Saturday Cardinal Couple -- Rowing ready for NCAA Championships

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE


- Rowing heads to Indy with major upsets in mind


- Boltja an All-American


- Fellerhoff and Shine eliminated


- Radio Today!




The Louisville rowing team learned its heat race assignments
and seeding for the 2014 NCAA Rowing Championship on Tuesday afternoon as the
complete field of 22 teams was revealed on NCAA.com.

 

Earning their first NCAA Championship berth as an automatic qualifier with last
Sunday’s dominating win at the American Athletic Conference Championship, the
Cardinals will compete in the three-day event scheduled for May 30-June 1 at
Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis, Ind. Overall, the 22 teams in this year’s
championship are comprised of 11 automatic qualifiers and 11 at-large
selections.

 

Louisville’s varsity eight boat was seeded 16th overall and will compete in Heat
1 against San Diego, USC, Ohio State and Michigan. The Cardinals’ second varsity
eight crew was seeded No. 15 and will open the event in Heat 2 against Oklahoma,
Notre Dame, Stanford and Princeton. Louisville’s varsity four boat was seeded
No. 14 and race in Heat 3 against Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin
and Jacksonville.

 

More information on the 2014 NCAA Rowing Championship is available online at
http://www.ncaa.com/sports/rowing/d1 .

 

2014 NCAA Rowing Championship – May 30-June 1

Eagle Creek Park – Indianapolis, Ind.

 

Varsity Eight – Heat 1

San Diego, USC, Ohio State, Michigan, Louisville


Second Varsity Eight – Heat 2

Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Stanford, Princeton, Louisville


Varsity Four – Heat 3

Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Louisville, Jacksonville


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Nikki Boltja's senior campaign is concluding as her most decorated one. The University of Louisville women's lacrosse attacker earned WomensLax.com All-America honors on Friday.
Boltja is one of 25 players on the website's All-America team and the only player from the BIG EAST on the squad.  Earlier this week, Boltja earned first team IWLCA All-America honors to become the first in program history to achieve the feat. In 2014, the Medina, Ohio, native also collected first team all-region honors, unanimous BIG EAST Attack Player of the Year status, and all-BIG EAST first team accolades. After totaling six goals and four assists, she was named to the league's all-tournament team.  She has achieved all-BIG EAST and all-region honors each of the last three years.Boltja finished the year ranked third nationally in goals (71), goals per game (3.55), and points per game (5.00), and fourth in points (100). She registered 14 hat tricks this year and totaled the 24th-most assists in the country (29).  Career-wise, Boltja finishes first on the school's career charts in free-position goals (52), second in points (235) and goals (193), third in assists (42) and game-winning goals (9), and ninth in game starts

Her coach, Kellie Young, told me a couple of years ago that Nikki had the strongest work effort of any player she had ever seen, or coached. Night or day, sun or snow...Nikki was continually practice her show and her moves to get open and score. Looks like it paid off...


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Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine had formidable opponents in the first round
of the NCAA Doubles Championship but just walking on McWhorter Court in Athens,
Georgia  at the national championship was a historical moment for the Cardinals.

 

Louisville’s most successful doubles pair in school history drew the No. 3
ranked singles player in the country, Kristie Ahn, who partnered with the No.
21-ranked singles player, Carol Zhou from Stanford.  Fellerhoff and Shine, who
made the finals in the ITA Indoor National Championship, took the first set 6-4
before falling 6-3, 6-2 in the next two.  Ahn and Zhao improved to 29-5 with the
win and advanced in the bracket.

 

"This was a high level match. The points were being won and not given away.
Stanford is a very good team obviously and they executed a little more than
Julia and Becca. We definitely had opportunities to win it, so the only
disappointment is in the loss! These two have elevated Louisville tennis to a
national level. We will continue building on what they have started. These two
should be recognized as the two best to ever play at Louisville. They have had
amazing careers," said UofL head coach Mark Beckham. 

 

Not only did Shine and Fellerhoff reach the final match of the National Indoor
Tournament but entered the season ranked No. 2 in the nation as a doubles team,
the highest-ever ranking for a Cardinal duo. They each achieved milestones this
season. Shine registered her 104th win in singles to take over the school record
and she also notched her 102st victory in doubles placing her second on the
all-time doubles list. Fellerhoff went undefeated at home in singles over the
past two seasons with a perfect 16-0 record at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.


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We'll be radio-talking today at 11 a.m.

We'll discuss all kinds of stuff...and throw in a quiz as well. We're starting a campaign to get Jeff to shave for the summer and your cards, letters and telegrams are needed.

As his mom says:

"His beard is old enough to buy alcohol"

(Which explains a lot of his comments on the show)

Join us if you dare:

http://www.crescenthillradio.com


paulie
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Tuesday Cardinal Couple

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

Softball Honors

Louisville Softball swept the weekly awards for The American conference with Freshman Maryssa Becker taking home second straight Pitcher of the Week award, and Senior Katie Keller taking home her second Player of the Week honor.

Becker gets tabbed for the Pitcher of the Week based on her two wins for the week, both complete games, along with several innings of relief pitching as well.

Katie Keller went 6-12 at the plate this week, with at least two hits in all three games against USF including a three run slam and a couple of doubles spread across the weekend.  Keller is hitting .395 overall and .517 on-base percentage.  The team leader in home-runs last year, Katie seems to be playing a bit more small ball this year, with 13 doubles on the season so far.

Katie is also going to be in the hot seat for this weeks edition of Softball Spotlight.  Each week for
the past couple of weeks, a Softball player has been answering questions tweeted to @UofLSoftball.  Katie Keller will be taking the reigns this Wed. at 1pm.  Past players answering questions have been Hannah Kiyohara and Maggie Ruckenbrod.

Softball plays their next game tonight (weather permitting, though the forecast doesn't look encouraging) against Evansville at 6pm.

 

Tennis Milestone

This Friday at 4pm, Women's Tennis will be hosting a match against Marshall at The Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.  This competition will be a bit special, however, as it will be Senior Day for the celebrated duo of Rebecca Shine and Julia Fellerhoff.  Shine and Fellerhoff grabbed our attention more than usual this fall by ripping through most of the field in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championship, falling one match short by losing to a pair from perennial tennis powerhouse Georgia Tech in the Championship.

They have continued to play dominant tennis throughout the season.

Rebecca Shine reached a particularly momentous milestone Sunday afternoon by beating Dobby Leenabanchong (thank goodness for copy-n-paste) at the number two court in singles.  With that victory Shine tallied 102 career singles wins, tying her for the UofL record.  Friday, against Marshall, she has the chance to claim that record outright.  With her doubles victory Sunday with Manuela Velasquez, Shine claimed her 100th career doubles win.

After Senior Day against Marshall, Women's Tennis will be competing in The AAC championship, April 17th through 20th in Tampa, FL.

Lacrosse Rankings

With their 23-2 pasting of Cincinnati on Sunday, Lacrosse has moved up a spot in the IWLCA coaches poll to 19th.  In the Brine media poll, the Cards actually dropped a spot...which doesn't make much sense to me...but also end up in 19th.  Admittedly, Cincinnati doesn't have a strong Lacrosse team...and that might be understatement...but I'm not sure what it would take to maintain a position in the media poll if winning by 21 points isn't enough (for comparison, a 10 point lead triggers a running clock in Women's Lacrosse...effectively Lacrosse's mercy-rule).  With a 44-6 advantage in shots taken...really, what's a team supposed to do in a situation like this?  It seems like this is really encouraging running up the score if the polls are going to punish winning by only 21 points against a weak team with a drop in the polls.

As Paulie mentioned in yesterday's article, Louisville had 16 draw controls in the game, with Kaylin Morissette getting 14 of them.  This puts Louisville in first place in the nation in the draw controls statistical category.


CARDINAL WOMEN'S GOLF IN NINTH PLACE


After two rounds of play at the Web.com Intercollegiate, the University of Louisville women’s golf team sits in ninth place with the third and final round of play set for Tuesday morning at Marsh Landing Country Club. Louisville opened the day with a 300 before carding a 289 in the afternoon round.

Florida State leads the field with a two round score of 568. East Carolina sits at second with a score of 575 and Chattanooga sits at third with a score of 577.

Junior Emily Haas and sophomore Laura Restrepo are currently tied at 28^th. Haas shot a 72 in the first round and finished with a 74 in the second round for a score of 146. Restepo shot a 75 in the first round and knocked four strokes off her second round score, finishing with a 71.

Florida State’s Matilda Castren leads the field after shooting a 69 in the first round and a 66 in the second round for a score of 135. Chattanooga’s Jordan Britt and Maryland’s Juliet Vongphoumy are tied at second with a score of 137.

Senior Tara Lyons finished the day tied at 37^th with a score of 148. Lyons shot a 75 in the first round and improved with a 73 in the second round. Junior Katie Petrino is currently tied at 43^rd after two rounds with a score of 149. Petrino shot a 78 in the first round and bounced back with a 71 in the second round.

Freshman Shannon Gramley shot a two round score of 155 to finish the day tied at 75^th. Gramley shot a 79 in the first round and shot a 76 in the second round.

jeffmcadams


EDITOR'S NOTE:

Sleep dep night II this week will occur tonight when UConn tries to grab their second championship title in as many days when they face Notre Dame in Nashville for the NCAA WBB crown. I did make it through the men's title game last night...(I like to watch the 'One Shining Moment' sequence in the end)...and have declared Louisville as the national champions.

After all, Pitino's guys beat UConn three times this season, including a 33-point demolishing on Senior Night in the KFC YUM! Center.  Nevertheless, congratuations to the Huskies. They caught fire when it counted.

They had Russ and Harrell a couple of times in the 'One Shining Moment' montage. It's time for someone to pen a song as equally stirring for the women's game. That piece of country fluff that Connie Briton is doing ad nauseam during this year's games ( The Only Way I Know) may fit Nashville just fine..but I've tired of it.

Buy a T-Shirt. Help Cardinal Couple.

paulie

Friday Cardinal Couple -- Lacrosse ranked #3 in BIG EAST

FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Lacrosse picked to finish third in BIG EAST

- Women's Tennis achieving success


The University of Louisville lacrosse team has been picked to finish third in their final season of the BIG EAST. The BIG EAST Preseason Coaches' Poll has the Cards behind Georgetown and Connecticut. All eight BIG EAST lacrosse coach participated in the voting and were not allowed to vote for their own team or players.

Three Louisville lacrosse players were selected to the All- BIG EAST Preseason team.

MONICA NEGRON was an unanimous selection and was also named the BIG EAST preseason Defensive Player of the year. It's her second season on the squad. She led the BIG EAST in draw controls per game and led the Cards in caused turnovers in 2013. She's a senior.

NIKKI BOLTJA was also a unanimous pick. NB was an All-American selection last year and is the BIG EAST's top returning points earner and goal scorer. She was also an All-BIG EAST selection in 2013 and scored 63 goals in 17 games.
Senior Boltja is the all-time leading goal scorer for UofL.

KAYLIN MORISSETTE makes the All-BIG EAST squad after a successful freshman season where she scored 40 goals and won 66 draw controls. Morissette, from Canada, was part of a highly-heralded freshman class that cracked the Lacrosse starting lineup last year in several positions. 

Coach Kellie Young is understandably proud of the trio:

" THIS IS A WELL-DESERVED HONOR FOR THESE THREE STUDENT-ATHLETES. THEY ARE A PART OF OUR PROGRAM'S CORE, THE WORKER-BEES, PASSIONATE ABOUT THE SPORT AND THEIR TEAM, AND DRIVEN TO SUCCEED."

First up for the Cards is a trip to Duke on Feb. 9th. Coach Young will take 21 letter-winners from last season and a talented incoming class to Durham to battle the #6 Blue Devils. The Cards were 11-6 last season, 8-1 at home but inexplicably left out of the NCAA Tournament.

You can congratulate Nikki, Monica and Kaylin at the Lacrosse Kickoff dinner Saturday night at the PNC Plaza in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium but you need to make that call today.

The University of Louisville women's lacrosse program is hosting its annual Crease Club Banquet and Silent Auction on Feb. 1 at the PNC Club in Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.

Tickets for the event can be purchased for $40 apiece by e-mailing executive director of operations, Patty Norton, dennison@louisville.edu, or calling (502) 852-0100. At 4 p.m., doors to the event open and the auction will begin and dinner will be served at 4:30 p.m. The team opening ceremony takes place at 6:30 p.m. Headlining the banquet is Kelly Berger Rabil, a 2013 World Cup gold medalist for Team USA. She was a member of the U.S. Lacrosse Developmental Team in 2005-06 before moving to the Elite team.

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Louisville women's Tennis travels to Chicago Saturday to face DePaul. The Cards are coming  off a 4-0 sweep of Missouri in the ITA Kickoff Weekend, contested in Gainesville, FL.

Fellerhoff and Shine are doing just fine.

Shine teamed with Manuela Velaquez to win 6-4 in doubles and Fellerhoff took the court with Olivia Boesing to capture a 6-2 victory. The Cards also swept all three singles matches...with Fellerhoff, Shine and Elle Stokes getting wins.

Five matches, four points. I will never understand tennis scoring.

Louisville returns home for Bass-Rudd action beginning Feb. 6th. against Morehead. Evansville visits on Feb. 8th. and Cincinnati comes in on Feb. 9th.

paulie
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Tuesday Cardinal Couple - Focusing on the positive

TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

It is a slow week for scores and event reporting for UofL women's sports, as columnist Jeff McAdams pointed out to me before he submitted today's writings. Today, he takes a look at three student-athletes that are catching national attention and I take a look at Emily Howell and the Louisville Lacrosse program.

This Week's Honors

Schimmel in Basketball

Shoni Schimmel picked up the weekly Player of the Week award in the AAC conference.  I would expect to see some more of these as we progress through conference play.  Shoni earned the honor of the strength of her 15 point performance over Temple along with a 21 points, 6 rebounds performance over Cincinnati.

With only one game for the next weeks honors it will be difficult for Shoni to pick up consecutive awards this week and next week.  The weekly awards are considered for games from Monday through Sunday.  Louisville's next game is Sunday, the last day of the next weekly award consideration period, against USF in Tampa.

Fellerhoff and Shine are Shining in Tennis

Louisville women's tennis duo Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine have achieved a number 2 ranking in women's doubles.  The first spot is held by Jennifer Brady and Robin Anderson from UCLA.  Regular tennis singles and doubles rankings begin on Feb. 11th and will be released every other week.


Lacrosse going to the source.

The state of Maryland seems to turn out the best lacrosse players in the nation. So, it's hardly a wonder that UofL lacrosse head coach Kellie Young would concentrate her efforts there. Four of the 2014 signees hail from the state that turns out great crab and the Pimlico. Here's a feature on one of the four:

Emily Howell enjoyed a feat few achieve during their prep careers. One of four Maryland signees in Louisville's women's lacrosse signing class, Howell earned high honors for her performances in the classroom and on the field.

The Laurel, Md., resident, in addition to being named to the Washington D.C. Brine National All-America Team in 2012 and 2013, was tabbed a U.S. Lacrosse High School Academic All-American in 2013. "Emily has incredible intelligence on and off the field," head coach Kellie Young said. "She reads opponents and picks off passes as if they were giving it to her. She sees plays before they develop and works with her teammates to shut down her opponents."

We are about a month away from the start of lacrosse season. The Cards will travel to Duke on Feb. 9th. to get the ball rolling.

TODAY'S QUIZ

UofL will participate in which conference for 2014 Lacrosse?

A) ACC
B) The American
C) SEC
D) BIG EAST

(answer at the end of the column)

Louisville Lacrosse faces challenges in the future. The ACC will be widely recognized as the top conference in lacrosse....even if Maryland is leaving to join the BIG 10. If the Lacrosse and Field Hockey coaches at College Park had been given a choice in the matter, I suspect they probably would have chosen to stay in the ACC. The economic engine that is football got that call, though. Even if Maryland Football hasn't been relevant since Bill Clinton was in office.

Kellie Young, who has been Louisville lacrosse since it started here, knows that the competition curve increases dramatically beginning in 2015. She is preparing for it. She will do well against against the Duke, North Carolina, Virginia squads and reap the benefits of playing against the best by now having the drawing card of going to recruits and showing them the top-flight competition schedule. 

The answer to today's quiz is (D) The BIG EAST.

jeffmcadams
paulie

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Monday Cardinal Couple -- Cards not selected for NCAA Field Hockey Tournament -- Hoops tonite -- Volleyball wins

MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

-Field Hockey season over

-WBB faces Quinnapiac tonight

-Volleyball takes 4 set win over SMU

-Fellerhoff, Shine fall in finals

-Mama...them people is on the radio again!


19 teams selected for NCAA Field Hockey-Louisville excluded

This looked to be the season that Justine's Sowry's Field Hockey squad would be selected to play in the NCAA Division I Field Hockey Championships. A 15-5 season, making it to the BIG EAST Championships and unblemished record at Trager Stadium all looked to be indicators that the Cards would play on November 16th. in the first round of play.

Sadly, it isn't going to happen.

In a new format, the NCAA selected 19 teams...11 of them their respective conference champs...and Louisville fell short on the at-large list...so the Cards season is over.

Connecticut and Old Dominion were picked from the BIG EAST. They were the two teams that played for the BIG EAST title yesterday.

THE SELECTIONS:


MARYLAND                         QUINNIPIAC                      AMERICAN            PENN ST.
PRINCETON                         VIRGINIA                          UMASS                   NEW HAMP.
DUKE                                    NORTH CARLINA            LIBERTY                DELAWARE
WAKE FOREST                   ODU                                   UCONN                  MIAMI (OH)
BOSTON COLLEGE            MICH. STATE                    SYRACUSE


The CARDS played three of the tournament participants...splitting with ODU and losing to UConn and Virginia. Louisville's new conference...the ACC...got seven teams in. Boston College...with a 12-7 record and Wake Forest 11-8 were selected over the Cards.

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CARDINAL ATTACK FACES QUINNIPIAC

Louisville WBB takes to Denny Crum Court tonight for a 7 p.m. tussle with the Quinnipiac Bobcats. The Cards advanced to the second round with a 101-54 win over Loyola-Chicago Saturday night. The Bobcats downed North Carolina A&T 77-63 Friday to move forward.

Jasmine Martin had 22 points for Quinnipiac in the win. Freshman Morgan Manz tallied nine points for QU...which is located in Hamden, CT.

For Louisville, better marksmanship from the charity stripe and making shots in the paint will  be priorities against the Bobcats...a school Louisville has never faced in women's basketball.

Bria Smith led a balanced Louisville attack Saturday with 16 points. Will Coach Walz present the third different starting lineup in as many games tonight? Join us at the YUM! to find out...or catch the action on CARDS TV or 790 AM WKRD.

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MCLENDON, JUHL RULE OVER SMU

Louisville Volleyball down visiting SMU in four sets yesterday afternoon in the YUM! The Cards go to 13-0 in the AAC with a 25-23, 22-25, 25-19, 25-15 corralling of the Mustangs.

We mistakenly discussed Louisville playing Cincinnati on our weekly radio show. When Worldwide isn't present...things fall apart.

Maya McClendon led Louisville with 15 kills in the victory and Emily Juhl got her 1,000th kill in the match. Brooke "Stomp" Mattingly produced 11 murders and Randi "Leap" Ewing added 10 "hit 'em hard's". Katie George had an active afternoon with 55 assists and 13 digs. Caitlin Welch was there for 11 digs.

Louisville hit for a .268 percentage in the match while holding SMU to .160.

The Cards narrowly missed winning this one in three straight sets...leading early in the second game 7-3 and deadlocked with "the horses" at 22-22 late.

Louisville hits 1-75 South for the next two...with UCF in Orlando on November 15th. and USF in Tampa on the 17th.


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DOUBLES DUO MAKES IT TO USTA FINALS

Julie Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine couldn't quite keep the magic alive for one more time...falling to Megan Kure and Kendal Woodard (Georgia Tech) in the finals of the 2013 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship in Flushing, NY yesterday morning.

The Cards duo won the first set 6-4...but fell in the second 6-3. F&S battled bravely in the third and deciding set before losing 7-5.

It is arguably the greatest accomplishment in the history of Louisville Women's Tennis and a great finish for the fall session of the sport. Look for these two to do great things in the spring!

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The latest broadcast of the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR is now up and available on the heavenly SoundCloud at Crescent Hill Radio. Hear Paul and Jenny stumble and bumble their way through the 60 minutes without WorldWide available to bail them out. Hear Jenny give Paulie the quiz this time...and take it along with Paulie. Hear the Cardinal Girls Aileen and Dorren call in. 

Here, here!!  A questionable use of an hour, perhaps...but vastly rewarding and informational to many...

 Link below:

A QUESTION OF BALANCE AND MORONIC THOUGH



-paulie


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Tennis chasing a championship, basketball routs Loyola Chicago

SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

(JENNY O'BRYAN TAKES US THRU SUNDAY WITH OUR INCREDIBLE WOMEN'S TENNIS DUO AND REPORT ON LOUSVILLE WBB'S ROUT OF THE RAMBLERS SAT. NIGHT)


**score update**score update**score update**score update**score update**score update**

Court 9 - Men's Doubles - Final	1	2	3					Court 6 - Men's Consolation Doubles - Final	1	2	3
Libietis/Reese (1) (Tennessee)	3	2						Giron/McDonald (1) (UCLA)	7
Narayana/Schnur (Columbia)	6	6						Kobelt/Metka (2) (Ohio State)	8

Court 7 - Women's Doubles - Final	1	2	3					Court 4 - Women's Consolation Doubles - Final	1	2	3
Kurey/Woodard (Georgia Tech)	4	6	6					Boren/Katz (1) (USC)	8
Fellerhoff/Shine (Louisville)	6	3	5

go to: http://www.gocolumbialions.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=9600&ATCLID=205326803  for updates.

SHINING ON IN NEW YORK


Do the names Julia Fellerhoff and Rebecca Shine sound familiar?  They should by now.   This tennis doubles team has roared on to the scene in early November and finds themselves playing for the programs first National Chanpionship in the schools history. 

In early November the pair competed in the Ohio Valley Regional in Memphis, TN.  At stake was a berth in to the ITA Indoor National Championship in Flushing, NY.   The pair pulled off 5 straight wins beating the #1 seed in the tournament, Purdue,  and two teams from the host city, Memphis, among others.  Doing so propelled the team into the ITA tournament starting this past Thursday. 

In opening play in Flushing, NY the pair knocked out the #4 seed of Texas.  They went on to play Michigan (whom they beat handily), and beat Georgia on Saturday morning to earn a spot in the championship game, playing for all the marbles on this morning, against Georgia Tech. 

It is an incredibly accomplishment from the pair as they represent the University of Louisville and are playing for the first National Championship for the program. 

Coach Beckham had this to say about Fellerhoff and Shine:

           

“"These girls are amazing!" said U of L head coach Mark Beckham. "They are playing like this is just another tournament. They are not nervous at all. The programs they are playing are legacy programs with multiple national championships. For these two girls to develop into the best players in the country, shows a lot about their character and their dedication to the program. They will be playing for the first national championship of the program."

As many of you log on to read this morning’s edition they will likely be battling for the championship.  The action starts at 10:00 a.m.  We will keep our eye on the ‘net and inform you of the results just as soon as it is known. 

Regardless of what happens this morning for the pair it has been an amazing run and they have done themselves and the University proud.  Best of luck ladies, Cardnation is behind you all the way!

(Thanks to gocards.com for the quote from Coach Beckham)

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WBB PARKS THE RAMBLERS BY 47
 

Tennis was not the only team competing on Saturday.  Louisville Women’s Basketball tipped off the season in the preseason WNIT at The KFC YUM Center Saturday night against Loyola Chicago. 

The outcome of the game was never in doubt.  We here at the Couple had the Cardinals winning by at least 30.  They did a little better than that with a 47 point win, with a final score of 101-54.   Both this game and the exhibition game the Cardinals have broken the century mark. 

Ask Coach Walz about breaking the century mark and I don’t think you are going to get the answer one might expect.   Coach Walz was not terribly pleased with the game tonight stating in the post game interview that scoring the ball is not in question, but getting better is.  Tonight, the team did not get better. 

I have to say that I agree with Coach Walz.  As a fan in the seats it was hard to watch plays in the paint get swatted away 11 times!  That should have never happened, but very poor decision-making and just throwing the ball up when in the paint, surrounded by arms, will get you that.  

The first half of play saw the Ramblers very easily getting into the paint.  While they were not always successful with scoring, the penetration was too easy.  (This did seem to tighten up a bit in the second half). 

The foul shot shooting was atrocious.  While the final stats for the game are not posted as of this writing, the last time I looked at the stat board it was hovering around 50%.    With the new rules being enforced in regards to hand checking, teams may have the opportunity to really live at the line, until teams better adjust to how the game is being called.  In tough competition, this game very easily could have been lost at the line. 

I felt like the team started out sluggish offensively, but was playing some reasonably good defense for about the first 15 minutes.  The last 5 minutes of the half both sides seemed to quit moving their feet and got lazy on defense.  What followed was a long last 5 minutes of play with lots of time at the line.   The second half did not start any better in this regard and by 13 minutes left Louisville was already shooting the bonus, and by 7.5 minutes left both sides were in the double bonus.  

I know this aspect of the game may be hard to watch as teams all across women’s basketball adjust to the new rule.  The real hard part about this was the missed opportunities at the line.  This has to be cleaned up!

Not to be all doom and gloom, though, there were things to like about the game. 

-       I said at the start of the second half that I felt like Shoni was playing a very good, smart game.  By games end she did not have a single turnover.  (Shoni can thank little sister Jude for saving one when Shoni attempted a knucklehead behind the back no look pass to no one.  Jude got her hands on it and tipped it to an open player, getting the assist).  Beyond the one really bad pass Shoni played a controlled game, with very good shot selection.  I look forward to seeing the box score to see what her attempts were, but it was conservative by Shoni standards.  She often made the extra pass.  It was a mature Shoni on the court tonight, and Louisville basketball needs that.   Shoni also hit her 272 3 pointer tonight taking the lead for all time 3 point shots made.  With a whole season ahead of her it will be fun to see just how high she will set the bar. 

     Congratulations Shoni!!
 

-       Cortnee Walton is showing some very nice signs around the basket in both rebounding and in shooting.  She had a beautiful inside-out pass to Shoni notching herself an assist and looking very court aware.  I look forward to watching her continued growth.  She very well may be the most improved player from last season. 
 

-       Emmonnie Henderson continues to impress me with her strength.  She has a lot of work to do to adjust to the college game.  She needs some refinement around the rim offensively, but I know that will come.  Her size and her strength are going to be a huge asset to this program.  She is going up for rebounds and pulling them down decisively. 
 

-       Tia Gibbs really provided a huge defensive spark off of the bench.  Asia Taylor looked good and athletic.  Her long arms and athleticism will help to make up for the lack of height in the post. 

With the win tonight the Cardinals set themselves up in the winners bracket of the tournament.  The Cards will face Quinnipiac Uinversity (they are out of Connecticut)  on Monday evening at 7:00 p.m.    Quinnipiac got some early preseason love and is getting votes, although they are currently not ranked in the top 25. 

(Did any of you readers see an unexpected player on the bench tonight?  She was dressed in sweats and not warming up with the team. She is DIAMOND MARSHALL and played her high school hoops at Bowling Green, KY. Paulie did ask about her at the end of Walz's media apperance...but all the smiling Walz said was..."Oh, that's Diamond from Bowling Green"...as he dashed out the door. Welcome, Diamond!)

We will see you Monday at The YUM!

WALZ TALKS POSTGAME LOYOLA-CHICAGO

-jennyo

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EDITOR'S NOTES:

- Yes, it was a very nice win for the Cards but free throw shooting absolutely died in the second half. 18-34 free throw shooting is 52.9%. Unacceptable.

- Cheryl Swoopes was gracious in defeat in the post game media interviews. She loves the YUM!, thinks Emmonnie Henderson "is a beast" (in a good way) and marvelled at actually getting to see Shoni Schimmel play in person.

- #25 Taylor Johnson might grab MVC Player of the Year honors for Loyola-Chicago. What's up with the shorts tucked and gathered in, though? Sonja mentioned to me that it looked like she was wearing Depends. Someone get that young gal a tailor...

- Leave it to Bob Domine for tonight's game quote. He was asking about Emmonnie Henderson's size and strength. I mentioned she had won the Illinois State High School shot put four years in a row. He says: "She could probably throw both of us across the court."

- Unsung hero tonight? Jude Schimmel. 21 minutes with 3-4 from beyond the arc, three assists, and 11 points. Only Shoni had more playing time in the game.

- 29 offense rebounds is a dubious stat. Louisville missed over a dozen inside shots that puffed up that stat. Six of them from Henderson and Dyer each.

Full stats and play-by-play below:

http://www.gocards.com/sports/w-baskbl/stats/2013-2014/game01.html

-paulie

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