UVA blows by Cards late to win 75-59 -- Monday Cardinal Couple

28-10 run sinks UofL on Wahoo Senior Day

Louisville WBB got a dose of the medicine they've been serving ACC opponents this season...Virginia blowing by the Cards in the final eight minutes to put a 75-59 drubbing on Jeff Walz's crew on Senior Day in Charlottesville, VA Sunday afternoon.

The potentially bad thing for Louisville and the rest of the ACC is that the Wahoos (17-12, 7-9) graduate just one and have a nice recruiting class coming in for 2015-16. UK transfer Sara Beth Barnette the lone loss. We had originally thought Sarah Imovbioh was leaving (and wouldn't mind seeing that 22 point, 17 rebound performance from today disappear) but she'll be a redshirt senior next year. 

Louisville led early in this one. Mariya Moore nailing an opening three a minute into the contest and Jude Schimmel's trifecta had the Cards up 8-7 five minutes in.


The homestanding Cavs went on a 6-0 run to regain the lead over a three minute stretch but the Cards did return the favor with their own 6-0 run...capped by a Dyer putback to lead 14-13 at the 9:27 mark. The teams battled evenly as the half wore down...Virginia leading 32-31 at the break. 

The Cards were having trouble containing UVA stars Faith Randolph and Imovbioh from scoring and Imovbioh owned the boards, especially on the defensive end.

Louisville saw Virginia go on a 11-3 run over the first five minutes of the final half but the Cards mustered one last rally over the next seven minutes...getting strong interior play from Emmonnie Henderson, Sara Hammond and Shawnta' Dyer.

Unfortunately, the Cards became the gang that couldn't shoot straight over the final 1/5th of the game...Louisville battling back to lead 49-47 at the 8:06 mark after a Shawnta' Dyer jumper...after being down by 43-34 with 15:56 in the half.

It got ugly for the Cards after that. UVA shot 53% in the second half and made 20-25 free throws to pull away. The Cards starters (Sherrone, Jude, Dyer, Sara and Myisha) ended up with only 31 of UofL's 59 total points. The offensive uncertainly was glaring at times.

Henderson led Louisville with 13 points in 13 minutes. In typical "E" fashion, though...she committed five fouls in that space of time and watched from the bench as UVA pulled away. Dyer joined her in double figures with 12. the Cards shot 33% (25% in the second half) and were outrebounded 39-28. 

In the final eight of the game, the Cards defense seemed a step slow and almost resigned to the defeat and Virginia scored time after time and grabbed the Cards missed shots. It got hard to watch, honestly. A memory one would like to forget as the regular season ends.


On an afternoon where Louisville hope to gain momentum going into the ACC Tournament on Friday, it was Virginia who climbed on the back of Uncle Mo and rode him to the wire to secure a #9 seed in the ACC Tournament and avoid a necessity to play on Wednesday. 

Louisville will have plenty of time to review and improve on this one....they'll play the final game Friday night against whoever emerges from the first and second round battles in their half of the bracket into the quarterfinals. 

Imovbioh is now what we all believe Henderson could eventually be. Randolph is a top five guard in the ACC, maybe top 10 in the nation. Yesterday, they combined to pull off their biggest win of the season...and give Louisville something to ponder as they head to Greensboro.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Softball stings Yellow Jackets series finale

Louisville softball finished their stay in Atlanta with a sweep of the Yellow Jackets Sunday afternoon. The Cards got the bats unpacked for this one, winning 15-2 in six innings.

Madi Norman (3-4) got the win for the Cards, allowing the two runs on just two hits in 3.2 innings...Maryssa Becker finishing up with 2.1 inning of shutout ball and just one hit.

The Cards loaded the bags in the first but got just one run across. They atoned for that with four in the second, Hailey Smith with a two RBI single and Becker delivering the same. 

Brittany Sims had a solo home run in the third to make it 6-1 UofL. It was her second round-tripper of the season. 

The Cards tacked on two more in the fifth when Sydney Benz drove home Becker and Nicole Puhafl to make it 8-2 .

They saved the fireworks for the end...the top of the sixth produced seven UofL runs...Becker blasting a three run homer with Kayla Soles and Smith on board and Whitney Arion sending one out that brought home Benz and Puhafl.

Louisville will open up play at home with the Louisville Classic March 6-8. Illinois State, Ball State, Massachusetts and Northwestern come to town.

paulie
xxxxx  

Louisville women's basketball looks to continue win streak against Cavs -- Sunday Cardinal Couple

CARDS HAVE WON EIGHT STRAIGHT AND ARE 4-0 IN ACC

The University of Louisville women's basketball team faces Virginia today in the KFC YUM! Center at 3 p.m. Louisville will be looking to go 5-0 in ACC play and 17-1 overall. The women's sports programs at UofL will also be looking to get their first win of the season over Virginia. Field Hockey, Soccer and Volleyball have all fallen to the Cavaliers in this first season of ACC play for the Cards.


Virginia (13-4, 3-1) has won four out of their last five. Most recently, they handled Boston College 68-56 on Thursday in Charlottesville. The Wahoo hit 13 three pointers against BC and went 11-13 from the charity stripe. 

Faith Randolph had 23 in the win and she's leading the Cavaliers with 17.8 ppg and steals (27). The 5'10" junior guard gets backcourt assistance from Mikayla Venson (11.8 ppg) and Brevana Mason (9.2). Big on the boards for Joanne Boyle's team are Sarah Imovbioh (14.6/11.2)...a season double-double performer and Lauren Moses who averages 6.2 grabs a game and has 23 blocked shots this season.


Losses to Toledo, Illinois and Davidson early in the season raises eyebrows...their sole conference loss to Syracuse perfectly understandable, the 'Cuse is as good as advertised.

The Wahoo was picked to finish 10th in ACC in preseason polling. Louisville and UVA have faced each other one time...Louisville losing in Charlottesville 74-60 back in 1985.



The Cards will need to curtail the activities of Randolph and Venson when they have the ball...they are well capable of driving the lane and scoring inside. Louisville will also need to be aware of the board-busting ball play of Imovbioh and Moses and block out while denying second chance opportunities. 

This one will be on Fox Sports South if you can't attend. Drew Deener faces up at center court and Christy Winters Scott will provide color. Matt and AJ handle the radio duties in case the two minute delay gets to be too much....radio feed being first in game action...

An early arrival for CARDINAL COUPLE at the KFC YUM! Center today...the Atlanta Dream is making a special announcement at 2:15 p.m. Watch our twitter feed on the right hand side of the site for updates. 

DID YOU KNOW?

-- Bria Smith was verballed to Virginia until the coaching change that brought Boyle to Charlottesville. 

-- The Cards have a player from Virginia...freshman reserve Arianna Freeman.

-- Virginia's Faith Randolph is third in the ACC with a .895 free throw % 

-- Virginia reserve Sara Beth Barnette was the 2010 Kentucky Miss Basketball and started her career at UK? 

-- Sarah Imovbioh had 24 rebounds for the Cavs against Ohio State back on 11/14/14..the highest ACC rebounding total this season.

We'll have a full recap of the action in the Monday edition of CARDINAL COUPLE.

////////////////////////////////////////////////

Our latest CARDINAL COUPLE RADIO broadcast is up and

archived on WCHQ 100.9 Crescent Hill Radio's Soundcloud!

We had a busy show recapping WBB, Lacrosse, Volleyball, Tennis, Track and Field and much, much more. 

Give it a listen at the link below:

THE VILLAGE IDIOT HAS RETURNED TO HIS VILLAGE !!


paulie