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

Cards complete comeback on the Wolfpack in OT -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

Good morning and happy Martin Luther King Jr Day.  

The University of Louisville recognizes the federal holiday in observance of the late Dr King. 

WBB

Louisville 88 - NC State 80 

The Cards are toppling the big dawgs in a pretty convincing fashion with Louisville on an 11 game win streak and have now evened the series with the Wolfpack 9 each.

The two previous conference road wins vs rivals are big ones and now Louisville gets a 7 day break before welcoming Boston College to the Yum Center next weekend. 

Imari Berry had a career day with 33 points and 12 rebounds (her career rebounds is 13 vs Tennessee a few weeks ago).  

NC State dominated the first quarter before the Louisville defense put a stop to the bleeding.  Louisville gave up 23 points to NC State in the quarter before pulling it within 5 at the halftime break.  Zamareya Jones for NC State had 11 points in the opening frame while Louisville could only put 14 on the board.   

Wolfpack extended their lead again by as many as 13 in the 3rd quarter but not to be discouraged, Berry closed out the quarter scoring 8 points in the final minute to make it a 3 point game heading into the final frame of regulation. 

Cardinals forced OT when Imari Berry scored the final 5 points in regulation, a three pointer out of a timeout with 41 seconds and then swishing her 2 free throw attempts with 10 seconds left.  

Mackenley Randolph scored 5 for the Cards in the extra 5 minutes to secure the 88-80 win.

UP NEXT

Louisville vs Boston College 

Sunday 1/25/26 

2p.m. ACCNX

Louisville and Duke are the lone undefeated teams in the ACC with the next group 2 games back.  


FRED REPORT

Frederick Douglass 

FREE THROWS -- Louisville  13-17 at the line (76.5%) none bigger than the 2 made by Imari Berry in the final 10 seconds of regulation.  NC State went 18-24 from the charity stripe.  CAPITAL F 

REBOUNDING -- The Cardinals outrebounded the Wolfpack 44-35 lead by who else?  Imari Berry pulled down 12, 6 offensively and defensively each.  CAPITAL R

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- UofL was 0-7 from three point land in the first half and only hit 4-10 in the second half but none bigger than Berry's 3 pointer out of the Cards timeout with 41 seconds left. Berry's career efforts secured this one. Elif, Laura and Taj combined for only 13 points.   CAPITAL E

DEFENSE -- The Cards defense let NC St shoot 48% in the game, 53.8% in the first quarter where they let the Wolfpack get quite the leg up.  The Cards then went on and won 3.5 quarters offensively.  UofL scored 24 points off turnovers and had 10 steals.  no letter



FINAL FRED TALLY: F_R_E_

Imari Berry and Jeff Walz Postgame

As Always, 

Go Cards 

~Daryl 

WBB in Raleigh to face NC State -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 NCST LEADS SERIES 9-8

They're one of those ACC teams that Louisville has struggled with in the ACC. And, going to Raleigh and playing in front of what's sure to be a sellout pro-Wolfpack crowd isn't exactly a game where Coach Walz can unload the bench for the fourth quarter. 

NC State, coached by the ubiquitous Wes Moore, isn't quite the squad they were last year...but at 13-5 and second in the ACC standings...they are still a force to be reckoned with...and Wolfpack fans take a special delight in giving the Cards and Jeff Walz a welcome that is not warm and cheerful. 

Classless, mean, overly intense and abusive is the opinion of a few of the other ACC coaches and players when it comes to the NCST fan base. They, of course ,see themselves differently...as being loyal and passionate. 

A former UofL WBB player, who asked to remain anonymous, describes playing in the James T. Valvano Arena at William Neal Reynolds Coliseum as "worse than the biggest rivalry you had in high school. They'd probably boo Santa Claus because he wears a red suit..." 

Reynolds can hold up to 5.500 for women's basketball and has attracted a little over 5.000 for home games this season. Packed on top of the court, the crowd can be very intimidating to visiting teams. 

Of course, it's well known that my favorite mascot in the ACC WBB is Ms. Wuf...Below is a photo of the two of us, shortly before Mr. Wuf barged in and demanded to be in a picture. Yeah, things could get a little crazy in Greensboro 

So...who are the Wolfpack leaders? They currently have four student-athletes in double figures...junior Khamil Pierre leads the way with 15.8 a game.  

Khamil gives 'Pack fans a thrill...

The Pack have won four out of their last five...inexplicably losing to Clemson.

Last year, the Cards played NCST twice and won both...65-54 in November in Louisville and 70-68, in overtime, in the ACC Tournament.

 This one is a ESPN2 game and...of course, the network will trot out former NCST guard Deb Antonelli to do color analysis. It's a 1 p.m. tip.  Let's hope she doesn't go into a two-hour praise-fest of Wes and the Pack. 

And let's hope the Cards can hold up under the second most hostile fan base they face in a season...

paulie

New Star Shines for UofL Track and Field -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Ashley Callahan Breaks Pole Vault Record

Louisville track and field has had quite a bit of success over the last decade or so, especially in the realm of field events. Even more specifically, the Cards have excelled at jumps of many kinds, adding that to their list of specialties alongside throws. Louisville has three indoor national championships, all in weight throw, with the most recent coming in 2021. Their success in jumps has come primarily outdoors, with the Cards having a stellar season in 2022. That year saw three individual ACC champions in Synclair Savage (long jump), Emily Scott (high jump), and Gabriela Leon (pole vault). Leon would go on to win Louisville's first NCAA individual outdoor championship that season. 

Despite her championship, Gabriela Leon's didn't hold the most recent indoor pole vault record, as Natalie Lark broken the school record last February. Lark's record stood for just 11 months. Yesterday, at the Bellarmine Open hosted in the Norton Healthcare Sports & Learning Center, Ashley Callahan set a new school record of 4.48m (14'-8.25"). The senior transfer from San Diego State broke Lark's record by just one-quarter of an inch, but I would expect her to continue to push that barrier as the season goes on. 

photo by Mallory Peak via gocards.com

Callahan was one of five winners for the Cards yesterday in the one day event. On the women's side, she was joined by Demaria King, who set a personal best in the weight throw. The men also won the pole vault and weight throw, with KJ Byrd and Matt Giuliano. Josiah Horton set a personal best, as well, on his way to victory in the 800m.

Louisville track and field will be back in action next weekend, splitting the team between athletes staying home for the Bellarmine Invitational in the same building and going to Indianapolis for the Crossroads of America Invitational. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case 

Cards win the battle with the Irish 79-66 -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Good morning readers,  I'm ready for the temperatures to start warming back up.  The Cards are heating up on the hardwood.

Louisville is on a 10 game win streak with a big road win against the rival #22 Notre Dame Fighting Irish last night, lets get into a recap.  

WBB

Louisville moves to 17-3, 7-0 in the ACC.

Reyna Scott came off the bench for a career high 20 points against the Irish when she went 9-13 from the field with 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists to boot.  Tajianna Roberts also poured it on with 19 of her own when she saw 4 of 5 of her three point attempts go through the hoop. 

Hannah Hidalgo had herself a night when she scored 24 points and 8 assists but HH and Notre Dame's short bench would not be enough to topple the Cards on this night.  After the first quarter, the Cardinals took command of the lead and never relinquished it.  The Irish would run out of gas in the 4th quarter as UofL would hold ND to just 23% shooting and 10 total points. Roberts and Scott combined for 14 in the quarter.  

UP NEXT 

Louisville at NC STATE 

Sunday 1pm 

FRED REPORT

Fred Chopin

FREE THROWS -- Louisville was 12-16 at the line good for 75%. Compared to ND's 7-10 which were only attempted by Hidalgo, it was a solid night for the Cards. CAPITAL F

REBOUNDING -- The Cardinals outrebounded ND 38-36 but considering the Irish only had 6 players available and Scott mentioned in the post game interview that it was an emphasis for the team this week, I'd say there's much to be improved in this category. lower case r

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- Once UofL secured the lead, they did not let it go. There was no doubt in this one and the Cards got a much needed offensive effort and output from Roberts and Scott in hostile territory. CAPITAL E

DEFENSE -- The Cards held Hidalgo to 1-4 from three point range. She was held to just 2 points in the first and 4th quarter each. CAPITAL D



FINAL FRED TALLY: F_r_E_D





As Always
Go Cards

~Daryl

WBB Cards VISIT NOTRE DAME -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 irish 2-2 in last four ACC games

When it comes to evaluating 2025-26 Norte Dame WBB, one not need look much further than Hannah Hildago. The junior out of New Jersey is averaging 25.1 p.p.g. in sixteen games for the Irish and grabs 6 rebounds a night...not bad for a 5'6" guard. She is one of three Irish in double figures.

It's a Notre Dame team that has done fairly well until recently. Non conference losses came to Michigan and Ole Miss...those two are currently #8 (Michigan) and #16 (Ole Miss) in the nation. The A.P. brings Notre Dame in at #23 in the nation...and the Irish are a sparkling 10-0 at home this season. 

Cassandre Prosper is another high scoring guard for Niele Ivey's squad. Prosper averages 17.1 a game in sixteen starts. 

The Irish's two conference losses came on the road..at Georgia Tech,(90-95 in overtime)  to begin 2026 and to Duke on Jan 4th (68-82 ). 

The Irish were counting pretty heavily on freshman forward Leaah Macy to be a solid contributor this season, but a knee injury has ruled her out for this year. 

Jeff Walz on Notre Dame

It's a 6 p.m .tip in Purcell Pavilion and will be shown on ACCN.

*****************************************************************************************************

In memorandum, our good friend and Cardinal great Al Parrish passed away last night. 

paulie

WBB Moves Up to #10 -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 CARDS WBB ON A NINE GAME WIN STREAK

The "Elf"...Elif Istanbulloglu

Here's a little quiz for you to start out your "hump day" Cardinal Couple reading...who was the last WBB squad to defeat the Louisville WBB squad? 

A) Kentucky  B) South Carolina C) North Carolina  D) East Carolina                                                                                                                              

If you had "B" South Carolina, give yourself a pat on the back and claim a seat next to the stats crew on the KFC YUM! Center (but be prepared to be run off by security). 

Taj Roberts

Related to the ongoing success of the Walzian Cards, Louisville has inched up another spot in the "polls" and can now be called a top ten squad. If you like the AP polls... they have UofL WBB at #9.  With a dozen ACC tilts remaining...the Cards are atop the ACC standings ...being one of two teams with a perfect 6-0 ACC record...Duke being the other. 

The AP top ten (as of 1/12/26) are 1) UConn 2) South Carolina 3) UCLA 4)Texas  5) Vanderbilt 6) LSU 7) Kentucky 8) Michigan 9) Louisville and 10) TCU. The Cards don't have any of the other top ten left on their schedule...but their next two games...at Notre Dame on Thursday and at NC State on Sunday could be tough contest. Someone at the AP needs a spelling lesson, though...I am unfamiliar with "Rode" Island...

NC State and Virginia are right behind the Cards in conference with 5-1 marks. Notre Dame just recently fell out of the top 25. 

Mackenly Randolph

The Cards are getting it done with a variety of players  stepping up when called upon and also playing lockdown defense. No one has posted more than 70 points on Louisville since South Carolina back on Dec 4th.,,,and the only other plus 70 efforts against the Cards were from the three teams that own victories over them. #1 UConn, #2 South Carolina and #7 Kentucky.

Seven Cards see 18 minutes of more per contest and Tajianna Roberts leads the way with 28.2 a game.

paulie 

                                                                                                                    

                 

Softball Looms -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Freshmen Honored in Preseason

Believe it or not, we are less than a month away from the start of softball season. The weather may have played tricks on us last week, but as is typical, Louisville will start on the road for the first three weeks of the season before opening the home slate on February 24th. Coach Holly Aprile is starting her 8th season at the helm of the Louisville Cardinals, and she'll look to have this team back on track after a slight dip followed their 2023 NCAA tournament appearance. Louisville followed up the 2023 season by missing the ACC tournament in 2024 and went one-and-done last season. The Cards showed promise at times in each season, so we'll look for improvement this year. 

Part of that improvement could come from a couple of the newcomers on this year's squad. Softball America certainly thinks it's a possibility, anyway. Two freshmen, Jayden Gohs and Addyson (Addy) O'Dell, have been added to the SA Freshman Watch List. 

Jayden Gohs (l) and Addy O'Dell (r)
image courtesy of gocards.com

Jayden Gohs is a right handed pitcher, who will try to step into the third spot in the rotation that Louisville has been looking for over the last couple of years. She'll be in the pitchers room alongside senior Alyssa Zabala and junior Brooke Gray, along with junior Madi Reeves and sophomores Anna Wise and Ryann Sanders. Gohs will also work to fill a position left open by Taylor Roby, as she was one of the top two-way players in the country. Her junior season saw her throw 339 strikeouts with a .454 ERA while she hit .528 at the plate and knocked in 66 RBIs and 18 home runs. The freshman from Goodrich, Michigan was a two-time all-state selection and an NFCA High School All-American. 

Addy O'Dell is on the roster as an INF/C so we will see how Aprile chooses to deploy her. O'Dell hails from Newton, Illinois, where she was a three-time all-state selection. O'Dell has elite speed, which is probably why Aprile elected to pursue her, as she'll look to keep Louisville as one of the top base-stealing teams in the country. As a freshman, O'Dell stole 37 bases. She followed it up in her sophomore year by setting a school record 39 steals. That record came while not being thrown out a single time. O'Dell, who has been recognized by Extra Innings as one of the Top 50 Softball players since playing the 12U league, showed her chops as an all-around athlete by also lettering in basketball and being a three-time state qualifier in track and field. 

When Louisville announced a freshman signing class of just two last year, Holly Aprile called the class "small but mighty." Both players in that class being named by Softball America to the Freshman Watch List backs up that claim. 

Louisville opens the season on February 6th at the Felsburg Invitation hosted by Florida International University in Miami. 

Until next time, Go Cards!

Case

The Cards fly by the Panthers 86-46 -- MONDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 

Good morning and welcome to a new work week.  (groan)

Louisville WBB avoids the trap game to win 86-46 vs the Pitt Panthers for their 6th win in the ACC.   Its their best conference start since the 2020-21 season.   Dana Evans was on that roster.  

Louisville came storming out to a 25-6 in first quarter lead when they went 10-25 from the field.   Anaya Hardy had 7 points in 7 minutes 4 rebounds in that time, finishing the game with 16 points on 7-9 shooting and 9 rebounds to boot.  

The Cards did, however, go 1-9 from 3 point land in that frame.   The shots were not falling for Taj Roberts yesterday afternoon, as she finished 1-10, 1-6 from three point land.   Pitt had 11 turnovers in the 1 quarter which helped eased some of the woes from outside.  

FRED REPORT

Freddie Prinze Jr.

FREE THROWS -- Louisville went 7-11 at the line which is good for 63.6% in the game. Thile the Cards didn't have too many chances at the charity stripe, Imari Berry made both of her attempts. no letter

REBOUNDING -- The Cardinals GROSSLY outrebounded the Panthers 60-28.  Grace Mbugua had 10 with Hardy pulling down 9, 6 of them offensively to give the Cards 12 second chance points.  CAPITAL R

EFFORT/EXECUTION -- With Elif out,  UofL had to fill in a major void on the effort and energy category.   11 Cardinals played more than 11 minutes on the floor.  A great tune up for the squad heading into rivalry week.  CAPITAL E 

DEFENSE -- The Cards held the Panthers to just 2 buckets in the first quarter and forced 11 turnovers.  Frustrations mounting, Pitt committed 5 of its 9 total fouls in the first quarter.   The first quarter alone warrants a CAPITAL D letter allowing Louisville complete control in the match. 



FINAL FRED TALLY:    _R_E_D

Coach Walz Post game Presser - Pittsburgh

As Always,
Go Cards! 
~Daryl 

WBB faces Pitt today -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

 PANTHERS COME TO LOUISVIILE 8-9, 1-3 IN ACC

The Cards will look to extend their win streak to nine straight games when they host Pitt at 2 p.m. today. The contest will be shown on the CW if you can't attend. That's channel 7 on my Insight TV package, I guess that can vary...depending on how you watch your "idiot box"

Pitt comes to Louisville after slipping by Boston College 64-61 last Sunday in Boston. The Panthers used a strong 23-8 fourth quarter to erase a 53-41 deficit after three quarters. 

Hagans

The Pitt squad got 24 points out of Theresa Hagans, a freshman guard out of Utica, NY. and 15 points from Lauren Rust..(no, not the Louisville associate AD/Compliance and Sports Administraton lady) The Pittsburgh Rust is a sophomore forward out of Victoria B.C. 

Lauren Rust, Pittsburgh version

Notable Panther losses have come to Mississippi St. 79-44 and Clemson 73-41.

So, these Panthers don't seem to have much claw and should be an opponent that will hopefully give coach Walz a chance to go deep into the bench and develop the talent there. 

Lauren Rust -- Louisville version

We'll recap it Monday. We are still blacklisted from UofL Press Row for women's sports at UofL. but...we still report on the games, though, because you...the readers...ask us to.    

We are Cardinal Couple. I just want to get my reporters back on Media row for coverage of games...my health , sadly, probably prevents me from ever going again. 

paulie