame. Syracuse and Pittsburgh both have six wins, so a sweep by both of those teams would move them ahead of the Cards. That would leave Boston College. BC has five wins, and Louisville holds the tiebreaker. For BC to jump the Cards, Pitt would have to sweep, but so would BC. The Eagles are taking on Stanford this weekend.

With one win against the Panthers, who are 19-29 overall, Louisville would secure its spot in the tournament. Effectively, they're playing for seeding and a chance to try to make enough noise to land an NCAA berth. I'm sure there is no love lost between Coach Holly Aprile and her former team, though she has been at UofL long enough that no players from her time at Pitt remain on the roster. The Cards are 27-6 all-time against Pittsburgh and 8-2 in their last ten meetings. Unfortunately, five of those six losses have come on the road. Louisville would do well to ride their momentum from Sunday's big win to close out the regular season strong and then see what happens going forward. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Fall in Round of 32 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Curry's Career High Not Enough in 85-70 Loss

Jayda Curry did her best to will the Cards to a victory over TCU in the second round of the NCAA tournament, scoring a career high 41 points, but Louisville wasn't able to recover from a nightmare run by the Horned Frogs in the second quarter. In the end, Louisville outscored TCU by six in the second half, but a 21-point halftime deficit was too much to overcome. TCU advanced to their first Sweet Sixteen in program history (men's and women's), while Louisville missed out on its chance for a 13th under Jeff Walz. 

Curry scored the first basket of the game, which was an auspicious start to her day. She would go on to score 15 of Louisville's 17 first quarter points, which was incredible, while also becoming incredibly alarming as the game wore on. Louisville held TCU at bay for much of the first quarter, and a Curry three with 4:34 to go in the quarter gave Louisville its largest lead of the game at 13-7. TCU answered with a three of their own (far from the last) and hit another after a Louisville layup to make it 15-13. The Cards responded with another basket with 2:57 remaining in the first to go up 17-13, but then the wheels fell off. TCU went on a 7-0 run to close the quarter up 20-17. 

The quarter break didn't help Louisville at all. They continued to be unable to score, not making a basket in the second quarter until there was only 4:10 remaining in the quarter. That's almost a full quarter's worth of scoreless basketball. In that time, TCU had scored ten points to stretch their lead to 30-19. Louisville's shooting woes continued, while TCU kept taking shots on a kiddie goal. When all was said and done, the second quarter was a 27-9 bloodbath, TCU was on a 34-9 extended run, and it looked like it might all be over but the crying. 

This was a matchup long awaited by those that created the packages about Hailey Van Lith taking on her former school and coach, and the former Louisville guard didn't disappoint. Van Lith played all 40 minutes and finished with a double-double, totaling 16 points and 10 assists. She was a big part of that second quarter. While she only scored four points in the quarter, she tallied four of her assists (for 11 points), three of her five rebounds, and her only steal and block each in the second. When Louisville was on the mat, HVL and TCU didn't let up. 

If the first quarter was bad for Louisville from a defensive perspective, the second was a disaster. TCU went 8-13 in the first, with a 4-6 effort from beyond the arc. In the second, they improved, shooting 11-14 overall and 5-7 from three. The Horned Frogs were shooting 70.4% overall and 69.2% from deep. As the Cards watched them run away, they managed to find the bottom of the net on just 9 of 35 shots, going 2-7 from three. That's 25.7%. With a -44.7% disadvantage in shooting, almost no other stats matter. 

Jeff Walz must have lit a fire under Louisville at half time, or at least stirred some embers, because the Cards didn't fold coming out of the locker room. Olivia Cochran scored the first points of the half on a couple of free throws, and Louisville cut the lead to 15 with 7:28 to go. Unfortunately, the third quarter was a lot of "Louisville might get some momentum... oh never mind." The Cards were unable to claw back much closer, and the lead stretched back to 20 on two occasions. Even when Imari Berry hit threes on back-to-back possessions, TCU was able to respond with an and-1 on a layup to halt any progress. With 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Louisville's luck in the game was summarized pretty well by the final sequence. Berry drew a foul and responded by missing a pair of free throws. On the ensuing possession, Curry forced the ball away from Van Lith, again giving the Cards a chance at the last shot. Louisville worked the ball around to find an open Elif Istanbulluoglu, who missed a three as time ran out. 

Trailing by 18 entering the fourth, things weren't looking good. The Cards opened with a quick score by Elif, though, and TCU missed a three on their first possession. A Cochran three probably isn't what I'd recommend to get back into the game, and it missed, but Louisville weathered another offensive possession by forcing a miss from HVL. Curry was fouled on a three attempt and hit all three free throws to make it a 13-point game with 8:37 remaining. Another miss meant Louisville finding Berry for a three would have made it a 10-point game, but the shot was off the mark, as was the follow-up layup (not for lack of help by some contact, but the game was pretty loosely called). 

A couple of TCU free throws pushed the lead back to 15, but Curry dropped in a three to make it 12. Right on cue, the momentum killer came on a free layup and a Louisville miss. Another turnover meant that the Cards weren't out just yet, and a nice jumper by Cochran kept it at 12. A missed three fell to Curry, who brought it up court, kept it herself, and fired up a wild three that managed to hit almost all of the rim and the backboard before falling in. Louisville was down by just nine points with 5:26 to go. Consider by eyebrows raised. 

It wasn't meant to be, though. The Cards weren't able to keep up the pressure or go on a sustained run, and they never got closer than eight points with 2:47 remaining. TCU pushed it back to a 15-point deficit in the end, even without Louisville playing the foul game. Curry continued to do everything in her power to get Louisville across the finish line but she needed help. She got some from Cochran and Berry, who scored 15 and 8, respectively, but if you do the math on that, you're going to be disappointed. Allow me to help. 41+15+8=64 from three players. Louisville scored 70 total. Curry made 13 of Louisville's 24 baskets. She was 6-12 from 3 and Berry was 2-4. Louisville attempted 8 others and made none. The Cards got six points out of 113 player minutes. If you take Curry's 13-28 away, Louisville went 11-43 (25.6%) from the floor. The offense just wasn't there.

The FRED Report

Free Throws: The Cards had a good day at the line, making the most of their chances by going 14-16 from the stripe. Curry was her typical 9-9, but Cochran added a surprising 5-5. The super senior gave it a good run in her final game for Louisville, adding six rebounds, one assist, and three steals to her 15 points without turning the ball over. That was a bit beside the point, though. 87.5% is a capital 'F'.

Rebounds: There isn't a much more stark indication of Louisville's shooting woes (and TCU's hot hand) than the rebounding stats. The Cards and Frogs tied with 31 rebounds apiece. Louisville had 15 offensive boards. TCU had 29 defensive. That's right - 44 of the 62 rebounds came at Louisville's end of the floor. Woof. TCU scored on both of its offensive rebounds. Louisville managed fewer second-chance points than they had offensive rebounds. TCU was a decent rebounding team, averaging a margin of +7.8 this season. I'll go lowercase 'r' but I'm reluctant about it. 

Effort/Execution: I was ready to throw in the towel at the half, but I'll go ahead and tell you I'm awarding a capital 'E'. I know Louisville lost by 15, but they never gave up. Maybe there was a stretch in the second where they looked a little defeated, but they could have lost this game by 40 and they chose to fight back, cutting it to single digits. They also only had seven turnovers. Their problem was that they couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. Sometimes that's the way it goes. 

Defense: This one is a bit of an enigma. The Cards forced 14 turnovers, six from HVL, and they had a good strategy to keep her off balance. They came away with 10 steals and picked up a block. They only gave up nine fast break points. All that said, they gave up 85 points overall on 63% shooting. TCU was better than 50% in every quarter. Their worst shooting quarter was the third, where they went just 4-8, but they made up for it by going 13-15 from the line in that period. Louisville was a bit late on help defense, and they overcommitted on traps on a few occasions. It is what it is. No letter.

That's a final score of F-r-E-_. A bit of a surprising score, given the way the game turned out, but stats don't always tell the story. We'll have plenty more to say on this team, but for now, let's be proud of the fact that the Cards made it to the NCAA tournament, despite some shakiness during the season, and they managed to get back into the second round. It was a tough loss to end the season, but we got a pair of pretty nice swan songs from Cochran and Curry, who I feel like I couldn't have given enough words to in this column. 

Walz showed that he could win games with the transfer portal last season, but he showed he still knew how to run a program this year. The Cards are set up for the future with the players set to return, so we'll see what there is to come. Louisville won't be dancing any more this season, but you can be sure that there are plenty of tournament wins yet to come for the program. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Survive Husker Rally; Softball Wins Game 1 -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB Advances with 63-58 Victory

Like the men's team a day earlier, Louisville women's basketball faced a team from Nebraska that had a strong post player and kept hitting threes when Louisville attempted to break the game open. Unlike the men, the women kept their cool and never let the game get out of reach. The Cards and Huskers played a game marred by long scoring droughts, sometimes by both sides at the same time (such as a three-and-a-half minute stretch in the first quarter), but ultimately, Louisville's defense stepped up to force Nebraska into the most important drought of all: not scoring for the final minute of the game. 

The Cards and Huskers traded blows in the first quarter, but it was Nebraska's inability to hold onto the ball that really kept Louisville in it early. The Cards shot just 30% from the floor in the first quarter, compared to 46.7% from Nebraska, but they trailed by only two at the break. That was largely due to a 6-3 Louisville advantage in turnovers, which resulted in a 6-0 advantage in points off of those turnovers. 

Louisville would ride that turnover advantage wave throughout the game, with the biggest difference coming in the second quarter. The second saw Louisville take its first real lead of the game (6-5 was immediately erased by a Nebraska 3 in the first quarter) when they went on a 9-0 run to close the half. The Cards had the same 6-3 turnover margin in the second quarter as they did in the first, but they scored 11 points off of those six turnovers while Nebraska could manage just two. The Huskers looked like they'd hold on to the lead throughout the quarter, as each time Louisville got close, they'd hit a three to stretch the advantage. Nebraska led by about five for the entire quarter until that Louisville run over the final two-and-a-half minutes. In the second, Nebraska shot an identical 7-15 from the floor, but Louisville brought their average up to 38.5% with a 9-19 quarter. The Cards also made two threes, matching Nebraska, and led 36-32 at halftime. 

Olivia Cochran picked up two fouls in the second quarter, but both came as a result of playing hard against Alexis Markowski, and it was paying off. Louisville had a strong post presence in the game, despite the potential Nebraska advantage in that area, and the Cards limited Markowski overall. In the end, she finished with a double-double, but she scored only 12 points, and her 10 rebounds came primarily on the defensive end. She was just 5-12 from the floor (1-2 from three) and had two turnovers. The Cards outscored Nebraska by 12 in the paint. One place Louisville struggled in this area was second chance points. The Cards had 18 offensive rebounds, compared to just 9 for Nebraska, but it was the Huskers that won the second chance points battle 8-7. 

Taj Roberts scored a layup on the first possession of the second half to push the Cards lead to six, and both teams decided scoring was optional for a bit. Olivia Cochran broke a four-minute scoring drought with a free throw to make it 39-32. Nebraska matched that with 5:07 remaining in the quarter, and a three by Jayda Curry, over five minutes after the last made field goal in the game, pushed the Louisville lead to nine. The Cards looked like they'd be in control from that point on, but the Huskers held on, cutting the lead to 46-44 with 1:10 to go in the quarter. A pair of layups by Elif Istanbulluoglu in the final minute pushed Louisville's lead to 50-44 going into the final stanza. 

Not so fast, my friend as Lee Corso would say. After Elif's layup in the final second, a bit of chaos ensued. The refs convened for a chat about whether a technical foul should be assessed for Louisville players coming onto the court before the quarter was over. Ultimately, the right decision was made, and no foul was given. The clock operator had mistakenly stopped the clock with 0.1s remaining after the field goal, meaning the bench did come out on the floor to celebrate before the quarter ended. However, the clock shouldn't have stopped for a made basket in the third quarter. The conversation ended with the refs correctly determining that the quarter would have been over if the clock hadn't stopped, and that was that. A whole lot of stress for nothing. 

As if the teams felt Louisville fans relax from afar going into the fourth quarter, things turned on a dime. Louisville decided that the beginning of the quarter would be a great time for a scoring drought, but Nebraska didn't agree. The Huskers opened the fourth on a 10-0 run over 3:30 that flipped Louisville from +6 to -4. The Cards would finally score in the fourth with 5:28 remaining, lucky to not trail by more. The Louisville basket made it 54-52 in favor of Nebraska, and given the final score, you can probably guess that the end was tense. Neither team scored for two minutes, and Louisville finally tied it at 56 with 2:20 remaining. Jayda Curry's second tough jumper in a row, coming after the second offensive rebound of the possession, gave Louisville a 58-56 lead with 1:16 remaining. 

Britt Prince (one of two Prince's Louisville needed to be very aware of entering the weekend) hit a layup to tie the game with 59 seconds remaining, and Jeff Walz called a timeout to draw up a go-ahead play on what could be Louisville's final possession. As the shot clock wound down, Curry put up a three that rimmed out. Cochran was there for yet another offensive rebound for the Cards, and she was fouled on her put back attempt. Olivia missed the first but buried the second to give Louisville a one-point lead. After a timeout to advance the ball, Nebraska looked to run the clock down and take a final shot to win. That is, until Prince saw what she thought was an open lane for a layup. (Side note, this was ill advised, in my opinion, in a one-point game. If you make it, Louisville has the ball down one and gets to hold for the last shot. Are you leading? Yes. Have you just subjected yourself to potential heartbreak? Also, yes.) As it was, Louisville stepped in to draw a charge on Prince, voiding the basket and fouling her out of the game. It was a bit of a late move to pick up the charge, but Louisville had just been called for the same thing a couple of minutes earlier, so if it was a bad call, at least it was consistent. 

From there, the Cards knew they were playing the foul game, and they wisely got it in to Curry, who tried to kill time but was fouled with 21 seconds remaining. She did what everyone hoped she would and calmly sunk both to give Louisville a three-point cushion. Nebraska advanced the ball with a timeout again, but the three-point attempt they drew up missed and Mackenly Randolph pulled down the rebound. She got the ball to Cochran, but Olivia couldn't get it away before being fouled. Cochran hit one of two at the line to stretch the lead to four. Another timeout (taking three into the final minute is a choice...) advanced the ball, but this time, Nebraska threw the ball away. Cochran was sent to the line for free throws that were largely academic and made one of two to set the final score of 63-58. 

Survive and advance. 

The FRED Report

Free Throws: The Cards weren't great at the stripe, going just 9-15. Cochran had a good game (14 points, 5 boards, just three fouls, and a block), but she was a big part of the lower percentage, going 4-8 from the line. Roberts missed her only attempt to convert a three-point play and Ja'leah Williams was 1-2. Curry led the way at 4-4. No letter.

Rebounds: Louisville held a huge advantage on the offensive glass, but they managed to outrebound Nebraska by just four overall. They also didn't convert those O'boards into second chance points consistently, though they did have some second (and third) opportunities that were clutch down the stretch. Nebraska had a height advantage in the post, so I'll award a lowercase 'r'.

Effort/Execution: Louisville never gave up, even when the shots weren't falling and Nebraska went on a late run. The Cards could have caved but they didn't. Jayda Curry played through getting hurt what felt like seven times, but hopefully she'll be ok going into tomorrow. Louisville got at least five minutes from everyone that played (11 players) and everyone that got on the floor contributed at least one positive stat. The Cards had just 13 turnovers, and only 14 fouls, and they had 14 assists on 25 made baskets. That kind of performance in a tournament game where momentum is everything gets a capital 'E' from me. 

Defense: Nebraska shot the ball well, but not really for lack of Louisville's defensive pressure. The Huskers were ultimately 23-52 from the floor, making fewer shots than Louisville. They took only eight free throws, and Louisville turned them over 24 times (scoring 27 points). Williams led Louisville with four of their ten steals, and she pulled down nine rebounds, seven defensive. She struggled offensively but she was a huge force on defense. The Cards also had three blocks. To put a bow on it, Louisville gave up just 58 points to a team that averaged 75.5 throughout the year. Capital 'D'.

That's a final tally of _-r-E-D, which is certainly nothing to slouch at. We'll need the Cards to get to the line more tomorrow and to take advantage of those opportunities, but this was a good showing from Louisville, who return to their winning ways in the NCAA tournament. 

Louisville will move on to face TCU in the matchup the selection committee was going for when they set the bracket last season. After Louisville was upset and didn't get to face LSU and Hailey Van Lith, the committee set the stage again. The Cards will face the Horned Frogs, led by Van Lith and Sedona Prince, on their ugly home floor tomorrow. The game will tip at 6PM. 

Softball Beats UNC 7-4

Louisville softball won their first game of a three-game set in Chapel Hill yesterday by a final score of 7-4. The Cards rallied twice in this one, powered by a pair of three-run homers. UNC took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, and Char Lorenz sent a three-run shot down the left field line to take the lead in the fourth. UNC responded immediately with another two runs to regain the lead in the bottom half, but Bri Despines put Louisville back in front with a homer to right in the fifth. Camryn Lookadoo hit a pinch-hit double in the sixth to set the final score at 7-4.

The Cards didn't have a great hitting day, but they got hits when it mattered. Louisville left just three players on base, scoring seven runs on just eight hits and two walks. The long ball will do that for you. UNC managed 13 hits and two walks, but Alyssa Zabala (8-3) and Sam Booe combined to strand 11 runners. Zabala got the start and gave up all four runs on ten hits and one walk in four full innings, striking out two. Booe came in after Louisville retook the lead and earned the long save. Booe pitched three full and gave up three hits and one walk, while also picking up two strikeouts. Booe is listed in the pitching summary as giving up an HBP, but none is listed in her stats or the batting stats for UNC. 

The Cards and Heels will get together for game two of the series at 2PM today. 

CC NCAA Tournament Pick 'Em Update

After day one of our NCAA Pick 'Em, here's the scoreboard as it stands midway through the round of 64. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We've got hosts scrambled all over the place today, so we aren't able to get together for the show this week. We'll be back next week, hopefully to discuss a continued tournament run for the Cards.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

ACC Awards Curry, Roberts, LAX at Vandy, ACC WBB Tournament and Cardinal Couple Pick Em -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CURRY, ROBERTS ALL-ACC

The ACC announced yesterday that Jayda Curry was named to the first team All-ACC, Taj Roberts to the second team and Roberts was also named to the All-Freshman squad. 

Curry joins three FSU Seminoles on the squad -- Ta'Niya Latson, Makayla Timpson and O'Mariah Gordon, plus Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, Sonja Citron and Olivia Miles, NC State had three also in Aziaha James, Saniya Rivers and Zoe Brooks . Virginia's Kymora Johnson, North Carolina's Alyssa Ustby, Pittsburgh's Khadija Faye, Georgia Tech's Kara Dunn, and Duke's Toby Fouriner also made the first team squad. 

Roberts and five others made up the All-Freshman team. She joins Fouriner, Georgia Tech's Dani Carnegie, Tilda Trygger from NC State,Lanie Grant from North Carolina, and Notre Dame's Kate Koval  

 

On the second team -- along with Roberts  -- are Haley Cavinder (Miami), .Joanna Krimili (Cal), AshlonJackson (Duke), Liaua King (Notre Dame), Maria Gakdeng (UNC), Tonie Morgan (Ga Tech), Reniya Kelly (UNC), Nunu Agara (Stanford), and Nya Robertson (SMU) 

Congratulations to the Cards players named and to all the players making the lists. We wonder why Olivia Cochran and Nyla Harris weren't selected to either the first or second team All ACC...but, with 18 teams voting, it looks like the anti-Louisville prejudice has gotten stronger in the league. 

Wes Moore won ACC Coach of the Year honors in a landslide over Niele Ivey of Notre Dame. 

LAX TRAVELS TO VANDY

Louisville Lacrosse steps out of conference play to travel to Vandy today to face the Commodores. Louisville goes into the contest 3-3, coming off a home loss to #2 North Carolina. 

The Cards have won the last three meetings between them and the 'dores...Vandy last played and lost to visiting Ohio State. The Cards have also beaten by the Buckeyes this year.  

Sophomore Reese Whitman leads Louisville in scoring with 10 goals, 

It's a 1:00 p.m. game (ET) and will be available on ESPN+

ACC WBB TOURNEY BEGINS TODAY

Three games kick off the ACC WBB Tournament today in Greensboro. 

Wednesday action: 

#13 seed Syracuse starts the action when they face #12 seed Boston College at 1 p.m. today. The two schools met just three days ago to end their regular seasons -- Syracuse getting a 25 point win over the Eagles in the Dome. A different venue probably won't help BC that much -- look for the 'Cuse to move on to Thursday

#15 Pitt faces #10 Virginia in the 3:30 game. Pitt barely got in the tournament, edging out Miami by one game. The Panthers fell two weeks ago to the Cavs by 13. A neutral court probably won't make it any better for the Pitt squad, we see Virginia moving on to Thursday. 

#14 Clemson vs #11 Stanford. Stanford isn't nearly as good as the power house squads they had a few years ago...and Clemson is just flat pitiful under first year coach Shawn Poppie...but the Tigers did beat Stanford this year, in Clemson...by five.. On a neutral site? Your guess is as good as any in the 6:30 p.m. closer for Day One. I went with Stanford. 

For the Cardinal Couple ACC Pick 'Em, you have until noon today to get your picks in.  enter them in the comments section. Also pick a final total score and don't forget to put your name. 

The Real Joe Hill sent these to us yesterday:

Syracuse, Virginia, Stanford UNC, GT, Cal. Louisville ,FSU, NCST, Cal, Louisville, FSU, Louisville, Louisville. Points 139.

Good luck and have a fun tournament !!

paulie

 

  

Softball Wins Home Opener -- WBB Senior Day Tonight -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Open Home Season With Blowout Win

Louisville softball had a warm welcome home, both figuratively and literally, as they defeated crosstown rival Bellarmine 10-0 in five innings. Temperatures broke into the 70s for the first time of the 2025 calendar year and the Cards couldn't be stopped with aggressive baserunning.

The Cards pieced together 10 runs on 10 hits while capitalizing on a pair of Bellarmine errors and multiple obstruction calls.

Brooke Gray got the start in the circle for the Cards, earning her third win on the early season. In her three innings of work, Gray surrendered two hits but maintained a shutout. Izzy Harrison came in relief for the final two innings, striking out six and walking one.

Louisville jumped out front early. After Chelsea Mack and Bri Despines found ways to get on base and advance to scoring position, Char Lorenz drove both runners in. The Cards recorded four successful steals in the first inning.

With two outs in the second inning, Louisville pieced together a four-run rally with Easton Lotus, Bri Despines, Chelsea Mack, and Madison Pickens crossing the plate.

Louisville did more damage in the third inning before recording any outs. Maddi Grant led off with the only triple of the game and was followed by a double by Ally Alexander. Easton Lotus followed with a single and the Cards found themselves threatening to run rule the Knights.

In the fourth inning, UofL pieced together two more runs to add a little insurance. The inning was highlighted by a 10-pitch at bat for Taylor Monroe, who capped it off with an rbi double.

Louisville finished the game 8-for-9 on steals with the only unsuccessful attempt coming in the fourth inning. The Cards had five multi-base hits and had no strikeouts on the offensive end.

The Cards remain home to host the Cardinal Classic this weekend. They will play five games from Friday-Sunday. 

Cards WBB Host Clemson for Senior Day

Photo by Go Cards

Senior Day for Louisville women's basketball has already arrived. The Cards will face off against Clemson at 6:00pm for their final home game of the regular season. It will be aired on tv on ACC Network.

Prior to the game, Olivia Cochran, Merissah Russell, Jayda Curry, and Ja'Leah Williams will be recognized in the Senior Ceremony. Cochran and Russell are both five-year players at Louisville. Curry has been with the Cards for the last two seasons while Williams used her final year of eligibility at Louisville this season.

Clemson, under first year head coach Shawn Poppie, is 13-14 this season. The sit near the bottom of the ACC at 6-10. The former Clemson had coach, Amanda Butler, is on the Louisville coaching staff as an assistant

Photo by Go Cards

While the Tigers don't have a ton of strengths, they have been efficient with their three-point shooting and have had strong bench scoring. Loyal McQueen is one of the best point guards in the country, averaging 5.0 assists per game. Hannah Kohn has proved to be one of the best three-point shooters nationally with 75 made threes and nearly three per game.

Louisville leads the all-time series, 12-3. All 12 wins have come since the Cards joined the ACC. Last year, Louisville went down to Littlejohn Coliseum and won 81-64.

WALZ PRESSER 2/26/25

(Softball photos by Jared)

Happy Thursday and Go Cards!

Jared

Cards Stun Blue Devils in Cameron -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Beats #11 Duke 70-62

Louisville women's basketball weathered a third quarter comeback to hang on and become the first team not named Duke to win at Cameron Indoor Stadium this season. Coming into the game, the Blue Devils' men's and women's teams were a combined 26-0 at home, with Kara Lawson's squad sporting an 11-0 record. The Cards got clutch minutes from Merissah Russell late in the game and saw Jayda Curry score a season-high 24 points as they moved to 12-3 in conference and hold the tiebreaker over FSU, Duke, and Cal for the fourth seed in the ACC tournament with three games to play.

Louisville got off to an inauspicious start in this one, opening the game with a shotclock violation. The offense didn't get much better for the Cards in the first quarter, as they made just one of their first nine shots. Coupled with a pair of free throws, Louisville had four points in the first seven minutes of the game. They returned to equilibrium a bit over the last three minutes of the quarter by making four of six, including a three from Elif Istanbulluoglu (the first of the game for either team) to finish the quarter with 13. Duke, who shot 44% from the floor in the quarter, had just 14, as they made only two-point baskets, didn't get to the line, and matched Louisville's three turnovers.

The second quarter was a comedy of errors, and I mean that literally. Louisville finished with seven turnovers in the quarter, which actually paled in comparison to Duke's 10. The Cards found a bit more rhythm offensively, shooting 8/16 from the floor and picking up two more free throws. Where they really did their damage was the three point line. Louisville was 4/6 from beyond the arc in the quarter, while Duke was just 1/4. Those makes included a pair by Jayda Curry, with one coming off balance as the shot clock wound down, and one from Mackenly Randolph to improve her season mark to 2/17 from three. Duke, to their credit, was 7/10 from the floor, going 100% from two, but the turnovers and inability to get to the free throw line allowed Louisville to take a six-point lead into the locker room at 35-29.

The Cards came out of the break determined to continue the sloppy basketball on display in the second quarter, but the Blue Devils appeared to have gotten their yips out of the way. Louisville committed eight more turnovers in the third, while Duke had just four. The wheels came off a bit for the referee crew (which had Louisville favorites Dee Kanter and Billy Smith as part of it)  in this quarter, if you ask me, with both teams getting away with various fouls and violations while simultaneously falling victim to ghost calls. To add to their troubles, Louisville was just 4/9 from the floor with another strong mark from Duke, who went 8/17. The Blue Devils last shot fell through the net as time expired to tie the game and reset the board going into the fourth. 45-all.

Pam Ward (who is committed to saying Louisville incorrectly and as frequently as possible) and Stephanie White continually spoke on the broadcast about Louisville being able to push the defense and make Duke commit fouls. While this was anticipated to be a strongly contested defensive battle, Duke is susceptible to foul trouble. That began to roost early in the fourth. Louisville's first four points in the quarter came at the line, keeping them in a game where their field goal shooting threatened to abandon them. Jayda Curry made the Cards' first basket of the fourth three minutes in with a three-pointer to make it 52-47.

After Duke collected back-to-back offensive rebounds on their next possession, Olivia Cochran committed her third foul and Delaney Thomas stepped to the line for free throws. She made them both, giving Duke their first free throw makes on their first free throw attempts of the game with just 6:30 remaining. The Blue Devil's second made three of the game would tie it at 52. Cochran earned her fourth foul and the game went to its final media timeout. A Curry foul sent Duke to the line to give the Blue Devils their first lead since the score was 18-16 in the second quarter, but Louisville was undeterred. Jeff Walz left Cochran in the game with four fouls and she delivered, scoring to tie the game, while drawing a foul on Reigan Richardson. Cochran would miss the and-one free throw, but Merissah Russell made her first huge offensive rebound play to lead to a Curry jumper to give the Cards the lead once more.

After that, the Cards continued to trade a pair of free throws for a Duke made two pointer. Remember how we talked about Duke being susceptible to fouling? Yeah, that remained true. After Curry's jumper made it 56-54 in favor of Louisville, the Cards would score just one more field goal for the remainder of the game. And in a close game like this, it wasn't because Duke was fouling aggressively to send Louisville to the line. Louisville just ran their offense, played their game, and happened to earn freebies. In fact, Duke was so committed to not fouling that when the Cards inherited the ball with 58 seconds remaining and a four-point lead, they were able to milk 42 seconds off the clock before Curry was sent to the line. I mentioned Russell's first huge O-board already, but her second came when Curry ran the shot clock all the way down before firing a three. Russell fought hard for the rebound, then wisely pulled it away, helping tick those extra 14 seconds away.

Curry made two to give the Cards a six-point lead, and a Duke turnover on a missed offensive rebound attempt appeared to seal the game. But wait! Is that Dee Kanter's music? Despite the ball pretty clearly going out off of Duke in real time, Kanter called it Duke ball. To her credit, she immediately went to the monitor. Once again, the ball was shown to clearly bounce off the Duke player's arm last, but a minute later, Kanter announced the call was confirmed. Ok, sure. As they say, though, "Ball don't lie." The Blue Devils threw the inbound pass away and Curry corralled it. She was fouled immediately, and she sunk two more to set the final: 70-62.

This was an extremely chaotic game. Both teams went on runs that looked like they'd ice the game early, and both also looked completely out of sorts at different times. Sometimes, they looked out of sorts at the same time, resulting in certified "ugly basketball" at multiple points in the game. Curry was the biggest bright spot in this one, with her season high also being the highest point total in the game. She added three assists and five steals to two offensive boards and she was 9-9 from the free throw line. Toss in her three "oh please no" injury scares and that's a full stat line.

The Cards also got strong performances from the other two players to match Curry's 37 minutes. Taj Roberts and Ja'Leah Williams were both in double figures. Williams had four rebounds, three assists, and two steals to go along with her 13 points, and Roberts had three rebounds and a steal while going 6-6 from the free throw line to score 11. Merissah Russell scored two points on her only shot attempt (a critical basket at the end of the shot clock) and matched the team high with four rebounds.

Let's have a FRED Report, shall we?

The FRED Report

F - Free Throws: This one is pretty straightforward. Louisville was 22-25 from the line, scoring more points from the free-throw line than the three-point line (which is saying something; they had six threes!). 88% is really good, and it's twice as nice when the opponent scores just four points from the stripe. Capital 'F'.

R - Rebounding: Rebounding was a strange one. Louisville had just 28 rebounds, but their boards were much more distributed than Duke's 30, as the Blue Devils had two players with seven apiece. Louisville made hay with their offensive rebounds, though. The two teams matched with 11 each, but the Cards outscored Duke 14-8 on second chance points. I'm going to go with a lowercase 'r'.

Marvel's Fred Duke
AKA 'Blob'

E - Effort/Execution: Boy, you thought rebounding was tough to judge? The Cards were beaten in points in the paint, largely due to defensive lapses, and bench points, but they scored more points off turnovers and on the fast break. They also had more second chance points, as I just noted, so clearly hustle was on the table. They only shot 43% from the floor but that came with 50% from three point range (Louisville really struggled with missed layups). The Cards had 19 turnovers, but that was fewer than Duke (albeit by one), and Duke is a really good defensive team. Because this was a game that Louisville had every chance to give up in the second half and instead they showed their mettle by hanging in for a tough road win, I'm granting a capital 'E'. Sue me.

D - Defense: So... Duke shot the ball pretty well. They ended up going 50% from the floor, with a whopping 60.5% from two-point land. However, they turned the ball over a ton and Louisville defended without sending the Blue Devils to the line. Duke was averaging 74 points coming into the game and Louisville held them way below that. The Cards defense had some mistakes, to be sure, but they kept themselves in the game early and closed it out late. Capital 'D'.

You may not love a final tally of F-r-E-D in a game that was as choppy as that one, but I'm not going to let a somewhat ugly game overshadow the fact that the Cards picked up their second Quad 1 win with a huge road win over a top-15 opponent. Louisville has an incredibly difficult road ahead to close out this season, so getting it started with a win like tonight is great for confidence. Up next is another matchup with a team tied with Louisville in the standings. The Cards bring #9 UNC to town on Sunday for the penultimate home game of the season. A win would go a long way toward cementing Louisville's double-bye and improving their NCAA seed line. Hopefully this team is peaking at the right time of year.

POST GAME JEFF WALZ HERE

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Hang On At Virginia 68-65 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS WBB BENDS BUT DOESN'T BREAK AGAINST HOOS

It was a fourth quarter that Cards fans would just soon as forget, but UofL went to Charlottesville Sunday afternoon and left with a three-point win. 

Louisville led the Cavaliers 62-45 after 30 minutes of play and were getting great production from Jayda Curry (with five threes), Nyla Harris and had a massive rebounding edge, but then UVA got a rally going that saw them outscore UofL 20-6 in the final quarter and draw within three at 68-65 with 3:30 to play. 

The Cards took control early in the game, and jumped out to a nine-point lead.  But, at the end.., the scoring ended. For both teams. Louisville missed seven shots in those final three minutes and UVA was equally as woeful and missed a three attempt at the buzzer, to preserve the win for UofL..

.A "W" for the Cards that was their eight in the last nine games and improved their overall record to 14-6 and conference record to 7-2. 

In the beginning, a 13-4 UofL lead with 3:35 gone in the first quarter. Louisville led 25-10 with 39 seconds left in the quarter after two Curry free throws. They took a 25-12 lead to the end of the quarter. 

UVA was not giving up the battle, though and cut the Cards advantage to 29-23 with 6:43 until  halftime. It stopped there, though, as Louisville countered with 13-4 run to go up 42-27 with 1:01 until half after a Taj Roberts layup. The squads went to the halftime locker rooms with the Cards comfortably ahead 44-29. 

Both squads were pretty evenly match in the third quarter, UofL winning the 10 minutes 18-16 and getting six straight points from Nyla Harris to go up 60-45.  A layup at the buzzer from Curry was whistled "good" and UofL led 62-45. 

Then, the fourth. The Cards did not score in the first three minutes and saw the lead shrink to 64-55 with 6:25 to play. Two UVA free throws cut it even further making the score 66-63 with 4:21 left in the contest. The Cards final two points came from Ja'Leah Williams free throws with 3:27 to go...and UVA would just score once from then on. 

Road wins are worth their weight in goal in the ACC and the Cards did enough to win the road contest today, although they didn't finish particularly well... they missed nine of their final ten shots. Jeff Walz had plenty of material today to lament about his squad's penchant for allowing the "dribble drive".

Curry had a Louisville career high with her 19 points. Louisville shot a dismal 38.6% from the floor but still left John Paul Jones Arena with a win

(Fred Gwynne aka Herman Munster fits the scary Cards finish today. It was a "W", though)

THE FRED REPORT

FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 8-10 from the line, a marked improvement for the Cards that surpasses our 70% mandate and earns them a capital "F". 

REBOUNDS -- 43-31 in favor of the Cards...Cochran had 11 and Roberts nine. A double-double for "O" today and we see a capital "R". 

EFFORT /EXECUTION -- The 38.6% shooting isn't particularly pretty, and the six fourth quarter points were flat ugly, but the Cards looked pretty sharp before that and 15 turnovers is down from previous games..so we'll award a lower case "e" here. 

DEFENSE -- Louisville had nine steals, but allowed 52 of the Virginia points in the paint and 50.9% shooting for UVA. Still, despite the fade at the end, they held UVA to under 70 points and the defense allowed less points than the Cavaliers did. It's a win, let's go lower case "d" 

FINAL FRED TOTAL:  F-R-e-d

Louisville goes to SMU next for a Thursday 1/30/25 contest in Dallas.

POST GAME JEFF WALZ 1/26/25

paulie

Cards shake Wake 81-76 in overtime -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 LOUSVILLE WBB PICKS UP ROAD WIN AT WAKE

CARDS WBB placed five in double figures and used a strong overtime effort from Jayda Curry to defeat Wake Forest 81-76 in Winston-Salem Sunday afternoon. 

Curry totaled seven of her 11 total points in the final 1:32 to lead the Cards to the extra session win. It was a game where the Cards allowed WFU to shoot 59% from the floor and sink 10 threes, but still pulled off the "W". The Cards watched a five-point lead disappear to just a two point advantage with a minutes to go in overtime, but got a clutch three from Curry with 17 seconds left in overtime to seal the contest. 

Wake Forest took the fight to the Cards early on and had a 17-12 first quarter lead over UofL. Louisville trailed by seven midway through the second quarter, but staged a rally and two Olivia Cochran free throws got Louisville back to within one at 32-31 with 26 seconds left in the half  UofL missed al layup with 10 seconds left in the half to go in the locker room down by one.

The two squads battled back and forth in the the third quarter, neither leading by more than four points, until the Demon Deacons put together two threes from Rylie Theuefkauf to go up 54-47. The Cards were able to cut the home team's lead to two at 56-54 on a Nyla Harris layup with five seconds left in the quarter.

A close fourth quarter ensued until Wake edged ahead 67-66 with a minute to play. Louisville regained the lead 70-67 with fifteen seconds left in regulation but Theuerkauf sank a three a few seconds later to tie it at 70 and force overtime... when the Cards missed a three with a second left on the clock. 

THE FRED REPORT

(It turned out to be a beautiful day in the neighborhood for the Cards in overtime Sunday)

F-Free Throws -- Louisville continued their hot hands from the charity stripe with an 18-19 performance. Olivia Cochran went 9-9 to lead the way for UofL A definite CAPITAL "F"

R- Rebounds -- The Cards lost th battle of the boards 28-23 despite Cochran grqabbing a team high seven. No letter awarded here. 

E- Effort/Execution.  UofL won second chance points 14-3 and forced WFU into 28 turnovers, but lost the points off turnovers battle 26-15. Still, the Cards won , so we'll award a lower case "e". 

D - Defense.  The Cards allowed 59% shooting and also were beat in points in the paint 24-20, but never trailed when it counted, in overtime, so we'll award a small case "d'. 

FINALFRED TALLY -- F-_-e-d

Road wins are always good in ACC play, and Louisville finally got this one after trailing the majority of the contest. The freshmen continue to learn by experience and one can't count out what Jayda Curry did for the squad yesterday. Stay safe and warm today, don't venture out unless it's an emergency, it's terrible out there, kiddies..

Louisville WBB returns to action Thursday against Pitt at Pittsburgh 

POST GAME JEFF WALZ PRESSER

pulie

Cards Crush Canes 74-56 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Daryl is off celebrating her nuptials, so you'll have to put up with me today instead. You'll see me again tomorrow and Daryl should be back next week. 

Jayda Curry's 21 Leads All Scorers in Rout

In my article on Saturday, I alluded to Miami's 11-1 record being a bit misleading. Although they hadn't played much of anyone, they weren't even receiving any votes to be ranked, which is a bit of a slap in the face, to be honest, since they were still winning the games. Unfortunately for Tricia Cullop's squad, it's been a tough week. Cullop took over in Coral Gables after Katie Meier retired and left Jeff Walz alone as the longest tenured coach in the ACC. Cullop is the winningest coach in Toledo history, but that wasn't much comfort to Canes fans last night. 

After a fairly close battle against UNC on Sunday (a 69-60 loss at home), Miami came to Louisville looking to pick up a signature win against a Louisville team that has been struggling. We can put the Boston College win aside for a moment, as the Eagles were beaten 86-59 by Duke last night after trailing 42-19 at halftime. The Cards needed to beat Miami to prove to themselves that they still hoped to make some noise this season. In the end, Louisville came out on top, winning even more handily than the final score suggested.

The Cards gave up the first basket of the game, but seemingly never looked back. After Ja'Leah Williams tied the score at 2, Olivia Cochran scored the game's next five points with a jumper and a three-pointer. Louisville would go on to extend their lead to 11-4 before Haley Cavinder (yes, the twins are still there) scored her first points of the night. Cavinder would finish just behind Jayda Curry with 19 points. Not content with a seven-point lead, Louisville's boom continued, and a quick 6-0 run, all on two-point baskets, triggered a Miami timeout. Out of the break, Miami missed a three and Louisville punished, making it a 19-6 game. 

After Miami finally broke their scoring drought with a three, Louisville committed three straight fouls, starting with an offensive foul creating a turnover, and put Miami in the bonus with 1:28 remaining. Nothing much came of that, though, as Miami didn't go to the line for the remainder of the quarter after Hanna Cavinder went 1-2 from the stripe. The Cards added free throws of their own and another basket, but a turnover on the final possession of the quarter gave Miami a breakaway layup to set the deficit at 9 instead of a potential 13. Cards led 23-14.

Despite only shooting 1-6 from beyond the arc in the first quarter, Louisville finished 10-16 from the floor. That means they were 9-10 from two-point land, and that's quite alright by me. The defense held Miami to a matching number from three and allowed just 37.5% shooting from the floor overall. 

Louisville opened the second quarter with a three from Elif Istanbulluoglu, almost as if to say, "Yeah, we're just pouring it on now." Elif scored Louisville's next basket as well, on a jumper, to reiterate that the Cards were capable of scoring from anywhere with their bigs. Elif's jumper came after Hanna Cavinder's second and final basket of the evening, as she would finish with just five points, far off the pace set by her sister. 

Leading by 12, Louisville went through a short slump that allowed Miami to close back to within seven before a Merissah Russell three-ball fell. The make brought the Cards back into the game a bit, and after another Miami basket with 5:30 remaining put the lead back at eight points, Louisville went on a 12-2 run to close the half... almost. A foul on the last shot put Miami to the line with three seconds remaining and they scored a pair to set the halftime score at 43-27. 

During that run, Tajianna Roberts scored eight of her 14 points with a pair of triples and another jumper. Roberts wouldn't make another three, but she added four rebounds, four assists, and two steals to her 14 points for a solid stat line over 22 minutes. She did tie for the team lead in fouls with three, but at least one was a questionable offensive foul call. Imari Berry had a forgettable night, as she had three fouls in just six minutes and wasn't able to score. 

The third quarter saw Louisville match the first as far as the deficit goes. The Cards put on their biggest scoring run of the night with another boom to close the third, as they scored 12 points over a 2:27 span. Curry started the run with a pair of free throws to put the Cards up 17 and ended it with a three to functionally end the game. Louisville led 65-38 with 1:22 remaining in the third. Miami would again score free throws to close the quarter, but the 25-point fourth quarter deficit was too large to overcome. 

Louisville's fourth quarter left a fair amount to be desired. Curry opened the quarter with a three and Williams matched a Miami bucket to keep the lead at 28, but the Cards couldn't quite stretch it to 30. In fact, they'd stay stuck at 70 points for just under five minutes before Williams bookended the scoring drought with another jumper. Fortunately for Louisville, Miami joined them in their scoring protest for much of the quarter. After Louisville's basket at 8:34, the Canes hit two quick threes and scored a layup to cut the deficit to 20 with 7:01 remaining. 

Caption this classic pic of Walz in the comments.

Jeff Walz called timeout to get things back on track, but apparently only the defense got the memo. At any rate, Williams' jumper with 3:35 remaining was the first score for either team after the timeout. Woof. Isla Juffermans knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:50 remaining, and Louisville would not score again. I've repeatedly talked about Louisville being seemingly unable to put a complete game together. This game was pretty decent, don't get me wrong, but the Cards scored 70 points in the first 31:26 and scored four points over the last 8:34. 

To put that into a bit of perspective, that means the Cards were on an 88.8 ppg pace for just over 75% of the game and scored at just an 18.8 ppg pace for the remainder. And it wasn't just because they called off the dogs. Louisville had three of their 13 turnovers in that stretch and shot 1-9 (0-5) from the floor. Again... Woof. The Cards will take an 18-point conference win, but I am sure Walz will have plenty for Louisville to address in practice ahead of their next matchup.

The FRED Report

 

F - Free Throws: Louisville didn't get to the line very much, but they were efficient when they did. The refs only called 31 fouls total, and 19 of them were on Louisville. Two of Louisville's seven free throws came after a flagrant was awarded on review. Curry knocked those down as part of her 5-5 night and Juffermans had the other two. 7-7 is 100% so that's a capital 'F'.

R - Rebounds: Louisville was outrebounded in this one, which is certainly not ideal. Although they won the second chance points battle 6-5, they were beaten on the glass on both the offensive (8-6) and defensive (25-24) ends. The Cards were technically at a height disadvantage, but they were also outhustled for a fair number (Haley Cavinder and Ahnay Adams, both 5'-6", combined for 10 rebounds). No letter.

Fred Willard was delighted
with Louisville last night.

E - Effort/Execution: Louisville shot 47.5% from the floor and 34.6% from three. They had just 13 turnovers and forced 19 from Miami. If you exclude the fourth quarter, which I'm going to ascribe mostly to bad luck and questionable shot selection, the Cards were a glittering 53% from the floor and 42% from three. If the men's team shot 42% from three they'd score a million points per game. Louisville didn't seem to give up the fight in this one, despite how the fourth quarter looked. I'm awarding a capital 'E', but I completely understand any disagreement on that front. 

D - Defense: We've established that Miami's early opponents were bad, but they entered the game averaging 74.2 points per game and Louisville gave up just 56. Louisville let Haley Cavinder (19) and Cameron Williams (12) score their averages (18.3 and 11.9, respectively), but no one else was in double digits. The Cards also held the Canes well below their shooting averages of 46.5% and 30% from three, as Miami finished just 38.5/23.5%. I've mentioned the turnovers once already, but 19 is more than Miami's average in that category, and the Canes had just a .474 ATO ratio compared to .995 on the season. Another generous(?) grade from me: capital 'D'.

That's a final tally of F-_-E-D, which much like the game was close to perfect with a glaring question mark. 

The win moves the Cards to 9-5 and 2-1 in conference play. They've won their last three games -- their longest streak since November. The Cards won't get much credit from the voters or the committee for the win over Miami, but it should build confidence as they head into a short road trip ahead of a big home game against GT next week. Louisville will get the Demon Deacons of Wake Forest on Sunday in Winston-Salem, and they'll head to Pittsburgh on Thursday. Neither team has a conference win yet, and I'd rate it as "unlikely" that Pitt scores one against Duke before playing the Cards. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case