-Schimmel's 17 lead Louisville to win.
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It was the knockdown, drag thru the mud battle most expected. Louisville, though, withstood all the West Virginia punches, elbows and take downs to defeat the Mountaineers by 10 in the KFC YUM Center Sunday night before 12251 fans and an ESPN 2 audience...
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CARDINAL COUPLE'S Sonja, pictured here with vocalist extraordinaire Jerry Newby, remarked after the game that all the fray needed was Michael Buffer in the center of the ring and cut men in the corners. Her photo-op with Newby right before the game may have been one of the last non-violent things that occured on Denny Crum Court the rest of the night...
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Indeed, it was Louisville defeating WVU at their own game of half court, pound it out brutal ball. Defense made the difference in this one...Louisville holding the Mountaineers to 26% shooting for the game, including an ice cold 1-12 from 3 point range. WVU out rebounded the "Ville" 39-29 but some key free throw shooting down the stretch preserved the win for Walz's crew.
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The teams battled back and forth early on...neither grabbing a lead of more than three until a Becky Burke three sent Louisville to a 15-11 advantage with 9:18 left in the first half. It was short lived, though...as the Mountaineers responded with a 9-0 run over the next 4 1/2 minutes to grab a 20-15 lead after two Korinne Campbell free throws. From there, though...Louisville roared back to outscore WVU 8-2 over the final 4:44, taking the halftime lead of 23-22 on two Sherrone Vails free throws with .5 seconds on the clock. Becky Burke led all scorers at the half coming off the bench for eight points. Monique Reid did not play in the first half for Louisville because of a sprained ankle during pre-game warm ups.
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The Cards went on an early second half 7-0 run to gain a 32-25 lead after a Schimmel basket at the 14:48 mark. A couple of minutes later, Schimmel would sink an incredible three with the shot clock running out to put Louisville up by ten. WVU rallied back, though, and outscored the Cards 9-2 to make it 39-36 after two Madina Ali free throws at the 8:04 mark. Seconds before, though...the YUM crowd came to their feet when Monique Reid hopped off the exercise bike and entered the game for the first time. Louisville pushed the lead back out to 41-36 with another buzzer beating jumper by Schimmel and a Reid layup. WVU would get no closer than five over the remaining 6:24 after Tia Gibbs netted a contested three as the shot clock once again drew to a end to put Louisville up 46-39. Louisville preserved the win with 9 for 10 free throw shooting over the final 3:53.
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The game was physical...to say the least. WVU's Liz Repella threw diminutive Shelbly Harper to the floor late in the first half on what should have been an intentional foul at the very least. It was not called (one of several awful officiating decisons)...but tough as nails Harper got up laughing as the rest of the Lady Cards looked ready to go after Repella as a unit. Repella would later foul out after mugging Reid after a rebound. The WVU star ended her night with 3:53 to go with only three points and five boards...going a horrible 1-11 from the floor. Ayana Dunning picked up four fouls for Mike Carey's bunch in just 18 minutes but got 11 points...mostly from right underneath the basket after sending Keisha Hines and Sherrone Vails to the floor numerous times with shoves, bumps, a few tosses and elbows. She's got a future on Bill Stewart's WVU football team's offensive line with her "open the path at all costs" style of play. The style is one the Mountaineers live or die by...their overall 1-12 three point shooting was painful to watch. Actually, anything more than five feet from the basket seemed to have very little chance of going thru the hoop for them. What was even worse was the referee's decisions to send WVU forward Madina Ali to the line every time that a Cardinal crossed her shadow in the second half. After zero free throw attempts in the first half...Ali benefited from hitting eight of nine charity stripe chances in the final twenty minutes...leading the WVU scoring for the game with 12 points.
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The philosophy is that any fight you can walk away from a winner is a good one though...and Louisville survived a heavyweight 15 round brawlfest tonight in the YUM. Beisdes Schimmel's game high 17 points, Tia Gibbs hit double figures with 11 points in 18 minutes and Becky Burke ended with 10.
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It won't get easier next time out for Louisville (16-9, 7-4). A mid week trip awaits to Syracuse...another squad that lives and dies by the punch, shove and elbows. WVU (20-6, 6-6) gets six days off before heading to Pittsburgh for the women's version of the two schools' "Backyard brawl" rivalry. That one should be good for a few loosened teeth and bruises....
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Robbie Bartlett returned to sing the pre-game national anthem tonight. Robbie (along with Jerry Newby) are two definite crowd favorites and we think that UofL should give the fans what they want and give them many more turns at the microphone in future UofL home games...
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