Tuesday Cardinal Couple

Basketball Heads to Warmth

The women's basketball team escaped the snow for warmer climes yesterday, heading to Tampa to prepare for tonight's matchup against the Central Florida Knights.

Let's be frank, UCF is not a daunting opponent.  Sporting a 9-12 overall record, and the only worse record in conference is Houston's 0-10.  The only reason we can't say they're 9th in conference is that Cincinnati has an equally bad record at 2-8, so they get to claim "tied for 8th".

That having been said, you can't ever look past an opponent.  We can't forget that Sara Djassi put up 28 points in the KFC Yum! Center on January 15th.  We also must not forget Zykira Lewis, who got 14.  Of course, The Knights lost Briahanna Jackson earlier in the season when she left the team, and that certainly hasn't helped matters in Orlando, but she was already gone in our earlier bout.  About the only thing looking better for UCF this time around is that its on their home floor, a small factor, but something to be considered, for sure.

This should be a good game to build on what went well two days ago when we faced USF here in Louisville.  Shots didn't fall much early on, leading to a bit of a slow start, but perseverance and not getting flustered held things together until shots started falling late in the first half and in the second.  The team played well, picked good shots, moved the ball well, and maintained their composure.  Building some confidence in that play will come in handy when the team travels to face UConn.

The game will be on ESPN3 at 7pm.

Tennis Recruiting Class 16th Ranked

Tennisrecruiting.net announced the results of the voting for the Top 25 recruiting classes in women's tennis and UofL was voted 16th.  Tennis has four women signed for the 2014-15 season, with Ariana Rodriguez and Aleksandra Mally being five star recruits from New York, and Jessie-Lynn Paul being a five star recruit from North Carolina.  Caroline Walker is local, from Sacred Heart Academy here in Louisville rounding out the class.

Future conference opponents in the list include North Carolina at 4th, Notre Dame at 5th, Duke at 10th, Virginia Tech at 14th, and Florida State coming in at 22nd.

Your next chances to see Tennis in action are Thursday afternoon starting at 3pm vs Morehead State, and Saturday starting at noon against Evansville.

Thursday Cardinal Couple -- "S" troops lead Louisville WBB to win over UCF 75-56

THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

- Strong finishes in each half give Cards 19 point win.

Shoni Schimmel (27), Sara Hammond (22) and Bria Smith (10) scored all but 16 of Louisville's points tonight and the Cards put together a 17-3 end of first half run and 9-1 closing run to dispatch the Central Florida Golden Knights tonight in front of 7067 fans in the KFC YUM! Center Wednesday night.

The game also featured a new Jeff Walz offensive strategy...3 on 5. With the Cards up 25-23, Walz called a 30 second time-out and replaced the five UofL players (Smith, Cortnee Walton, Asia Taylor, Tia Gibbs and Nita Slaughter) on the court with three (Megan Deines, Monny Niamke and Shoni). Sara Hammond and Emmonnie Henderson didn't respond quickly enough...the ball was inbounded and Monny drew a foul which allowed the Louisville front line to enter the game.

If anything, it gave the crowd and the media a chuckle and was an interesting beginning to a 17-3 half ending run...where Sara Hammond scored eight of the first ten points in the process...Louisville rolling to a comfortable, if not overly impressive and uneven 42-26 halftime lead.

It was...at least five quality minutes of first half hoops for the Cards, who could not seem to get any offensive production except from Sara inside, Shoni outside and Bria at the charity stripe. The Cards were 50% (15-30) from the floor and 81% (9-11) from the free throw line.

The Cards would build on that end-of-first-half momentum and outscore UCF 13-6 in the first 5:32 of the final period to lead 55-32 after one of Shoni's five three pointers in the contest.

It looked like 'rout city' was on the horizon...but the Knights displayed a little chippiness of their own. UCF center Brittini Montgomery blocked a Tia Gibbs layup attempt with 12:31 left in the game and did a little "woofing" in Tia's face. The players were quickly separated and then both players were called for technicals...even though it appeared Gibbs did nothing except stand her ground.  

UCF had trimmed the Cardinal advantage to 58-45 after a Zy Lewis layup with 10:12 remaining. The teams pretty much traded baskets (and misses) for the next eight minutes...UCF narrowing the margin to 11 when Montgomery hit a shot in the paint to make it 66-55 with 2:43 left. 

Sara and Shoni combined to get eight of the Cards final nine points of the game and the Cardinal defense limited UCF to a lone free throw to secure the victory. 

Hats off to the two UCF players ( Lewis and Sara Djassi) who Walz told his team they needed to shut down. Diminutive and speedy Lewis had 14 points...mostly on wild drives to the basket for layups and Djassi blistered the Cardinal "D" for 28 points on 9-20 shooting.

Shoni's made five threes were the only successful long range attempts in the Cards 5-17 trifecta bombing. She hoisted 14 of them...Sara, Tia and Nita missed their only attempts. Sara was 9-13 from the floor and Bria a sparkling 6-6 from the line. Asia Taylor led the Cards with nine rebounds.

Jude sat again, as expected, with the bum ankle and Shawnta Dyer did not see action either (knee soreness). Megan Deines drew the start and contributed four points, five rebounds and four fouls in 20 minutes. Tia, who probably wasn't needed, saw 12 minutes and scored two points on 1-4 shooting. Nita Slaughter had a mostly invisible 18 minutes on the court, 1-2 from the floor and three fouls.

A 19 point win is good, right? I guess it depends on who is viewing it...

Although Walz seemed glad over the 17-3 run to end the first half...he's still seeking consistency from the all the players he has on the court at the same time. He admitted a performance like tonight by his charges would "get them killed" against a UConn or Notre Dame. He is also still looking for players to step up and assign responsibility and challenge other players who mess up on the court.

The rather quick and somewhat terse post-game press conference indicates that Coach grimly realizes there is still much work to be done with this team. The playful demeanor of his Tuesday night radio show was replaced with a matter-of-fact critique of what the Cards aren't doing right.

Louisville heads to the Lone Star state next for a pair...facing (12-5) SMU in Dallas on Sunday and (4-12) Houston on Tuesday. In the link below, Coach Walz discusses the UCF game.

COACH WALZ DISCUSSES UCF GAME

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THE FINAL WORD

IT WAS A GAME WHERE THE CARDS HAD FLASHES OF BRILLIANCE AND TIMES OF INEFFICIENCY. A TEAM THAT JUST LOST THEIR LEADING SCORER A WEEK AGO CAME INTO THE KFC YUM! CENTER AND NEVER LET THE CARDS BLOW THEM OUT OF THE WATER.

 YOU HAD TO ADMIRE THE GRIT AND DETERMINATION THAT UCF DISPLAYED WEDNESDAY NIGHT. UNTIL THE FINAL 3 MINUTES OR SO OF THE GAME...UCF REFUSED TO YIELD AND STAYED FAIRLY CLOSE.

DJASSI AND LEWIS ARE BALLERS. HINES IS A GODD REBOUNDING GUARD AND THEY HAVE THE USUAL ASSORTMENT OF THREE OR FOUR INTERIOR THUGS THAT TAKE UP SPACE AND PROVIDE VERY LITTLE ELSE.

UCF WASN'T GOING TO UPSET THE CARDS...THE SUPERIOR BALLPLAYING SKILLS OF SHONI, SARA, BRIA AND ASIA WEREN'T GOING TO LET THAT HAPPEN. THE SLOW START AND SECOND HALF STALL-OUT ARE ITEMS WALZ NEEDS TO ADDRESS, THOUGH AND FIND A CURE FOR. BESIDES UCONN...RUTGERS WILL ALSO CAPITALIZE AND USE IT AGAINST LOUISVILLE.

YES, JUDE SCHIMMEL WAS MISSED.  'CASH' MONNY TRIES TO FILL THE SPOT AND IS THE CARDS BEST LOCKDOWN DEFENDER BUT COULD USE A REFRESHER COURSE IN RECOGNIZING OPPONENTS' DEFENSIVE SETS AND A FEW HOURS PRACTICING FREE THROWS EACH DAY. 

BOTTOM LINE? UOFL IS 17-1 NOW AND #5 IN THE NATION. THINGS COULD BE A WHOLE LOT WORSE IN CARDINALVILLE. SOMETIMES, YOU WIN UGLY. IT'S STILL A "W".

THE TOUGH CONTESTS ARE AHEAD. IF THE CARDS CAN TAKE OF BUSINESS IN TEXAS, A 'SO-SO' MEMPHIS TEAM WILL PROVIDE A NICE HOME TUNE-UP FOR A TRIP TO PISCATAWAY TO VISIT C-VIV AND THE SCARLET KNIGHTS AT THE END OF JANUARY.

ONE GAME AT A TIME. ONE WIN AT A TIME. IT ISN'T A BEAUTY CONTEST...IT'S TAKING CARE OF UNFINISHED BUSINESS....

paulie

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