Kianna Smith Gets Another Seven Days with L.A. -- Gabriela Leon NCAA Woman of the Year nominee -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

SPARKS RE-SIGN KIANNA SMITH TO ANOTHER SEVEN-DAY CONTRACT

The story of Kianna Smith getting another run with the still-playoff eligible LA Sparks would normally grab a bit more news than it has for the club, but Liz Cambage walking off the team has overshadowed Kianna's return 

She'll be eligible for the Sparks visit to Phoenix Thursday night for a 10 p.m. contest. At 12-15, they're hoping for a few wins to grab third place in the WNBA Western Division. Phoenix needs a win as well, at 12-16/ The best eight teams (regardless of division) make the next round. LA is currently tied for eighth overall. and, adjusting to not having Cambage will ramp up the pressure on rookie Olivia Nelson Odoba. 

Smith played in two games in her first seven day contract with L.A, She helped L.A. beat Phoenix on July 4th. in eight minutes of play and also saw action in the July 7th game against Seattle, where she scored her first WNBA points. The Storm destroyed L.A. by 37 points in that one. 

She'll be the sixth guard on the Sparks roster (along with Lexie Brown, Jordin Canada, Chennedy Carter, Brittany Sykes -- no relation to me but she DOES have that famous Sykes humor-- and Kristi Tolliver. and she'll get in three games It looks like. At Phoenix, Minnesota and at New York (where she'll see AD). .

Whether it be with L.A. or someone else, Smith deserves a full-time gig with a WNBA squad. She's a proven scorer, decent three-point maker and team player. Let's hope Kianna makes the most of this "week with LA" and it leads to a full-time chance down the road. 

GABRIELA LEON NOMINATED FOR NCAA WOMAN OF THE YEAR CANDIDATE AWARD

Gabriela Leon is one of two ACC student-athletes who has been nominated for the award with NC State's Jaeda Daniel (women's tennis). The two hope to go from conference nominee to the top 10 in Division I. 

Leon makes perfect sense as a nominee.. After all, she's the only one on the UofL campus who can answer to the title "NCAA Champion". Her community service resume is quite impressive. She's worked with mentoring children at Norton's Hospital events. Read Across America program, time volunteering with Parkland Boys and Girls Club and Blessings In A Backpack.  

Ten candidates from DI, DII and DIII get pared down three per division (nine overall) -- and from there, the top choice is made. 

13 ACC nominees were reduced to two. Tori Dilfer was one of the 13 but did not make the final cut. 

To learn more about the award, go to https://www.ncaa.org/sports/2013/12/9/ncaa-woman-of-the-year.aspx

Best of luck to Gabriela ! 

paulie

Cards Nominated for Honor -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Forrest and Schneider are NCAA WotY Nominees

Each year since 1991, the NCAA has named a "Woman of the Year". The award is based on academic achievement, athletic excellence, community service, and leadership. Each school nominates its own athletes to their conference office. Each conference office around the country will select one nominee to advance to the next round. At that point, the NCAA Selection Committee (hopefully not the same one as the basketball or baseball tournaments) picks the top-ten from each of the three NCAA divisions. The "Top 30" will all be honored at the final announcement ceremony in October. From the Top 30, the list is trimmed to a Top 9, three from each division, prior to the ceremony. The overall winner will be announced at the ceremony on October 17th in Indianapolis.

Louisville's nominees this season were Makenli Forrest and Meghan Schneider. Forrest will have a good claim at the athletic excellence portion for sure. She's a national champion in the Indoor Weight Throw after claiming gold this year. She also won the event at the ACC level. Adding to her athletic performances, Forrest was named the ACC Indoor Track and Field Scholar Athlete of the Year and was a 2021 Postgraduate Scholar. She sits on Louisville's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee as well.

Schneider graduated with her bachelors degree in May with a 4.0. This came while studying biology with a concentration in subcellular genetics and minoring in Spanish. For her studies, she was named the NFHCA Scholar-Athlete of the Year and received the Elite 90 Award for the NCAA Field Hockey Championship. She was also named a finalist for the Honda Award. On the athletic side, Schneider helped the field hockey team reach their first ever ACC regular season title and their first NCAA Final Four appearance. She was the NFHCA Defensive Player of the Week in October and was named to the All-American Third Team.

Both Forrest and Schneider are excellent candidates for the award, as their community service and leadership don't show on the page but have been evident in their time on campus. We'll keep you updated as the process develops. 

No CCRH This Week

For a variety of personal reasons, and a lack of topics to really dig into, we'll be taking this week off from the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. In the meantime, come up with some topics you'd like to see us cover in a quiz or dig deeper into on the site. We should be back with the show next week so keep checking the site for updates.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-