Cards Crush Orange -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville to Face UNC in Semis

photo by Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

Led by 17 points from Taj Roberts, Louisville had a balanced attack that saw six player finish in double figures to propel the Cards to a relatively straightforward 26-point victory. Louisville jumped ahead to a 25-12 lead after the first quarter and used a 25-14 fourth quarter to put the game away. Joining Roberts in double figures were Reyna Scott (15), Mackenly Randolph (12), Skylar Jones (12), Imari Berry (11), and Laura Ziegler (11). Syracuse got 22 points out of Uche Izoje, but it wasn't enough to keep pace with the Louisville offense. 

The Cards got off to a strong start in the first, hitting 11 of their 16 shots. They went 2-3 from beyond the arc, which was a mark they would go on to match in the fourth. Louisville's ability to score inside was evident, and they went on to outscore Syracuse 46-30 over the course of the game. Although it took three minutes for either team to score to open the game, Louisville scored the first eight points and led 13-2 with 4:39 remaining in the quarter. The Cards stretched their lead to 15 points at 21-6 and again at 25-10 before the Orange made a tip-in to close the quarter at the 25-12 score. 

The middle portion of the game was quite close, with the teams only separated in the second and third quarters by a combined two points. Syracuse used 53.3% shooting from the floor and a 4-4 effort from the free-throw line to win the second quarter 21-20. Louisville, meanwhile, failed to reach the free throw line in the second and went 0-4 from three point land as part of a 10-22 second quarter. Louisville came out of the locker room with a 12-point lead and managed to scrape together a 17-14 third quarter victory that didn't get the best of either team. Louisville made just six shots, though three were from beyond the arc, and they went 2-3 from the stripe. Syracuse managed to be worse, making just five shots with two of them being threes. 

photo by Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

The fourth quarter sealed the deal, with Louisville eerily matching its output from the first, hitting 11 of 16 shots and going 2-3 from three. It wasn't a carbon copy, as Louisville only scored the first seven points of the quarter, but by that point the game was out of reach. The Cards salted the game away, getting exciting ACC tournament minutes for some of the bench players, and took their rest to prepare for their game today. 

Mackenly Randolph finished with a double-double for the Cards, adding 10 rebounds to her 12 points. Imari Berry and Skylar Jones were very productive, with both tallying five assists, at least five rebounds, and a block. Leading scorer Taj Roberts added four assists, three rebounds, and three steals. She and Jones tied for the team lead with 70% shooting on the day.

The FRED Report

F - Free Throws: This one was bad. Louisville didn't get to the line much, and they usually missed when they did. 4-10 from the stripe won't get it done in a close game, and it earns no letter.

R - Rebounding: Like points, Louisville spread their rebounds around. Randolph had ten, but four other players had at least four. The Cards won the rebounding battle 43-34, and while I want to knock them for allowing Syracuse to pull down more offensive rebounds, Louisville shot 56% from the floor, so they didn't have a ton of O-boards to get. From an offensive rebounding rate standpoint, Louisville was actually better than Syracuse, as they pulled down 30.3% of their missed shots while Syracuse had just 25%. Capital 'R'.

E - Effort/Execution: It's hard to knock a 26-point win over a team that finished with fewer than double-digit losses, but Louisville didn't play their cleanest game. They had 14 turnovers, which was more than Syracuse, and the free throws were abysmal. That said, they did shoot well overall and they closed the game as strong as they opened it. 14 turnovers isn't great, but it didn't bite them in this one. Louisville also remains relatively rested going into their second game, so I'll grant a Capital 'E'. 

D - Defense: Nine steals and two blocks is pretty nice. The Cards forced just one other turnover, though, which is less nice. That said, they allowed just 34.3% shooting and never trailed. In fact, by the time Syracuse finally scored their first basket, Louisville would never lead by fewer than they did at that moment (six). The Cards faced a seven-point deficit at the free throw line, but they only gave up four more attempts. They allowed just 61 points, in the end, so I'm going to have to say Capital 'D'. 

photo by Taris Smith | Louisville Athletics

Was I feeling generous? Maybe. But that's a final tally of _-R-E-D. That's a fun cheer for the Cards going into a semifinal gameday as the only red team remaining. That said, Louisville will likely need to be better today (and tomorrow) from the free throw line if they want to leave Atlanta with hardware. 

The ACC quarterfinals were a bloodbath. Top-seeded Duke actually had the smallest margin of victory, and that was still 14 points. The Blue Devils topped Clemson 60-46. Notre Dame completed a minor upset of NC State in a major way. The Irish won 81-63 and will face Duke at noon on ESPN2. Louisville's win was the largest of the day and the largest of the tournament so far. They'll face UNC following the conclusion of game one. UNC beat VT 85-68. 

The Cards and Tar Heels are scheduled to tip at 2:30 on ESPN2. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Berry Named ACC POTW -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Imari Berry's Big Day Draws Accolade

Louisville women's basketball had a huge win on Sunday, as Daryl wrote up in her column yesterday, and the big road week for the Cards saw them regain some national attention. Louisville had a pair of tough road tests last week against Notre Dame and NC State and came away with wins in two of the toughest places to play in the conference. Those victories moved Louisville to 5-0 on the road this season and pushed them to 8-0 in conference play. Louisville stands tied atop the league with just one other undefeated team: Duke. The Cards and Blue Devils will face off just once this season, with Kara Lawson's squad coming to the KFC Yum! Center on Thursday, February 5th. The game is already announced as an ESPN matchup. 

Louisville's victories did more than keep them atop the ACC; they propelled the Cards squarely back into the top-ten in the country and resurfaced Louisville amongst teams to watch as the season rolls on. The Cards moved up to 8th in both the NET rankings and the Associated Press poll, and will likely see themselves on the rise when the USA Today Coaches Poll is released today. The Cards are the highest rated three-loss team, sitting three spots ahead of Kentucky, who stand at 11th in the NET and AP polls. 

Along with the team recognition, a Louisville player found herself in the spotlight as well, with Imari Berry being named the ACC WBB Player of the Week. Berry had a huge game on Sunday, pouring in a career-high 33 points and adding 12 assists for the second double-double in her career. Berry's game on Sunday included back-breaking shot after back-breaking shot as the Wolfpack tried to distance themselves, and she made two free throws to send the game to overtime. Berry also added three steals and a pair of assists. 

graphic via gocards.com

Berry was critical in a game that saw Taj Roberts struggle from the floor and be limited to just four points. Roberts was coming off of a big game of her own against Notre Dame, in which she scored 19 points on 4-5 shooting from three and went 5-5 from the line in 36 minutes, so it would be understandable if her legs weren't quite there on the back-end of two huge away games. Berry, to her credit, was good for the Cards in South Bend as well, scoring seven points to go along with five rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block. Berry has shown that she can shoot the lights out in limited quantities in the past. Sunday's game was the first time where she went completely unconscious and took the game over. If she and Roberts can come together for big games at the same time against some of Louisville's key opponents down the stretch, the ceiling for this team gets a lot higher. 

After the tough road trip, Louisville gets a minor reprieve with a mid-week ACC bye. They'll have Thursday off before hosting Boston College on Sunday, January 25th. Louisville will need to get every bit of rest they can this week, as they have a tough stretch before their next midweek bye. After BC, Louisville will go on the road for the West Coast swing against Stanford and Cal before returning home for that game against Duke. Then they'll make a weekend trip to Syracuse before coming back home to face Wake Forest and Florida State. That's a lot of air miles and a lot of difficult matchups. Going 7-0 in this stretch would be a dream. Getting out of it with one or two losses would be commendable. We'll see what the Cards can do as the season heats up. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

WBB Beats EKU 76-51 -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Roberts Leads Four Cards in Double Figures

Louisville women's basketball looked headed for a major letdown game after their big win against UNC on Sunday when the Colonels of EKU took a 19-14 lead through one quarter. The halftime score still didn't look super favorable for the Cards (30-27), but flipping a five-point deficit to a three-point lead means you had a pretty strong second quarter. The final score indicates the continued domination that took place after the rocky first quarter. Louisville won the third 24-10 and the fourth 22-14 to ultimately cruise to a 24-point victory. 

Louisville got out to a slow start, shooting just 6-16 from the floor in the first quarter. They were 1-6 from beyond the arc, though that area never really improved last night. Worst of all, Louisville didn't do much with their trips to the free throw line, going just 1-4 from the stripe in the first quarter. It's a bit difficult to say what exactly went wrong for Louisville in the first, other than they just weren't effective. Five turnovers (out of 16 total) in that first quarter weren't helpful, but they weren't overly crushing either. Regardless, the Cards turned it around after that. 

Surprisingly, Louisville actually shot worse from the field overall in the second quarter, going 6-18 from the floor (0-4 from three), but they were 4-6 from the line to help buoy the offense. They also turned around their defensive effort, which was helped out tremendously by EKU going cold from three-point land. After shooting 4-7 from distance in the first as part of a 7-14 overall effort, the Colonels were just 3-14 from the floor in the second quarter and missed all six of their three-point attempts. EKU went 50% from the floor and 57.1% from three in the first quarter and they would go on to finish 35.1% from the floor and 26.1% from three. Both of those numbers were helped out by an improved fourth quarter during garbage time. 

As I mentioned, Louisville never quite got things going from beyond the arc. The Cards finished just 3-22 from distance, a dreadful 13.6%. They eventually realized that they could have great success inside, though, and they finished 40.3% from the floor overall, shooting 28-55 from two and scoring 44 points in the paint. Part of that came from a strong effort on the boards, as Louisville scored 18 second chance points. They managed 23 points off of turnovers, but only two of those came on fast breaks. 

Taj Roberts led all scorers with 12 points, and she was one of four Cardinals to finish with double-digit points. Laura Ziegler had 11 while Skylar Jones and Yevheniia Putra both scored 10. Elif Istanbulluoglu was also effective, as she tallied nine points to go along with seven rebounds. There were two larger stories on the night, though. 

One of those was Grace Mbugua getting her first game action of the season. While Mbugua struggled a bit offensively (she was just 1-9 from the floor and had two turnovers), it's easy to see that she could be a major force for this team in the future. Mbugua led the game with ten rebounds, and she also added two blocks and a steal. The college game speed will come to her, hopefully sooner rather than later. 

The other big story was Imari Berry, who stuffed the stat sheet. Berry would have loved to have seen a couple of more shots fall (she was just 2-8) so that she could have joined the club of double-digit scorers, but she was involved everywhere else. With the shot not falling, she did a good job distributing, finishing with seven assists (of Louisville's 18 total). She also grabbed eight rebounds and was a menace defensively with a block and four steals. She had just one foul and one turnover. Add in that she was the only player to maximize her points at the free throw line (albeit on just one trip), and it's more than ok that she scored only six points. 

Louisville's recovery after a hot first quarter by a visiting opponent was good to see. The Cards clamped down on the shooting and played well defensively overall. They also kept their heads down and corrected on offense, not resorting to jacking up threes when they weren't falling. After the 1-6 first quarter, Louisville took a total of just eight three point attempts in the second and third before the bench tried to get things going again from outside in the fourth. There is plenty to follow-up on in the film room, but the Cards can't be too disappointed in a 24-point win, even if they didn't cover the spread. 

The FRED Report

Ballplayer extraordinaire...Fred McGriff

F - Free Throws: This one was ugly. 11-19 from the stripe and Imari Berry was the only player to make all (two) of her attempts. 57.9% is worth no letter.

R - Rebounding: Louisville would be expected to win this battle pretty handily, and they did so. The Cards finished with 60 total rebounds and a +28 margin on the glass. They limited EKU to just four offensive rebounds, though those did turn into six second chance points. Louisville's 24 offensive rebounds nearly matched EKU's defensive total. Capital 'R'.

E - Effort/Execution: The Cards had 16 turnovers, which is an average of four per quarter, but they limited that number to just 11 after a rough first quarter. Taj Roberts and Reyna Scott combined for ten of those 16 turnovers, which isn't great, but only five of the turnovers were EKU steals. The Cards, as I mentioned, turned things around on offense and went >50% from the floor from two-point land. A stronger start in the first would have been nice, but they didn't get rattled and got it sorted out for a big win in the end. I'll give a lowercase 'e'. 

D - Defense: Again, this was a tale of the first quarter vs the rest of the game. Louisville forced EKU into 21 turnovers and they had ten steals and five blocks. Once EKU cooled off, they ended up shooting just 330.2% from the floor in the final three quarters and 12.5% from beyond the arc. The Cards sent them to the line for just nine shots. It's tempting to dock them for that first quarter, but sometimes underdogs just come into a game loose and find their range. Louisville weathered that storm and played much better after the first ten minutes. Capital 'D'.

That's a final tally of _-R-e-D, which is fitting for the season as we approach the holiday. This isn't the first clunker at the free throw line for the Cards, so I suspect Coach Walz will have them taking a few more shots at the end of practices. 

Louisville has a short turnaround before they face a good Tennessee team Saturday morning. The Cards will hit the road to New York to take on the Volunteers in the Women's Champions Classic in the Barclays Center for their final game of 2025. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Crush Panthers -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Elif Scores Career High in 91-38 Win

A three-pointer by Tiny Lewis cut the Eastern Illinois deficit to one at 13-12 with 3:27 remaining in the first quarter. The Panthers had held close to Louisville for the first portion of the opening stanza, but that would be the end of that. Louisville closed the first on an 8-0 run to win the quarter by nine and won each subsequent quarter by no fewer than 13 points. Louisville's offense was largely consistent quarter-to-quarter (21, 26, 22, 22), while the defense held EIU to fewer points each quarter (12, 11, 9, 6). All in all, it was an expected thumping, as the loss moved Eastern Illinois to 0-6 on the season and the win took the Cards to 5-2. 

After the first six minutes or so, Louisville was never really troubled in this one. It might even be fair to say that they weren't particularly troubled at the beginning, despite the surprisingly close score. Once the Cards settled in, they had it fairly well under control. Walz was able to clear the bench and play 12 players, and, for the second time this season, every player that saw the floor scored a point. What's more, every player scored a field goal. The Cards were led by Taj Roberts, who scored 13, while Elif Istanbulluoglu and Mackenly Randolph tied at second with 12. The 12 points were a career high for Elif, who added six rebounds, an assist, two blocks, and two steals. The total was also Randolph's season high, and it missed her career high by one point (13 against Duke last season). 

Reagan Bender also had a nice night. Her career high is also 13, and she only scored eight in last night's game, but she added five rebounds, four assists, and five steals. The phrasing ends up coming off as a bit of a joke, but being halfway to a quadruple-double is nothing to scoff at. Bender did all this in a career-high night in minutes, as she led the team with 24. In addition to minutes, last night set career highs in field goal attempts, makes, rebounds, assists, and steals. Anaya Hardy had another double-double in 21 minutes, putting up 12 rebounds to go along with 11 points. She also had two steals. 

All in all, there isn't a whole lot more to say. Eastern Illinois is not a good team, so winning by 50+ points shouldn't be a great surprise. Getting a solid performance from everyone is quite nice, though, and you look for that in games like last night's. That said, the team wasn't as locked in as they could have been, which we'll cover up next in The FRED Report, but they still had an enjoyable Black Friday and will be set up for another big day today. 

The FRED Report

F-Free Throws: If there was one spot Louisville came up short (other than turnovers), it was free throws. The Cards got to the line quite a bit, earning 25 attempts, but they hit on just 17 of those. Louisville had no perfect quarters, and Taj Roberts went 0-2 at the stripe. Those last two stats are just icing on the bad cake, since a 68% qualifies for no letter all on its own. 

R-Rebounds: Louisville may not have had the tallest player on the floor (EIU had someone at 6'10"), but the Cards were the bigger and more physical team on average. They showed it, cleaning up 46 rebounds, compared to 34 for the Panthers. Louisville had 20 offensive rebounds and scored 19 second chance points. They held EIU to just nine o-boards. Capital 'R'. 

E-Effort/Execution: The final point total is nice. It's hard to score 91 points, though maybe not incredibly difficult when the opponent gives you as many chances as EIU did. Still, Louisville shot 46% from the floor and 35% from three. They assisted on 20 of their 33 makes. The big issue here is the turnovers. Louisville had 15, and I can't give a capital letter for that. Lowercase 'e'. 

D-Defense: Louisville's defense, as I mentioned earlier, got stingier as the game went on. They allowed just 38 points, fewer than ten per quarter, and they picked up 17 steals. They also had three blocks and forced a total of 31 turnovers. Yeah, I'm gonna go with a capital 'D'.

If you're going to have an off night at the free throw line, it's best to do it when you win by a million points, I suppose, but the turnovers were unfortunate. Louisville finishes with a final tally of _-R-e-D. Daryl will love that, since her favorite Louisville chant is "Go Big Red." (Sarcasm very much intended.) The Cards will be back in action today when they take on East Tennessee State. Today's game will be at 3:30, and it will be held in Knights Hall on Bellarmine's campus. Because it's at Bellarmine and not hosted by UofL, this game will be on ESPN+ instead of ACCNX. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Volleyball Wins at GT; WBB Battle of the Bluegrass -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Win 3-1 in Atlanta

Louisville volleyball hit the road this weekend to take on a Georgia Tech team that isn't quite as fear-inducing as they have been in years past. The Yellowjackets entered yesterday's game at 15-10 (10-5), but they were still ranked 40th in the RPI. With every match being critical in a race for the ACC regular season championship, dropping a game you should win on the road would be very bad. Louisville is still alive in the ACC, as no team has fewer than two losses. The Cards (14-2) are currently alone in third on the basis of having played one fewer games than Stanford and Pitt (15-2). SMU has dropped a third match and sits at 14-3. Louisville controls its own destiny in the league, as they play the Cardinal and Panthers next week and could seize the outright championship. 

Let's take it back to Atlanta, though. Before Louisville could worry about the huge opponents on next week's calendar, they needed to take care of business against a scrappy Georgia Tech team. GT jumped out to an early 5-2 lead and played with that lead for much of the set. Louisville clawed back to an 11-11 tie, but GT pushed its lead back to 15-12 and then 17-14. As the number of available points kept falling, Louisville finally put together a series to bring it level at 19 points. The Cards won the race to 20, but couldn't string together two in a row for the next few points. Louisville finally took a two-point lead at 24-22, and won the set on their second set point. 25-23 was nervy, but it counts either way. 

The second set was much less dramatic. GT hung with the Cards early on and used a five-point run to draw within one point at 13-12. The two teams largely traded points again, with Louisville only able to get to a 16-14 lead. Unfortunately for the Bees, Molly Wilson's service error to get them to 14 would be their last point of the set. Louisville won the next nine points to seal the set at 25-14. 

Coming out of the half, the third set looked a lot like the first, but with Louisville holding the arm's-length lead. Just like the first, the trailing team closed up late, and the two teams traded points in the 20s. Louisville was able to keep getting the side-out whenever GT would tie for many of the opportunities. Service errors kept GT in it, as the Cards committed them at 22-21 and 23-22. GT took a 24-23 lead and won the set on their first attempt at 25-23. 

Disappointed, but not dismayed, Louisville came out in the fourth and decided they were ready to be done with the match. GT held on early once more, but the Cards stretched to a 13-7 lead and never let the Bees get closer than five points afterwards. A 25-15 fourth set gave Louisville the 3-1 victory. 

Statistically, it doesn't seem like this match should have been as close as it was. Louisville hit .336 while GT was just .090. Part of the low Georgia Tech hitting performance came from the fact that Louisville finished with 21 team blocks. Yes, you read that right: 21 blocks. GT had only 35 errors, so Louisville was the direct cause of 60% of their errors, and the block was likely the indirect cause of many more. Louisville's service errors (12) were part of the problem, as the serving game really wasn't working for them with only three aces. GT had just four aces, but they limited the damage with just seven errors. 

Chloe Chicoine and Kalyssa Blackshear led the team with 15 kills apiece, and Blackshear totaled a double-double with ten blocks. Even with ten blocks, Blackshear was only second on the team, as Hannah Sherman put up an astounding 14. Cara Cresse narrowly missed a double-double herself, as she had eight blocks to go along with her ten kills. Payton Petersen was close as well, as she often is due to the full-rotation. Petersen was third on the team with 13 kills and added eight digs. If there was one thing GT did well, it was to limit Nayelis Cabello's sneaky offense. Cabello had just five attempts, and she had no kills and one error. That didn't deter her from putting up a great performance in her normal duties, though, as she finished with 47 of Louisville's 53 assists and added eight digs and four blocks. 

Louisville will also need to dispatch Clemson tomorrow, but a loss there would be stunning. After starting the season 12-0 in non-conference play, the Tigers are a woeful 4-13 in the ACC. Their wins came against two teams behind them in the standings (Cal and Virginia) and the two teams directly ahead of them (Syracuse and BC). Clemson has also been one of Duke's two wins and one of Virginia Tech's three. The Tigers took Notre Dame to five sets last night, but Louisville should still have a fairly straightforward outing. That match is at 1PM on ACC Network. 

Louisville Hosts UK at Yum! Center

As I noted in last week's soccer writeup, the Cards and Cats will face off twice more this month, with one of those meetings coming this afternoon. Louisville and Kentucky will get underway at 2PM on The CW in a fairly evenly matched game (according to the polls). This will be the 61st meeting between the two teams, with UK holding a 35-25 advantage. It will be a battle of trends this afternoon in Louisville. The Cards won seven straight in the rivalry game before last season, but UK won five straight before that. Will Louisville be able to win their fifth straight at home or will a new streak start for the Wildcats with their first win against the Cards in Louisville in over a decade?

I wrote a bit about UK's offensive output this season, but it will be interesting to see how the Cards manage the versatile Wildcats. Kentucky has four players averaging double figures, while two more are over nine per game. Clara Strack is the team leader in points with 16.8 per game. She was preseason second-team all SEC and leads the nation in double-doubles. Point guard Tonie Morgan is second in the nation in assists per game and the Cats are making 10 three pointers per game (tenth in the country). While Strack has made five of those, the shooters for the Cats are Amelia Hassett and Asia Boone. The two have combined to make 32 threes already this season on 34.8% shooting from beyond the arc. Louisville will need to be careful as Kenny Brooks goes to the bench as well. Lexi Blue is averaging just 11 minutes per game but she has already made eight three pointers on 42.1% shooting from range. UK also gets to the line consistently, and they're capable of knocking down free throws. I'm sure they'd like to be better, but they're shooting 75.9% from the stripe on an average of 18 attempts per game. 

Defensively, UK is also stout. Their competition hasn't been the most stellar, but they've held their last five opponents to fewer than 50 points and less than 30% from the field. They're first in the country in blocks per game (10), scoring defense (43.5), and field-goal percentage defense (26.9%). They've won their first two true road games by 30+ points (Buffalo and Marshall), a feat they haven't accomplished since the 1999-2000 season. With Louisville showing a propensity for getting out to a slow start, they could be in trouble if UK gets the chance to put the clamps on. 

The Cards are coming off of a bit of a get-right game. They are undefeated since the opener against UConn, but you could almost say, "that's not for a lack of trying." Louisville has had to pull some second-half performances out of the bag to meet that mark, but they were able to put a fairly complete game together on Thursday. Anaya Hardy and Reagan Bender had career nights, while Elif Istanbulluoglu matched a career-high in points. Laura Ziegler scored in double figures for the fourth time this season, and Taj Roberts scored double-digit points for the fourth straight game. 

The Cards will need to take care of the ball against the difficult UK defense. Louisville is averaging 11 turnovers per game. That could be dangerous, considering the Cats are forcing 17.5 on average from their opponents. Clean offense from the Cards will go a long way, as they'll have to find good shots, likely from the outside, to put up points this afternoon. 

All will be revealed in a few hours. Paulie will have the recap tomorrow. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Ground Eagles 96-49 -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Louisville Nearly Doubles Up Morehead State

Louisville brought in a blue team from Kentucky in their final tune-up before they face the blue team from Kentucky on Saturday. In the end, Louisville dominated Morehead State, finishing with a season-high 96 points and seeing seven players post double-figures in scoring. That marks the most in a game in almost exactly two years, as eight scored double-digits against Bellarmine on November 16, 2023 (thanks for that stat, Matt). The Cards led nearly wire-to-wire, and despite letting off the gas a bit in the fourth, won all four quarters, on route to a 96-49 victory. 

Very early on, it looked like the Cards might suffer from the same sluggish start that has plagued them in most games this season. Morehead State hung around and led 7-6 after three minutes. However, that was pretty much the end of that. Louisville went on a 13-0 run to snatch a big lead and then finished the quarter on a 10-0 run to make it even bigger. Overall, they won the last seven minutes of the first quarter 23-3 and won the quarter 29-10. The Cards went 12-17 from the floor in the opening stanza.

Louisville also scored the first six points of the second quarter, pushing their lead to 25 and putting the game firmly out of reach. It was mostly academic after that point, with the Cards scoring basically at will until the fourth quarter. Coach Jeff Walz played eleven players in this one, and each player scored. Taj Roberts saw the most time on the floor with 27 minutes, but the next three highest minutes earners came off the bench. Everyone played double-digit minutes, bar Mackenly Randolph, who saw only seven minutes as a starter. Of the seven in double figures, four scored 13 points to lead all players, with two starting and two coming off the bench. 

Louisville scored 85 points in the first three quarters of the game. Pretty good, if you ask me, but a bit d
isappointing that they couldn't break 100. Tough thing to be upset about. The Cards finished 33-61 from the floor (54.1%) and 10-26 from three (38.5%), but if you exclude the fourth quarter, they shot 28-45 (62.2%) and 9-16 (56.2%) before garbage time. Not too shabby. Reagan Bender, one of the players who scored 13, led the team with three made three-pointers. She was 3-4 from the floor (all from beyond the arc) and went 4-4 from the free throw line.

Also scoring 13 points were Roberts, Laura Ziegler, and Imari Berry. Anaya Hardy was close behind at 12, and Elif Istanbulluoglu and Reyna Scott rounded out the double-digit scorers with 11 apiece. Hardy also led the team in rebounding, posting a double-double with 13 rebounds. Scott and Berry tied for the team lead with four assists, as Louisville assisted on 22 of 33 made baskets. 

The FRED Report

F-Free Throws: Louisville shot 20-23 from the free throw line which is good for 87%. All three misses came from post players, with seven players making all of their free throw attempts. I think 90% is supposed to be the cutoff for a capital F, though, so we'll stick with a lowercase'f', but I do so begrudgingly. 

R-Rebounds: The Cards put a palindrome on Morehead in the rebounding category, winning the battle on the boards 42-24. That was largely to be expected, given the difference in talent and athleticism, but it's still important to get it done. Louisville allowed eight offensive rebounds, but they had 12 of their own. While the Cards could only score nine second chance points on those rebounds, they did manage to keep MSU to just two. Plus, Hardy snagging more than half of MSU's total rebounds by herself is fun. Capital 'R'.

E-Effort/Execution: Louisville fell off a bit in the fourth, but that was largely garbage time for the Cards. They still managed to win the quarter, and I'm certain that Skylar Jones, Peyton Bradley, and Rebekah Graves would have preferred to do better than 1-15 from the floor. The Cards had just 11 turnovers, with a couple of those coming on offensive fouls, and I already mentioned their 22 assists. A 2:1 ATO is quite good, and they did it with a 66% assist rate. Add in the shooting percentages, and the big scoring runs, and I'll say they executed well with high effort. Capital 'E'.

D-Defense: The Cards gave up fewer than 50 points. They held the Eagles to 35.3% shooting, allowing just 7-27 from beyond the arc. They did send Morehead State to the line a few too many times, giving up 17 free throw attempts, but MSU couldn't hit the broadside of a barn, going 6-17 from the stripe. Louisville had 10 steals as part of their 18 forced turnovers, though they weren't able to pick up a block despite the size advantage. It was still a strong defensive performance, leading to Louisville's first true blowout win of the year. (They pulled away from NKU late, but it was close for quite a while.) I'll award a capital 'D' here, because I'm not sure how to award much else.

That gives a final tally of f-R-E-D, which is just about as good as you can do. The lowercase 'f' is a bit misleading when Louisville won the free throw battle by 14 points, but it's nice to have places to improve. 

The Cards have a relatively short turnaround this week, with a Saturday game instead of Sunday on the calendar. Louisville will host Kentucky in the fifth Battle of the Bluegrass of the month of November. Louisville is 4-0 in the four so far (M/W swim & dive, MBB, WSOC) and football will play the sixth and final next week. UK is a couple of spots ahead of the Cards in the latest polls, and they sit at 6-0 so far. UK hasn't had much competition, but they haven't struggled to blow teams out. Their closest margin of victory was a 26-point win over Morehead State in the season opener. Their 75 points in that game was their fewest in a game so far, and they're averaging an 84-44 victory. UK's latest game was a 76-35 crushing of Purdue on Tuesday. 

Saturday's game will be UK's third true road game of the season, as they have played at Buffalo and Marshall this year. The Yum! Center should be a much more hostile environment to walk into, but Louisville will need to bring their A-game against the Cats. Tipoff is at 2PM on Saturday, and the game will be on The CW. 

POSTGAME WITH COACH WALZ

POSTGAME WITH HARDY & ISTANBULLUOGLU

Women's Soccer in NCAA Second Round

After last week's thriller against UK, Louisville women's soccer closed up shop at Lynn Stadium and hit the road. The Cards will take on Kansas this afternoon in Durham, North Carolina, with the winner set to face the winner of #2 Duke vs #7 UCF. It has been all chalk in the quadrant so far, but #6 Louisville will look to spring the first upset when they take on the #3 Jayhawks. 

Kansas went 15-5-3 this season with a 6-4-1 record in the Big 12. Despite their seeding, Kansas doesn't have a super strong resume. Prior to the Big 12 Tournament, they were 0-3-2 against teams ranked at the time, with both draws coming in Lawrence against FSU and West Virginia. They won a pair of ranked games in that Big 12 Tourney, thumping WVU 4-0 and then getting revenge on #11 Colorado for an earlier loss 2-1, before falling to BYU 1-0. 

Kansas defeated California Baptist 3-1 last Friday to advance. Today's match is at 4PM and will be available for streaming on ESPN+. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Two WBB Cards Named To Pre-season All-ACC Team -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 ROBERTS & ZIEGLER GARNER PRE-SEASON HONORS

(PHOTO FROM GO.CARDS)

You know basketball season is getting close when the preseason teams and awards start to get posted and we have good news today about two of the student-athletes on Jeff Walz's 2025-26 Louisville WBB squad. 

Since yesterday was National Dessert Day, what could be a sweeter treat than having Tajianna Roberts and Laura Ziegler named to the 2025 All-ACC pre-season team? 

Hannah Hildago

They join top vote-getter Hannah Hildago (Notre Dame), Nunu Agara (Stanford), Zoe Brooks (North Carolina State), Kymora Johnson (Virginia), Toby Fournier (Duke), Ashlon Jackson (Duke), Khamil Pierre (NC State) and Reniya Kelly (UNC) on the ACC first team.

One bit of news that isn't exactly frosting on the cake or Creme Brulee is the news that the government shutdown might affect the Cards planned trip to Germany to face UConn on a Air Force base. 

Jeff Walz: "Our first game, as you know, is on our Air force base... if we (the  government) open back up. We're closed right now -- our country"

Taj Roberts on the potential trip: "I'm really looking forward to going. I think Walz really makes a point to help us  enjoy life as a whole....and understand that after basketball, there is going to be life. We got to go to Paris. It was really fun. Now, Germany. I'm sure we'll do a lot of cool things out there and be able to play at the highest level. UConn, they won the National Championship last year..so we are coming out with a bang and I am really excited for it.' 

Other options include moving the game to either the KFC YUM! Center or even a UConn site. 

In the pre-season team rankings...Duke has gathered the most votes...with 40 of the 70 possible. Following them, in order, are NC State (25), North Carolina, Louisville, Notre Dame, Stanford, Virginia, Miami, FSU, Virginia Tech, Clemson, California, Syracuse, SMU, Georgia Tech, Pitt. Boston College and Wake Forest.

Being picked fourth overall in such a strong conference is encouraging, especially with such a young team and transfer-laden squad. 

We will keep you up on all the latest UofL WBB news here at Cardinal Couple.

paulie 

What will losing Nyla Harris mean to Louisville WBB-- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 HARRIS "FEELS FREE" AGAIN AFTER LEAVING CARDS TO GO TO UNC

Harris in her new "Carolina Blue"

Nyla Harris was one of five Cardinals WBB players to play in all 33 games in the 2024-35 season. She was the fourth leading scorer on the UofL team, but the second leading leading rebounder. You read that right, she outrebounded all Cards WBB players but graduated Olivia Cochran. 

Grace Mbugna is a powerhouse rebounding machine coming in as a freshman

A lot of teams would go into panic mode after losing their top two rebounders. And, yes, it may affect the Cards at first, but consider that Louisville has 6'4" Isla Juffermans back and adds 6'4" Grace Mbugna (Danville Christian), 6'3" freshman Yevhenia Putra (Ukraine), 6'2" senior Laura Ziegler (St. Joseph's) and still has 6'3" sophomore Anaya Hardy on the roster. Height wise, the Cards will be just fine on the front line. The Cards also have super sophomores Taj Roberts and Mqc Randolph returning. 

In Harris' case, it was going to play her senior year at a school that was the first to express interest when she entered the transfer portal and also, in UNC, one of the schools that was in her final five when she was an incoming freshman.  

In Harris's words..."I'm happy again...I feel free. I'm going to be real again and not in a box anymore. The decision to go with UNC is 10 times better and I will be able to shine on the court. The biggest thing, going into my senior year, is happiness and being surrounded by players who care about me."

She'll be the third tallest player on the roster for the TarHeels, behind 6'5" sophomore Bianca Thomas, who averaged 2.4 points a game last year and 6'4" redshirt sophomore Ciara Toomey, who averaged 3.2 points per game.  

Taj Roberts is posed to have a incredible sophomore season

The Cards will miss Harris a bit, but when you have the powerhouses Mac Randolph, Taj Roberts, and several other transfers coming in, Walz has restocked the front line "cupboard" instead of leaving the shelves empty.  With six players 6'3" or taller, rebounding should be the least of Louisville concerns in the 2025-26 campaign. No one rebuilds better than Jeff Walz

Sometimes. players go. All you can do is thank her for the years she gave the Cards and wish her the best in her decision. 

paulie

Academic Accolades and Softball Final Series -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB Lands 8 on ACC Academic Team

Louisville women's basketball continued a tradition we've grown accustomed to in covering Louisville women's athletics, which is performing well off the court in addition to on it. This trend was kept up with the announcement of the 2025 All-ACC Academic Team by the conference earlier this week. Jeff Walz's squad placed eight on the team. As a unit, Louisville WBB posted a 3.37 GPA as a team in the fall semester. They had 12 team members earn at least a 3.0, 11 with at least a 3.25, and one pick up a perfect 4.0. 

All-ACC Academic Team honorees must post a 3.0 GPA for the previous semester and maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA over the course of their collegiate career. They must also compete in at least 50% of the team's athletic contests. Louisville had three freshmen on the team, all obviously picking up their first honor: Isla Juffermans, Mackenly Randolph, and Taj Roberts. Three players earned their second honor: Jayda Curry, Elif Istanbulluoglu, and Ja'Leah Williams. And two players earned their All-ACC Academic Team placement: Merissah Russell and Nyla Harris. 

Congratulations to all as commencement is just around the corner for UofL's Spring 2025 graduates.

Softball Takes on Pitt in Regular Season Finale

Louisville softball, as is tradition, is on the road for their final series of the regular season, with the Cards heading to Pittsburgh for a Thursday-Friday-Saturday matchup with the Panthers. Today's series opener will get underway at 6PM and air on ACC Network Extra. With their win over Florida State on Sunday, the Cards did a lot to improve their ACC tournament positioning. That is to say, Louisville is almost guaranteed to make the ACC tournament. 

Louisville sits at 7-14 in conference play, which is good for 10th. As a reminder, 12 teams make the tournament. The Cards need to only be ahead of three opponents to lock up the 12th spot. Two of the teams below them in the standings cannot improve. Notre Dame and NC State have already completed their regular season, with the Irish at 7-17 and the Wolfpack at 6-18. Louisville holds the tiebreaker over Notre Dame. Syracuse and Pittsburgh both have six wins, so a sweep by both of those teams would move them ahead of the Cards. That would leave Boston College. BC has five wins, and Louisville holds the tiebreaker. For BC to jump the Cards, Pitt would have to sweep, but so would BC. The Eagles are taking on Stanford this weekend.

With one win against the Panthers, who are 19-29 overall, Louisville would secure its spot in the tournament. Effectively, they're playing for seeding and a chance to try to make enough noise to land an NCAA berth. I'm sure there is no love lost between Coach Holly Aprile and her former team, though she has been at UofL long enough that no players from her time at Pitt remain on the roster. The Cards are 27-6 all-time against Pittsburgh and 8-2 in their last ten meetings. Unfortunately, five of those six losses have come on the road. Louisville would do well to ride their momentum from Sunday's big win to close out the regular season strong and then see what happens going forward. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Transfer News; Saturday Schedule -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB Adds Skylar Jones

In today's college basketball landscape, the transfer portal gives and it takes away. Earlier this week, we learned that Nyla Harris chose to depart Louisville for UNC. That one stings a bit, and it will be hard to replace her veteran leadership and heart on the team. That said, the Cards announced an incoming transfer to help bolster the scoring and experience, although not from the post. 

Louisville is bringing in Skylar Jones from the University of Arizona. Jones is a 6'-0" guard from Chicago who will be a junior in the 2025-26 season. In her freshman season for the Wildcats, she was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team as an honorable mention. As a sophomore, she started 25 games and appeared in 32, averaging 10.7 points, 3 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.6 steals. Her career night came against TCU, when she dropped 30 points on Van Lith and Co. That may have been part of what caught Jeff Walz's eye, since no one other than Jayda Curry could score against the Horned Frogs for Louisville. 

Jones is the first of likely multiple players that will be called on to bolster a depleted guard rotation. Louisville loses Jayda Curry, Ja'Leah Williams, and Merissah Russell to graduation and rising sophomore Izela Arenas has announced her intent to transfer. Jones joins Imari Berry and Taj Roberts as the only returning guards to see significant minutes last season, with Reagan Bender and Rebekah Graves also listed as guards on the roster. 

April Showers in Louisville 

If the Cards aren't on the road, I struggle to see how they'll play in any outdoor events today. As Daryl mentioned yesterday, Louisville softball announced their cancellation of today's double-header as far back as Thursday. The rain isn't set to let up here or anywhere nearby, as Louisville Metro crews were already setting flood gates yesterday afternoon and Louisville MSD announced that the city's combined sanitary/storm system was nearing capacity. 

Plenty of rain, but no rainbows likely today

All that is to say that Louisville Field Hockey is still acting like they will host their spring tournament at Trager Stadium today and tomorrow. It's an astroturf field with good drainage, but this weather seems absolutely abysmal to participate in any outdoor activity in. I'm already dreading walking from my car to the indoor golf facility tomorrow. There is also lightning in the area, threatening any sports with delays. Louisville is scheduled to kick off the event at 10 AM today, so we'll see. 

Lacrosse is on the road this weekend, but they're at Virginia, and I'm pretty sure Charlottesville is on this same path of weather. Their game against the top-ten Cavaliers is set for noon. The Cards are coming off of an exciting win over Liberty and would desperately like to get back into the win column in the ACC. That game will be available on ACC Network Extra. 

Track and field are taking part in split events, but both are west of the Rockies, so hopefully they are spared of the sogginess. The teams are at the Jim Vargo Invitational (Stanford) and the Jim Click Shootout & Multis (Arizona). Yesterday, the Cards picked up three wins, with Ashley Callahan (pole vault) and Jayden Ulrich (discus) taking the top spot in Arizona and Lauren Bettencourt (1500m) taking gold in Stanford. Both events continue today. 

Cardinal Couple NCAA Pick 'Em

Although Karen J has locked up first place, second will come down to the championship game as Thomas and Tim F are both locked at 52 points. There will be no need for a tiebreaker in this one; the two picked opposing champions. Thanks again to everyone for playing! 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We're finally back this week after getting everyone through various obstacles. We'll watch the rain fall out the window as Paulie, Daryl, and I record this week's show, with a potential appearance from Jared dependent on his puppy duties. Check out the show after it posts around 1PM, and be sure to subscribe so that it comes to your feed automatically. 

Cardinal Couple YouTube: Link

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RadioPublic: Link

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

Cards Survive Husker Rally; Softball Wins Game 1 -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

WBB Advances with 63-58 Victory

Like the men's team a day earlier, Louisville women's basketball faced a team from Nebraska that had a strong post player and kept hitting threes when Louisville attempted to break the game open. Unlike the men, the women kept their cool and never let the game get out of reach. The Cards and Huskers played a game marred by long scoring droughts, sometimes by both sides at the same time (such as a three-and-a-half minute stretch in the first quarter), but ultimately, Louisville's defense stepped up to force Nebraska into the most important drought of all: not scoring for the final minute of the game. 

The Cards and Huskers traded blows in the first quarter, but it was Nebraska's inability to hold onto the ball that really kept Louisville in it early. The Cards shot just 30% from the floor in the first quarter, compared to 46.7% from Nebraska, but they trailed by only two at the break. That was largely due to a 6-3 Louisville advantage in turnovers, which resulted in a 6-0 advantage in points off of those turnovers. 

Louisville would ride that turnover advantage wave throughout the game, with the biggest difference coming in the second quarter. The second saw Louisville take its first real lead of the game (6-5 was immediately erased by a Nebraska 3 in the first quarter) when they went on a 9-0 run to close the half. The Cards had the same 6-3 turnover margin in the second quarter as they did in the first, but they scored 11 points off of those six turnovers while Nebraska could manage just two. The Huskers looked like they'd hold on to the lead throughout the quarter, as each time Louisville got close, they'd hit a three to stretch the advantage. Nebraska led by about five for the entire quarter until that Louisville run over the final two-and-a-half minutes. In the second, Nebraska shot an identical 7-15 from the floor, but Louisville brought their average up to 38.5% with a 9-19 quarter. The Cards also made two threes, matching Nebraska, and led 36-32 at halftime. 

Olivia Cochran picked up two fouls in the second quarter, but both came as a result of playing hard against Alexis Markowski, and it was paying off. Louisville had a strong post presence in the game, despite the potential Nebraska advantage in that area, and the Cards limited Markowski overall. In the end, she finished with a double-double, but she scored only 12 points, and her 10 rebounds came primarily on the defensive end. She was just 5-12 from the floor (1-2 from three) and had two turnovers. The Cards outscored Nebraska by 12 in the paint. One place Louisville struggled in this area was second chance points. The Cards had 18 offensive rebounds, compared to just 9 for Nebraska, but it was the Huskers that won the second chance points battle 8-7. 

Taj Roberts scored a layup on the first possession of the second half to push the Cards lead to six, and both teams decided scoring was optional for a bit. Olivia Cochran broke a four-minute scoring drought with a free throw to make it 39-32. Nebraska matched that with 5:07 remaining in the quarter, and a three by Jayda Curry, over five minutes after the last made field goal in the game, pushed the Louisville lead to nine. The Cards looked like they'd be in control from that point on, but the Huskers held on, cutting the lead to 46-44 with 1:10 to go in the quarter. A pair of layups by Elif Istanbulluoglu in the final minute pushed Louisville's lead to 50-44 going into the final stanza. 

Not so fast, my friend as Lee Corso would say. After Elif's layup in the final second, a bit of chaos ensued. The refs convened for a chat about whether a technical foul should be assessed for Louisville players coming onto the court before the quarter was over. Ultimately, the right decision was made, and no foul was given. The clock operator had mistakenly stopped the clock with 0.1s remaining after the field goal, meaning the bench did come out on the floor to celebrate before the quarter ended. However, the clock shouldn't have stopped for a made basket in the third quarter. The conversation ended with the refs correctly determining that the quarter would have been over if the clock hadn't stopped, and that was that. A whole lot of stress for nothing. 

As if the teams felt Louisville fans relax from afar going into the fourth quarter, things turned on a dime. Louisville decided that the beginning of the quarter would be a great time for a scoring drought, but Nebraska didn't agree. The Huskers opened the fourth on a 10-0 run over 3:30 that flipped Louisville from +6 to -4. The Cards would finally score in the fourth with 5:28 remaining, lucky to not trail by more. The Louisville basket made it 54-52 in favor of Nebraska, and given the final score, you can probably guess that the end was tense. Neither team scored for two minutes, and Louisville finally tied it at 56 with 2:20 remaining. Jayda Curry's second tough jumper in a row, coming after the second offensive rebound of the possession, gave Louisville a 58-56 lead with 1:16 remaining. 

Britt Prince (one of two Prince's Louisville needed to be very aware of entering the weekend) hit a layup to tie the game with 59 seconds remaining, and Jeff Walz called a timeout to draw up a go-ahead play on what could be Louisville's final possession. As the shot clock wound down, Curry put up a three that rimmed out. Cochran was there for yet another offensive rebound for the Cards, and she was fouled on her put back attempt. Olivia missed the first but buried the second to give Louisville a one-point lead. After a timeout to advance the ball, Nebraska looked to run the clock down and take a final shot to win. That is, until Prince saw what she thought was an open lane for a layup. (Side note, this was ill advised, in my opinion, in a one-point game. If you make it, Louisville has the ball down one and gets to hold for the last shot. Are you leading? Yes. Have you just subjected yourself to potential heartbreak? Also, yes.) As it was, Louisville stepped in to draw a charge on Prince, voiding the basket and fouling her out of the game. It was a bit of a late move to pick up the charge, but Louisville had just been called for the same thing a couple of minutes earlier, so if it was a bad call, at least it was consistent. 

From there, the Cards knew they were playing the foul game, and they wisely got it in to Curry, who tried to kill time but was fouled with 21 seconds remaining. She did what everyone hoped she would and calmly sunk both to give Louisville a three-point cushion. Nebraska advanced the ball with a timeout again, but the three-point attempt they drew up missed and Mackenly Randolph pulled down the rebound. She got the ball to Cochran, but Olivia couldn't get it away before being fouled. Cochran hit one of two at the line to stretch the lead to four. Another timeout (taking three into the final minute is a choice...) advanced the ball, but this time, Nebraska threw the ball away. Cochran was sent to the line for free throws that were largely academic and made one of two to set the final score of 63-58. 

Survive and advance. 

The FRED Report

Free Throws: The Cards weren't great at the stripe, going just 9-15. Cochran had a good game (14 points, 5 boards, just three fouls, and a block), but she was a big part of the lower percentage, going 4-8 from the line. Roberts missed her only attempt to convert a three-point play and Ja'leah Williams was 1-2. Curry led the way at 4-4. No letter.

Rebounds: Louisville held a huge advantage on the offensive glass, but they managed to outrebound Nebraska by just four overall. They also didn't convert those O'boards into second chance points consistently, though they did have some second (and third) opportunities that were clutch down the stretch. Nebraska had a height advantage in the post, so I'll award a lowercase 'r'.

Effort/Execution: Louisville never gave up, even when the shots weren't falling and Nebraska went on a late run. The Cards could have caved but they didn't. Jayda Curry played through getting hurt what felt like seven times, but hopefully she'll be ok going into tomorrow. Louisville got at least five minutes from everyone that played (11 players) and everyone that got on the floor contributed at least one positive stat. The Cards had just 13 turnovers, and only 14 fouls, and they had 14 assists on 25 made baskets. That kind of performance in a tournament game where momentum is everything gets a capital 'E' from me. 

Defense: Nebraska shot the ball well, but not really for lack of Louisville's defensive pressure. The Huskers were ultimately 23-52 from the floor, making fewer shots than Louisville. They took only eight free throws, and Louisville turned them over 24 times (scoring 27 points). Williams led Louisville with four of their ten steals, and she pulled down nine rebounds, seven defensive. She struggled offensively but she was a huge force on defense. The Cards also had three blocks. To put a bow on it, Louisville gave up just 58 points to a team that averaged 75.5 throughout the year. Capital 'D'.

That's a final tally of _-r-E-D, which is certainly nothing to slouch at. We'll need the Cards to get to the line more tomorrow and to take advantage of those opportunities, but this was a good showing from Louisville, who return to their winning ways in the NCAA tournament. 

Louisville will move on to face TCU in the matchup the selection committee was going for when they set the bracket last season. After Louisville was upset and didn't get to face LSU and Hailey Van Lith, the committee set the stage again. The Cards will face the Horned Frogs, led by Van Lith and Sedona Prince, on their ugly home floor tomorrow. The game will tip at 6PM. 

Softball Beats UNC 7-4

Louisville softball won their first game of a three-game set in Chapel Hill yesterday by a final score of 7-4. The Cards rallied twice in this one, powered by a pair of three-run homers. UNC took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, and Char Lorenz sent a three-run shot down the left field line to take the lead in the fourth. UNC responded immediately with another two runs to regain the lead in the bottom half, but Bri Despines put Louisville back in front with a homer to right in the fifth. Camryn Lookadoo hit a pinch-hit double in the sixth to set the final score at 7-4.

The Cards didn't have a great hitting day, but they got hits when it mattered. Louisville left just three players on base, scoring seven runs on just eight hits and two walks. The long ball will do that for you. UNC managed 13 hits and two walks, but Alyssa Zabala (8-3) and Sam Booe combined to strand 11 runners. Zabala got the start and gave up all four runs on ten hits and one walk in four full innings, striking out two. Booe came in after Louisville retook the lead and earned the long save. Booe pitched three full and gave up three hits and one walk, while also picking up two strikeouts. Booe is listed in the pitching summary as giving up an HBP, but none is listed in her stats or the batting stats for UNC. 

The Cards and Heels will get together for game two of the series at 2PM today. 

CC NCAA Tournament Pick 'Em Update

After day one of our NCAA Pick 'Em, here's the scoreboard as it stands midway through the round of 64. 

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

We've got hosts scrambled all over the place today, so we aren't able to get together for the show this week. We'll be back next week, hopefully to discuss a continued tournament run for the Cards.

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case