Louisville women's basketball -- Fast start, balanced scoring lead Cards to 92-48 win...MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

CARDS LEAP OVER LEOPARDS BY 44

Getting five players in double figures and jumping out to a 14-0 lead in the first five minutes were a couple of the keys in Louisville women's basketball's 92-48 victory Sunday afternoon over Lafayette at the KFC YUM! Center in front of 7668 attendees. 

Mariya Moore knocked down both her three-pointers in the opening stretch and would finish with 12 points as Louisville stepped on the accelerator and blew out to a 26-7 first period lead over the Leopards...who were held to just 21% shooting in the first half. 

The Cards led 20-2 after Sam Fuehring took an outlet pass from Briahanna Jackson at the 2:24 mark. Louisville had 15 points off turnovers in that first ten minutes and were well on their way to their fifth win of the season.

A scary moment early when Myisha Hines-Allen came out of the game just 16 seconds into the contest and went to the locker room with the Cards trainer holding her right shoulder. She did return later and re-enter the game and assured me after the contest that she was OK..she had just taken a little impact going after a loose ball and had some pain. 

Hines-Allen came back to play 17 minutes and booked seven points and 14 rebounds. 

The Cards continued the domination in the second quarter...Hines-Allen scored in the paint to give Louisville a 36-9 lead at the 7:56 mark and Bionca Dunham...who played only four minutes because of a slight illness...connected on a putback to give UofL a 46-12 edge with 3 1/2 minutes left in the first half.
Moore ended the Cards first half scoring when she sank a layup with 14 seconds on the clock to raise the score to 48-17. 

The Cards scored 22 points in the paint (their entire second period point total) and Mariya Moore led all scorers with 10 points at the halfway mark. 

Coach Walz began the mass substitution patterns halfway through the third quarter...Louisville had increased their lead to 57-20 when Asia Durr went on a five point run...nailing a three and banking in a layup. Her night was done after that...retiring with 13 points. The Cards went on a 16-7 run over the final five minutes of the third quarter and had amassed a 74-29 lead after three frames. It was time to rest the starters and finish the task. 

One of the team's pre-game objectives was to win the fourth quarter...unfortunately they fell a point short...the visitors from Easton, PA taking the final 10 minutes 19-18. Sydney Zambrotta, Kylee Shook, Brianna Jones, Jasmine Jones and Jessica Laemmle saw the final six minutes of action for Louisville...shooting 11 free throws but making just six. Shook sank two free throws for the Cards final points and Louisville won easily 92-48.


THE FRED REPORT

FRED McMURRAY - film and TV star

Free Throws -- Coach Walz seems to take a slight objection when I approach the subject...

( be sure to listen to the post-game press conference when Coach and Paulie cover a wide area of subjects...including cellular device etiquette, The NFL and certain attention span, protocol and comprehension issues.)

but the Cards did go 12-22 from the charity stripe...that's a meager 54.5% and won't buy the bulldog any biscuits. No Card took more than four and no one made more than two. And, no letter for you in this category. (Talk about my concentration? Really?) 

Rebounding -- Holy Guacamole! This Cards win this stat in a huge fashion...out-grabbing the small and skinny Leopards 62-28. Kudos to Myisha with 14, Mariya and Ciera with seven each and how about Brianna JOnes with six grabs in 13 minutes !!  We proudly award the capital "R" here. 

Effort/Execution -- The Cards shot 48% for the game and had only 19 turnovers on a night where everyone that was able saw a lot of court-time. Points in the paint (54-18) 2nd Chance points (26-5) and Points off Turnovers (33-13) point to lots of hustle. Dust off the capital "E" and hand it down .

Defense -- Louisville got after it early. They had 16 steals, created 25 turnovers and held the Leopards to 48 points and 30% shooting for the game. True, Lafayette probably isn't a Final Four contender...but, given the wide variety of Cards on the court and effort exhibited...we'll award a capital "D" 

Final Tally:    _-R-E-D


THINGS WE LIKED


Don't bogart that ball my friend...pass it over to me...Sonja pointed it out to me (and my short attention span) that there was a lot different scorers last night.  And, 12 of the 13 Cards that played did score (sorry... lil' attack Yorkie Jessica Laemmle no points...but she was busy with three fouls, two assists and two turnovers...) Fuehring and Asia were the tops in scoring with 13 each and three more reached double digits...Mariya 12, Briahanna 11 and Kylee 10.  

"D" em up, Cards! Coach Walz will tell you...defense wins games and Louisville displayed a dominant one last night. The Cards held Lafayette's leading scorer Anna Ptasinski to 0 points and 0-5 shooting in 21 minutes. Cut off the head and the rest of the snake dies, right? No doubt the Leopards are wistfully looking for the upcoming Patriot League schedule and the Colgate's and Bucknell's...they've suffered 25 and 44-point losses in Louisville...with Bowling Green yet to come. 


THINGS NEEDING WORK

Not so fine at the free throw line. I don't want to be a GIF about this...but if you're an All American basketball player...don't ya think you might be able to shoot over 60%? 

Take the final ten. Louisville has had trouble winning the final 10 minutes in games this year. That really doesn't mean a whole lot now...with the assortment of cupcakes on the buffet line...but it might against the Maryland's of the world. Maybe even against a good Chattanooga team. Chances are, it'll be a whole different fourth-quarter line-up than we've been seeing so far...close strong, Cards! 


In summary, a great, feel-good win where the Cards took care of business in fine fashion and they shared the wealth pretty well. (Insert the trivia question time. Where did ESPN's Beth Mowins play her college ball? Why, it was Lafayette!) 

The Cardinal road to Dallas gets a lot tougher from here out. Chattanooga has won both of their games here in Louisville...beat Rutgers to start the season and took top 25 Indiana and Florida to the wire. Jim Foster is one of the tops in the coaching business and the Mocs will be ready to do this bird battle tonight at 7:30 p.m.

This one looks to be a bit tougher than the Saturday and Sunday games. We may see less Cards on the court tonight and more time for those who do play. After tonight, Louisville takes a bit of time off for the Thanksgiving holiday (although I'm sure there will be some practices) before they travel to Springfield, MA to face South Carolina on Sunday, Nov. 27th.

HEAR THE WORD: Audio from the post-game below

MARIYA AND SAM POST-GAME

COACH WALZ  POST-GAME (AUDIO ONLY)


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MEN'S SOCCER ADVANCES WITH 2-1 WIN OVER UCLA

Ken Lolla's UofL men's soccer team took a 2-1 overtime win over UCLA Sunday night at Lynn Stadium to advance to the 3rd round and host Notre Dame next Sunday. 

It was sophomore Tate Schmitt getting the game-ender three minutes and fifty five seconds into the extra session...Louisville tallied first in the defensive struggle and held off the Bruins to get to the extra session. 

The Cards, the #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, improve to 13-5-2 on the season.


VOLLEYBALL SWEEPS AT CLEMSON

Cardinal Volleyball played their final road match of the season and downed Clemson 25-18, 25-23, 25-17 in straight sets to pick up their 10th. win of the year.

Melanie McHenry led the Cards with 14 kills in defeating the Tigers...who have only had one ACC win this season. 

Louisville heads home for a match against Syracuse on Wednesday night at the KFC YUM! Center. 


KORDES PRESSER

We did get word, rather belatedly this morning and by our direct e-mail questioning to an un-named staffer, that Anne Kordes' press conference to discuss her resignation was today at 12:30. It was a matter of Paulie dropping everything he was doing and getting to campus in time. 

Our e-mail address and text is pretty simple to figure out. 100's of people access it each day. It's listed here on the site. Plenty of assistant SID's on campus use it. Some don't. I suppose the thinking is that if the local TV guys show up, all is well. Were they covering her since her arrival and as completely as CARDINAL COUPLE has over the years? 

Just sayin'...

Anyway, we posted a special edition on the informal presser and gave you audio. I'm glad I check my e-mail frequently...

paulie
xxxxx

Durr de force...Cards WBB tumbles Bowling Green 83-58...SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ASIA DURR'S 34 LEADS LOUISVILLE OVER THE FALCONS

'Tour de Force' is a phrase for an impressive performance or achievement that has been accomplished or managed with great skill.

A "Durr de Force" happened Saturday afternoon in the KFC YUM! Center..where Asia Durr scored 34 points (in just 23 minutes) for the Louisville women's basketball squad in a 25-point romp over Bowling Green. 

Durr lit up the scoreboard with eight threes...going 12-18 from the floor...and had Louisville's first 16 points in the third quarter. When she left the game with about five minutes remaining in the third stanza, the score was Bowling Green 36 - Asia Durr 34. The Douglasville, GA sophomore keyed a 31-16 third quarter effort that gave Louisville a comfortable 67-43 lead. In short, she wowed the 8194 in attendance to frenzied levels when three after three kept falling through the next from beyond the arc. 

" Every time we came down the court, they were trying to find me and get me the ball. I was thankful for that." Durr related after the game.

The third quarter wasn't the only bright spot for the Louisville guard. Durr led the Cards with eight first period points and added seven more in the second stanza...helping the Cards forge a 36-27 halftime lead over a pesky Falcons squad that kept hitting clutch threes against the Cards to stay within striking distance. 

Louisville jumped out to a 12-5 lead three minutes into the action (after a Durr three) and pushed that to 18-8 with three minutes left in the first after Briahanna Jackson scored a layup on a fast break keyed by Myisha Hines-Allen...but the Falcons battled back to climb within six at 22-16 after the first ten minutes. The Cards were leading...but the Falcons weren't making it easy for them at all. 


Scoring took a brief holiday in the second quarter...the teams going over three minutes without points...before the Cards went on a 9-3 run over the next 150 seconds to take a 31-19 lead after Hines-Allen popped one in from the paint. Durr nailed another three and made a layup to close out the half...but Bowling Green outscored the Cards 8-5 over the final 3:36 to narrow the UofL lead to 36-27 at halftime.

After the break, it was spotlight on Asia. Her three just six seconds into the start of the final half was followed by two more in the first minute of action. Steals by Hines-Allen and Mariya Moore led to two consecutive layups by Durr and her three with 7:39 left in the quarter culminated a 16-0 Durr run that gave the Cards a 52-29 edge. Asia would nail her final points of the game (a three -- what else?) with 5:37 remaining to set the scoreboard at 58-34. 

Walz experimented with a variety of combinations in the fourth period...Jessica Laemmle and Sydney Zambrotta assuming the "Attack Yorkie" guard roles over the final 4:18 and Brianna Jones showing her range with a nice jumper...the Cards were outscored 7-2 over the final 5:35...but it didn't really matter...Louisville got the final two points of the game when Jones fed Sam Fuehring for a bank-in and the Cards took at 83-58 win to the locker room. 


HOW DID FRED DO? 

Fred Gwynne...who played Herman Munster
in the 60-70's sitcom "The Munsters" 

FREE THROWS --  These were pretty much a non-factor for the Cards...they attempted six and made four (66.6%). This referee crew of Ed, Roy and Angela was so pitiful that they couldn't have called a coin-toss correctly and drove Coach Walz into an absolute melt-down which resulted in a team technical foul with 6:50 left in the second quarter. Bowling Green did go 11-13 from the line. No letter awarded here for the Cards...but a failing grade of "F" for the three stooges in striped shirts. 

REBOUNDING -- Bowling Green won the rebounding battle 40-39. No Card had more than five in the contest (Hines-Allen and Jazmine Jones) but no Card played more than 28 minutes. What was distressing is that after a first half where Bowling Green was held to just one offensive rebound...the Falcons grabbed 11 of them in the final twenty minutes. No letter award for Louisville in rebounding. 


EFFORT/EXECUTION -- We have to award a capital "E" to Louisville here. Based on Durr mostly, but to the team for creating her opportunities as well. The Cards did shoot 45.5% for the game while holding Bowling Green to 35%. Louisville also won the points-in-the-paint battle 38-14.

DEFENSE -- A definite capital "D" here for Louisville...forcing 32 turnovers and getting 16 steals. Only one Falcon managed double figures...reserve Clare Glowniak...who picked up most of hers in the third quarter on free throws and a "bank-in" three pointer. Ciera Johnson had four blocks for UofL, crafty Briahanna Jackson pilfered six steals.

FINAL FRED GRADE:  _-_-E-D 


WHAT WE LIKED

-- Durr that to me again! One of the most impressive performance in the Cards KFC YUM! Center history by Asia! As Myisha Hines-Allen stated in the post-game presser...teams have to pick their poison when it comes to who is going to eliminate them when they play the Cards. At MTSU, it was Mariya. Yesterday, it was a deadly Durr dosage. 

-- Spurtability. Louisville started the second half on a 19-5 run. Finding the hot hand, shutting down the opponent's offense and doing it with the starting five of Durr, Hines-Allen, Moore, and the Johnson gals. The run took BG completely out of the contest and the Cards looked sensational during it.

-- Fine Freshmen. Hats off to Kylee Shook (Six points, three rebounds in 17 minutes) Ciera Johnson (Eight points and four blocks in 24 minutes) and Jazmine Jones (Four points and five rebounds in 13 minutes). A fine effort and...they're only going to get better. 


THINGS TO WORK ON


-- Turnovers anyone? 16 Louisville turnovers is a bit too many against a team of 0-3 Bowling Green's talent. 11 of them came from non-starters, granted, but taking care of the ball is everyone's responsibility...whether you're a starter or not. 

-- If it's a miss, grab it! Losing the rebounding battle for the third time out of four games this season...it does make one appreciate what a healthy Cortnee Walton did for this squad. Until she returns, Ciera, Myishia, Sam, Bionca, Kylee and Mariya need to be aggressive, block out and go for the missed shot. 

Yes, a nice win to start out the three-day home-stretch. Asia Durr put on what has to be an ACC-PLAYER-OF-THE-WEEK performance. The Cards take to Denny Crum Court today at 4:30 to face Lafayette...who fell in the first game 68-43 to Chattanooga. Besides guard Anna Ptasinski...the Leopards don't have a wjole lot going for them. She's a three threat. 

Chattanooga and Bowling Green get the action started at 2 p.m. today in the Chicken Bucket. 

LINK: POST-GAME ASIA AND MYISHA

LINK: COACH WALZ DISCUSSES WIN 


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SOCCER STARTS NCAA QUEST AT LYNN TODAY

Best of luck to Ken Lolla's Louisville men's soccer squad today...the face UCLA in second round NCAA soccer action over at Lynn Stadium. It's a 5:00 start for the Cards...Louisville (12-5-2) enters as the #4 seed in the Big Dance. 

The ACC Network Extra will have the game broadcast



The Cards would face either Notre Dame or Loyola-Chicago at Lynn if they advance. Get 'em guys! 


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THE BIG SHOW!

If you missed THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR yesterday, no need to take to the streets and riot. We've got the re-broadcast link for ya below. Case, Worldwide and I had a huge time discussing the joy and excitement of UofL women's sports (mostly) and the disappointment of Football. 

Be sure to catch former Cardinal Couple intern and now distinguished AP writer Sam Draut's hilarious end to his interview with Belnont head coach Cam Newbauer!!

Enjoy!!!

LINK: THE CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR 11/19/16


paulie
xxxxx

Cards put seven in double figures in win over Lafayette -- Saturday Cardinal Couple

CARDS ROLL TO 102-61 WIN OVER LAFAYETTE

Parity was the name of the game in the KFC YUM! Center Friday night as seven Cardinals reached double figures in the 41 point win over Patriot League member Lafayette.

Parity was also the mode in playing time...no Card seeing over 28 minutes or less than 11...as Louisville goes 6-0 on the season. 

As we've grown used to this year, the Cards took awhile to get started...trailing 20-18 after Lafayette guard Jamie O'Hare hit her third three of the game with 13:27 left in the first half. Louisville responded with a 14-0 run over the next five minutes...six different Cardinals scoring in the stretch that saw Lafayette commit five turnovers and miss five shots. 

The Leopards finally got a Emily Homan layup to make it 32-22 Louisville...but the Cards took off on a 23-3 run in the next six minutes to lead 55-25 after Jude Schimmel connected on a layup off a Mariya Moore assist. 

56-28 at halftime...Louisville hitting 61% from the floor and outscoring Lafayette 36-6 in the paint. 

Mayor for Life Jerry Abramson makes his first visit of the season

UofL steadily increased the lead as the second half wore on...Walz having all five starters on the bench seven minutes into the half and leading 77-42. It became a succession of Louisville grabbing rebounds and coming down the court in transition to hit close in shots and layups. 


At the "under 8" media timeout Louisville enjoyed a 87-48 lead and the only question remained was at what point would Louisville reach the 100-point mark and who would put them over? My guess was Megan Deines...and she had the chance with a minute remaining and the Cards ahead 99-61...but her three missed badly and Louisville reached the century mark with 38 seconds remaining on a Emmonnie Henderson free throw.


Seven players with 10 or more...led by Myisha Hines-Allen with 18. Jude Schimmel followed with 15, including 4 threes. Henderson added 13 (in fourteen minutes) Deines, Hammond and Moore chipped in 11 each and Smith finished with 10. If Sherrone Vails had been able to cash in on a couple of easy ones beneath the basket...she would have joined them...but the senior center finished with six points. Dyer was good for four, Ariana Freeman put in three and Arica Carter logged 19 minutes with no points. 

What we liked:

- Jude breaking the slump and going 4 for 5 from three point range. She attributed it to remaining confident in her shot and slightly changing her aim. It worked.

- 44-28 Cardinal advantage on the boards. Shawnta' Dyer with 10 of those in just 14 minutes.

- 33-2 edge in points off turnovers. Louisville forced 22 Leopard miscues and capitalized on 16 of them. 

What needs work:

- We'll bring it up again. Free throws.19-30 and 63% percent. They're sneaking up on the 70 percentile but Moore and Henderson were 10 for 16 combined. I asked Walz in the post-game presser if they emphasised them in practice. His deadpan reply was:

"No...they're over-rated."

I almost fell for the reply...based on what I saw tonight.

- 43% shooting in the second half. I know...this one is kinda nitpicking...but Lafayette had a higher second half percentage. 44%. 

The Cards put it all together tonight and won one for fun in front of 7923. Mariya Moore with 10 assists and Louisville's sole double-double for the night. 62 points in the paint and 19 from the charity stripe. 37 bench points. The machine rolls on...next stop Valparaiso on Sunday at 2:30 on ESPN3.

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With out of town commitments and the annual UofL v. UK football game today...Paulie and Worldwide Jeff won't be in the studio to do the weekly broadcast of CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO on WCHQ 100.9 FM.

(We'll let you guess who is travelling and who is tailgating)

We'll return next week with our hour-long dissertation of UofL women's sports...GO CARDS TODAY versus UK!!!

-paulie- 

LEOPARDS will need to be fast against WBB tonight -- Friday Cardinal Couple

3-1 Lafayette faces Louisville women's basketball

In the animal world, the leopard is known for its blazing speed. These feline counterparts on the women's basketball circuit, the Lafayette College Leopards could use some of this quickness as they take on their toughest opponent of the young basketball season...the Louisville Cardinals...in the KFC YUM! Center Friday night at 7 p.m.

In games against Delaware, Hartford and Rider, Lafayette has achieved double-digit wins. A loss at Columbia by seven saw them trim a double-digit lead late. The Patriot League member from Easton, PA averages 23 threes a contest and has five players who have attempted ten or more this season.


The Leopards also have four players who average 10 or more points per game. Emily Homan, a 6'3" senior forward, is rolling at a 19 PPG clip. Jamie O'Hare, a 5'6" junior guard, is second in scoring with 13.8 a contest. Linnel Macklin contributes 13.0 a night and 5'5" senior guard and Louisville Sacred Heart graduate Maddie Peabody has 40 points in four games. Peabody led the Leopards with 16 points in their last game vs. Rider. 

Louisville (5-0) has faced few challenges in the early season and will look to do what works for them...creating transition offense, scoring in the paint and causing havoc on defense. They should be able to get to the boards without any trouble...the Leopards average only 39 rebounds a game and are shooting 39% on the year. 

Bria Smith and Mariya Moore have provided the front court spark for the Cards this season and the strong paint crew of Sara Hammond, Myisha Hines-Allen, Shawnta' Dyer, Emmonnie Henderson and Sherrone Vails look to be in mid-season form already...Louisville is currently outrebounding opponents by an average of 8.2 a game. 

The Cards have shown a propensity to play to the level of their opponents early in games this season and then deliver exciting runs that create insurmountable leads. That's all well and good against the November opponents...but things ramp up in December with Iowa and Kentucky in the KFC YUM! Center. We'd like to see the Cards step on the accelerator right out of the locker room and lead by double digits after the first few minutes of tonight's game. 


Can the Leopards run with UofL? Five have tried and failed. We'll be happy with another 20+ win and would love to see Jude come out of her shooting slump.

Light up Louisville is also going on tomorrow night...so expect a busy downtown. The annual event is scheduled for 6 p.m.

We'd also like to wish Syd Brackemyre a full, complete and speedy recovery from the knee surgery she recently had performed. We're looking forward to see her up and around on the Cardinal sidelines and getting her career started next season here at the 'Ville.

paulie