Lady Cards lose in overtime 71-68 to Rutgers.

GAME REPORT:

-Louisville loses by 3 in overtime.

Erica Wheeler hits a desperation 3 with the shot clock running out in overtime to give the Scarlet Knights a 70-68 lead with 1:13 left to give Rutgers a lead they would not relinquish. Louisville could not score on their final possession, Bria Smith missing a driving layup, Shawnta Dyer rebounding the miss but is stripped by Khadija Rushdan, who is then fouled by Becky Burke. Rushdan hits a free throw for the final margin with 1.3 left.  Louisville could not get a shot off on the inbounds play.

The action was fast and furious from the opening tip. Burke nailed a three to give Louisville the early lead but five straight Rutgers points gave them the lead. A Sherrone Vails layup tied it at 5-5 but the Scarlet Knights responded with 5 straight again to lead 10-5 with 15:45 left. Louisville rallied back with Shawnta Dyer inside and regained the lead 15-14 in Shoni Schimmel's only basket of the first half. The Cards would stretch that out to 23-17 after two more Dyer baskets, A Cierra Warren layup and score from Vails inside.

The 2-3 Louisville zone was confusing the Scarlet Knights but they went on another 5-0 run to tie it on a Wheeler 3 - her second of six in the game. The final 2:23 of the first half belonged to the Lady Cards, though...Warren with a put back, and then a layup on a Shoni feed. Becky Burke's three had UofL up 30-23 and two Shelby Harper free throws made it the Lady Cards by nine. Cierra Warren missed the first of a 1 and 1 with .02 left in the half...but the Cards took a 32-23 lead into the locker room.

Dyer led Louisville with 10 points, Warren and Burke had six each, Vails 4, Smith, Shoni and Shelby (the "S" squad...) 2 each. Sara Hammond played in the first half but did not score. Jude Schimmel, Nita Slaughter and Asia Taylor did not see action in the first twenty minutes. Rutgers was led by Monique Oliver's 10 points.

Louisville pushed the lead to 11 when Warren hit the opening bucket of the second half an held a 41-28 advantage with 16:30 left  in the game when Burke hit three free throws after being fouled on a three point attempt. Rutgers responded with a full court press, though and it seemed to rattle the Cards. The Scarlet Knights took off on a 11-2 run to close within 43-39 after a April Sykes jumper with 11:52 to go. 

A technical foul was called on Rutgers' Monique Oliver for taunting at the 10:36 mark and Shoni hit 1 of 2 free throws...but Rutgers took off on a 11-4 run to grab the lead at 50-48 when Sykes hit two free throws with 6:41 to go. Louisville tied it on two Smith free throws and the game went back and forth in lead changes for the next four minutes...Sykes canning a three to put Rutgers up 58-56 with 2:53 remaining. Smith tied it with two more charity tosses at the 1:58 mark, after a Scarlet Knight free throw following Vails fifth foul. Two more free throws from Smith gave Louisville a 60-59 advantage with 29 seconds left. Wheeler tied it with 1 of 2 free throws and 16 seconds on the clock. A Shoni errant pass gave the ball back to Rutgers with 8.7 left but they could not score on two attempts and it was 60-60 at the end of regulation.

The Lady Cards drew first blood in overtime when Warren connected in the paint. After Oliver countered with a jumper, Warren put back a missed Cardinal shot and UofL led 64-62.

Sykes was effective for the Scarlet
Knights in the second half.

Sykes bombed a three with 3:15 left to make it 65-64 Rutgers but Burke nailed both charity tosses with 2:26 left to give the Lady Cards a 66-65 lead. Oliver hit another jumper to make it 67-66 but a Dyer putback had Louisville on top 68-67 with 1:43 to go. That set the stage for Wheeler's heroics and Louisville loses by three in overtime. 

The Cards shot 43% for the game but went just 2-9 from three range, both hit by Burke. Rutgers shot 39%, hit a season high 9 of 17 three pointers (6 from Wheeler, 3 from Sykes) and outrebounded the Cards 40-33. Louisville did hit 20-22 free throws. They committed 18 turnovers. 21 points from the "killer B's" today (Burke and Bria) and Smith had the final four Cardinal points in regulation.

Dyer led Louisville in scoring with 16 points. Warren had 14, Burke 11, Vails 10, Smith 10 Shoni 5 and Harper 2. Hammond and Jude played but didn't score. Taylor and Slaughter did not see action. For Rutgers, Wheeler led all scorers with 23 points (17 in the second half), Sykes had 19 (17 in the second half) and Oliver finished with 17. Rushdan had nine for R.U.

WHAT WE LIKED ABOUT THE GAME:

-Big effort from the "bigs". 40 points from Vails, Dyer and Warren. Some excellent passing from Shoni and Smith to set them up, but a lot of hard work from the trio against the talented RU front line.

-Smith at the line. The freshman showed nerves of steel with 6-6 free throw shooting in the final 6:39...when Louisville needed her.
Her drives to the basket resulted in missed shots but free throw attemps...which she cashed in on.
THINGS TO WORK ON...

-Rebounding. Louisville was killed time and time again on Rutgers putbacks and Oliver and Sykes did most the damage. Rushdan was effective as well.

-Shoni shutdown. The Scarlet Knights kept Shoni from creating...just five points in 45 minutes. She did find others open and they benefited...but when was the last time she played a game without hitting a three and got shut out in the final 13 minutes of a game?

All in all, a heartbreaking loss that the Lady Cards suffer. A great effort by Rutgers in front of 5,500 fans to overcome the Louisville second half lead and win. A team that was second worst in the league in three point percentage gets hot today. Defense was the difference... and Rutgers played it better.
.
..
...
.

Rutgers next for Lady Cards

.
SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Louisville faces tough road test against the Scarlet Knights.

-Saturday action and predictions...WBB

Jeff Walz's University of Louisville women's basketball team returns to the east coast for hoops action today...visiting the 14-2, 3-0 #8 Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Game time is 2 p.m. Programming note...the radio feed locally will be on 1080 AM. WHAS and WKRD are slotted for Cats and the UofL men's team. Hey, 1080 is better than hard to pick up 101.7 FM. Thanks, UofL!

Ok, girls...back to practice. We know you're cute and witty...

The Scarlet Knights handled Pittsburgh last time out pretty easily 63-39. Senior Khadijah Rushdan scored a game-high 14 points against the Panthers and junior Monique Oliver added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. In the game, Rushdan scored 12 of her points in the first twenty minutes, leading RU to a 37-24 advantage. Senior April Sykes had nine first half points and finished with 11. She is getting close to the career 1000 point-mark with 980 currently on the books. It also seems she's picked up a bit of maturity in her senior season. Lady Cards fans might remember her cheap, flagrant foul last year as the game ended in the KFC YUM! Center. Louisville won 56-45. Sykes had 20 points in the contest, launching nine 3-pointers against UofL and hitting three.

The Scarlet Knights dominated Pitt offensively, outscoring them 40-12 in the paint. They also dominated the second chance points 20-6. The defense was there for C.Vivian Stringer's squad as well...Pitt did not score inside until 3:34 remained in the first half. Rutgers scored 29 points off 21 Pitt turnovers. 

Only Miami and Tennessee have hung losses on RU this season. Rutgers is seventh in the BIG EAST is scoring offense (65.7) and third in scoring defense (51.7). 

Sykes (no relation) can take over
games.

Rutgers gets it done with the team concept. Sykes (14.4) and Rushdan (12.4) are the leading scorers, Oliver leads in rebounds (8.2) and also shoots 55% from the floor. Erica Wheeler is the theft leader, with 34 in 16 games. She also leads in blocked shots with 30 this season...fourth best in the BIG EAST. Wheeler and Sykes are the three point threats.

Impact players for the Scarlet Knights also include Betnijah Laney and Briyona Canty. Rutgers will try and use their incredible strength in the paints and Stringer's dreaded "55" defense to keep the Lady Cards off balance and away from the boards today. WE don't expect a high scoring affair in the RAC. We hope that the "stripes" don't get whistle-happy either, but with the physical play of C. Vivian's squad...it could happen.

Louisville simply MUST get some sort of positive production out of the combination of "bigs" Warren, Vails, Dyer, Taylor, Hammond and Slaughter. Rutgers will try to contain and shut down Burke and Shoni Schimmel's outside shooting and Smith's penchant for driving the baseline and scoring. Whether or not Jude Schimmel and Shelby Harper can have much of an effect on the talented RU guards remains to be seen.

We'll have a full recap of the action for you here at CARDINAL COUPLE later today.

*******************************************************

Besides the Lady Cards and Rutgers...five other BIG EAST contests are taking place today. Here's who is playing and who we pick...

West Virginia at Providence. A good matchup. WVU is 3-1 in conference, Providence 1-3. The home court advantage for the Friars won't be enough...WVU goes to 4-1.

UCONN at Villanova. Another Husky blowout. Yawn. Next?

Notre Dame at Cincinnati. The Irish may get a tough test from the under-rated UC guards but the Irish prevail here by 20 or so.

USF at Seton Hall. We think the USF guards will have another field day. They should handle Seton Hall by double digits.

Pittsburgh at DePaul. Even without Keisha Hampton, DePaul is still a top five BIG EAST team. They'll handle the 0-4 in BIG EAST Panthers with little problem.

WE are split on the Louisville v. Rutgers game...Sonja picking the LADY CARDS and Paul choosing Rutgers...so we're not making this one part of the prediction thread. GO GET THE UPSET, LADY CARDS...

How are we doing? Quite well, thank you. 7-0 on the week. We expect to be 12-0 after today.
.

Cards "Mo" prevails...Louisville 56 - Rutgers 45

REID HAS 17 in 11 point
LOUISVILLE win.

In a game that could have been pre-billed as the 'battle of Mo'...Louisville's Monique Reid scored 12 second half points and Louisville went on an improbable but exciting ten minute 17-0 run late in the second half to defeat Rutgers in the KFC YUM Center Saturday night before 15061 fans.

Monique Oliver, talented post for C.Vivian Stringer's Rutgers squad, was held to eight points...two in the final twenty minutes of play. Stringer is pictured here, dejectedly leaving after the loss.

Louisville trailed 42-39 with 11:21 to go in the game, following an April Sykes 3 pointer. The Scarlet Knights would not score again until 1:33 remained in the contest...another Sykes three that pulled Rutgers to the final margin of 56-45. The ball simply wouldn't go through the net for Rutgers...as they missed seven shots in the almost ten minute span...six of them 3 point attempts. They also committed five turnovers in that stretch.

It was the 3 ball that had Rutgers rolling and in the lead prior to that. Using a three from Erica Wheeler to take an early lead...the Scarlet Knights went a torrid 11-17 from the field in the first twenty minutes (64.7%) and led by as many as seven during the first half before a 11-4 Louisville run gave the Cards a 19-18 lead with 6:20 in the first half. The half found the Cards down by two...Shoni Schimmel missing two three point attempts in the final five seconds when she probably could have gone to the hoop for a layup. April Sykes torched the Cardinal defense for 12 first half points...and Louisville produced an anemic 26.9% (7-26) shooting...lucky to be down by only two at the intermission. Tia Gibbs led the Cards with eight first half points.

At halftime, Jeff Walz preached defensive intensity and promised his squad that if they turned up the pressure...56 points would be enough to win the game. He ought to play the lottery tonight...the Cards finished with 56 exactly and Louisville forced Rutgers into 13 second half turnovers and out rebounded the Scarlet Knights by three.

The 17-0 run was a deceptive thing of beauty. Following Sykes's three, Antonita Slaughter returned the favor to tie the score at 42 all. Reid put the Cards ahead to stay on a layup with a Shoni Schimmel assist. Becky Burke canned a three on the next Cards possession and a Rutgers turnover provided Monique Reid a layup that made it 47-42. Another Rutgers turnover gave Reid another layup and a deep Scmimmel three had the Lady Cards up 52-42 with six minutes to go. That stretch may well have been the loudest the KFC YUM Center has been for a womens' game this year. Louisville got a layup from Keshia Hines and a Burke jumper over the next four minutes to hold a 14 point lead before Sykes's three broke the spell.

Things got a little ugly with 33 seconds to go when Sykes shoved Reid to the floor following a missed Rutgers 3 point attempt. Cardinal teammates restrained Reid from retaliating and the game ended with a half court Schimmel three falling short at the buzzer.

Reid was comical about the incident after the game.

"Yeah, she (Sykes) shoved me down for no reason and I was cool about it...but I had to go after her to show her I'm not a punk...but Shoni and Nita were stopping me...laughing...reminding me we were up by eleven."

Reid led the Cards with 17 points and a hard fought six rebounds in 36 minutes of play. Schimmel added 12 with five boards and Tia Gibbs finished with eight points and seven rebounds during 38 minutes on the court. Sykes led all scorers with 20 points...Erica Wheeler drilled three 3 balls for her nine points.

The win pushes Louisville to 14-8 and 5-3 in the BIG EAST. Rutgers takes their second straight BIG EAST loss and falls to 12-8, 5-2. Louisville returns to action Tuesday Night when Georgetown comes to the YUM for a 7 p.m. tip off.

Monique faces Monique on Saturday

FRIDAY @ C.C.

-Rutgers visits the Bucket Saturday

.

-LIT action/results

.

Monique is coming to town. As in Monique Oliver, the sophomore center for C.Vivian Stringer's Rutgers womens' basketball team.

.

Monique is already in town and waiting. As in Monique Reid, junior forward for Jeff Walz's Lady Cards.

.

The Saturday matchup at 6 p.m. will be a good one. The Scarlet Knights, fresh off a loss to visiting Connecticut 63-44 on Wednesday, are looking for their sixth win in seven BIG EAST contests. Louisville...who fell by eleven on the road to Marquette...is hoping for a win to keep from going to 4-4 in conference play. For the Cards to be successful, they'll need to stop Monique and get a big game out of Monique. Let's look at the visiting Monique...

.

"She's going to be a big time player," head coach C.Vivian Stringer notes. "I knew the minute she signed with us. I don't normally make that kind of comment about a player. She was sharing time last year. She knows it's her time now."

.

And, she has responded. A 27 point performance at Syracuse against standout center Kayla Alexander in a Rutgers win. 21 points and 17 rebounds in another upset win over Georgetown.

.

"She realizes that she can take over a game now." says junior guard Khadijah Rushdan. Her sophomore year has brought a knowledge and maturity that benefits the Scarlet Knights.

.

"Last season, I was just trying to get to know the program and do what coach Stringer asked. This year, I'm more focused and confident." Oliver reveals. She's not the only Scarlet Knight that is on the improve, either.

.

Guard Rushdan is averaging 14 points a game and 3 point specialist April Sykes (no relation) is in double figures also for Rutgers. Add forward Chelsey Lee to the mix and Rutgers can hurt you several different ways. They'll most likely try to use their power game inside and the pressure defense that is a staple of Stringer coached teams to control the pace against the free-wheeling Cards and keep the score in the sixties.

.

Louisville will try to counter with the dangerous transition game that allows the Cards to score in waves against opponents. They must find a way to compete on the boards, however...something that Louisville has had trouble with in losses to Notre Dame, Connecticut and Marquette. Monique Reid will find the going tough in the paint against the aggressive Scarlet Knight front line and if the Cards are to pull this one out...the 3 point shooting of Becky Burke, Shoni Schimmel, Tia Gibbs and Antonita Slaughter will have to be clicking.

.

Should be a fun one. It's "White Out" night...so if you go, dress accordingly.

,

(some information for this article is from nj.com)

.

************************************************************************************

.

Action continues in the Republic Bank LIT Tournament. Thursday's scores:

.

#1 Manual 68 - Assumption 55

#2 Mercy 52 - Bullitt East 43

#10 Sacred Heart 57 - J'Town 42

#11 Butler 57 - Christian Academy 40

.

Four games on tap for Friday.

.

#2 Mercy vs. #.7 Marion County 4 p.m.

#10 Sacred Heart vs. #9 Scott County 5:30 p.m.

#1 Manual vs. Owensboro Catholic 7 p.m.

#11 Butler vs. #6 Boone County 8:30 p.m.

.

The action is heating up...so head over to Knights Gym at Bellarmine today to catch four excellent matchups.

.