CARDS SURVIVE SCARE -- DEFEAT CALIFORNIA 70-57
The attendees at the Sunday afternoon Louisville vs. California women's basketball game threw stuffed bears on the court at halftime to support a Christmas toy drive. They probably should have left a couple of the larger ones on the court to help guard Sara Hammond and Shawnta' Dyer in the final twenty minutes.
The inside duo had 18 of the Cards 28 second half points to lead Louisville to a 70-57 win over UC in front of 8339 in the Haas Pavillion. The win did not come that easy, however...
Cal went on a 8-0 run early in the second half to draw within two at 46-44 after a Mercedes Jefflo three with 14:49 remaining that had the attendees in a frenzy. From that point, though...Louisville responded with a 24-13 run to get their eleventh win of the season.
The game got off to an exciting start...Jude Schimmel knocking down back-to-back threes to give Louisville an early 6-0 lead. After a Mariya Moore trifecta, it was 9-2 Cards and Louisville was showing no ill effects from the sub-par performance three days earlier in Phoenix.
Shawnta' Dyer connected from inside to make it 18-8 UofL with 11:44 remaining and the Cards took their biggest first half lead a minute later after Schimmel's third three of the half at 21-10.
Moore popped in her second three to make it 28-20 Cards at the nine minute mark and Hammond got into the act with a three to set the score at 35-28 with three minutes left in first half action. The Bears would trim that lead to five with 56 seconds when Gabby Green connected from the deep...but a Megan Deines three (Louisville's seventh of the half) with eight seconds on the clock set the halftime score at 42-34.
The Cards had forced Cal into eight turnovers in the first eight minutes but Reshawnda Gray (11 pts) and Brittany Boyd (seven points) were keeping the Bears within striking range.
Two Hammond scores in the first 150 seconds of the second half gave Louisville a 46-36 advantage...but Cal narrowed that to two. Louisville got two key free throws from Bria Smith and a jumper from Denies to forge back out to a 54-47 edge with 12:30 to play.
A Moore layup made it 58-49 Louisville with less than ten minutes remaining and the Cards still had a nine point lead after a Smith jumper five minutes later. Hammond scored her eighteenth point of the game to set the Cards up with a 68-56 cushion with a little more than two minutes to play and Louisville held on for the 70-57 triumph.
The Cards shot 48% in the second half while limiting Call to 21% shooting. The Louisville defensive intensity limited Boyd to just four second half points and six for Gray.
Hammond led all scorers with 18 points and had nine rebounds. Dyer finished with 12 and was the Cards enforcer in the paint in the second half. Schimmel added two second half free throws to her three first half threes to total 11 points. She also had nine rebounds and seven assists. Moore was the Cards fourth double figure producer with 10 points.
Smith contributed eight points, Denies strong off the bench with seven and Hines-Allen totaled four. Cortnee Walton and Arica Carter saw minutes for the Cards but did not score.
Gray led the Bears with 17. Boyd was the only other double figure producer with 11.
An encouraging win for Louisville as they take off for the winter break. Cal put together a nice, early second half assault that got them back in the game. Louisville did not fold and crumble, though...and the Cards speed and quickness eventually wore the Bears down as the half progressed.
Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb was prepared to try and
stop Louisville inside. Instead, it was seven first half threes that gave Louisville the early lead and the duo of Hammond and Dyer late that bested Gottlieb's game plan.
On an afternoon where two freshmen Cards returned to their home state...it was senior leadership that guided Louisville to their second win against a top 25 opponent this season.
paulie
Gray, Boyd could pose problems for Cards
The University Of Louisville women's basketball team faces their third top 25 opponent of the season with a 5 p.m. EST tip today against California in the Haas Pavilion on campus.
Louisville (10-1) and Cal (7-2) have met once before...the winner advancing to the 2013 NCAA Championship game. The Cards took a 64-57 win over the Golden Bears in New Orleans Arena after trailing by 10 at halftime. This one was tied with 1:51 remaining after Layshia Clarendon dropped a three on Louisville....but Louisville outscored UC 7-0 the rest of the way to advance.
Of particular concern for the Cards today will be the tandem of seniors Brittany Boyd and Reshanda Gray. Boyd, a 5'9" point guard, leads the NCAA with 8.9 assists per contest and averages 14.1 ppg and 8.1 rebounds. She and Gray are also on the John L. Wooden Award Women's Preseason Top 30, the WBCA's Wade Watch List and the Naismith Top 50 Watch List.
Gray brings 19.2 ppg to the stat sheets per contest and is
the Bears leading scorer. She dropped 37 on Sacramento State earlier this month. The 6'3" forward goes to the boards with abandon and will be a matchup problem for the Cards.
Gabby Green, a former Louisville recruiting target, has stepped in as a freshman and seen considerable playing time for Lindsay Gottlieb.
It's a homecoming for Mariya Moore...who played her high school ball in the shadow of the Berkeley campus and Arica Carter is also a California native from San Diego. Both freshman will be heavily involved in trying to curtail the strong UC guard contingent.
Cal has dropped their last two outings...and Lindsey Gottlieb has never lost three in a row during her tenure on the Berkeley campus. Cal hasn't defeated a ranked opponent yet this season.
The Cards will need to play a much better game than their
last outing against GCU. Free throws must improve and shots attempted in the paint must fall...especially those second chance opportunities. We're hoping the GCU contest served as a wake up call to Walz's charges...all expectations are that there will be a large pro-Cal crowd in attendance today because of the many promotions Cal Marketing has attached to this afternoon's tilt.
We'll have the recap later tonight. This one is scheduled to be live on the Pac-12 Networks and Cards Radio 790 WKRD with Matt Andrews and AJ will have the call on the radio. If you are a Time Warner subscriber...the Pac 12 Network can be found at 530
This one promises to be a tight battle and could evolve into a track meet...given both teams' propensity for putting points on the scoreboard. For Louisville to take the "W"...it'll require the Cards best effort of the season so far.
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Speaking of effort, we encourage you to give it that old
college try and listen to our latest broadcast of the CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO HOUR. It's archived on Crescent Hill's Soundcloud and available now. Paulie and Worldwide Jeff talk hoops past and present and Jeff plummets into the Grand Canyon with his woeful performance on THE WORLDWIDE QUIZ.
Don Paulie stops in to spread a little Christmas cheer and Coach Walz delivers another lesson to Paulie...this time about the irrelevance of social media and ambiguity of statistics. Plus...you get three minutes of pre-show bonus audio (unknown to us) where we discuss height, the WCC and Argentina. Linkie below:
CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO DEC.20TH BROADCAST
