Louisville women's basketball Tops FSU in Tallahassee -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Roll By Seminoles in Tallahassee

Jazmine Jones had a warm return home in front of about 70 friends and family members as the Louisville women's basketball team defeated Florida State 68-49 in Tallahassee.  Asia Durr led all scorers with 29 points.

The #4 Cards improve to 18-1 on the season, including 6-1 in the ACC.  The #22 Seminoles fall to 16-3 and 4-2 in the conference.

Louisville and FSU both had trouble getting shots to drop to begin the game but a layup by Bionca Dunham gave the Cards the lead and they never looked back.  The Cards took the first quarter 20-6, nearly silencing the Seminoles altogether on offense  Six Cards scored during the quarter as the Cards went on a 12-0 run during that 10 minutes.

The Seminoles responded in the second quarter, winning it 17-12.  Florida State, who is known for a solid defense, forced eight Louisville turnovers.  It started ugly as neither side could get the ball to drop for almost four minutes before Dunham broke the drought.

After leading 32-21 at halftime Louisville came out of the half with a strong third quarter, winning it 19-13.  On the Cards first possession, Sam Fuehring drilled a three but it was free throws that seemed to be the theme.  The Cards shot 8-9 from the line in the quarter and FSU went 4-6. After attempting only two in the entire first half, the new-found parity in whistle blowing was a welcome relief.

Louisville had a comfortable lead headed into the final period.  Nonetheless, Walz continued to push hard and the Cards won the quarter 17-13.

Louisville's 12 rebounds made it difficult for FSU to find a rhythm or use second chance points to spark a run.

The Cards only had one fast break bucket, probably due to the limited four steals on the game.  FSU found a little more success with eight.  The Cards did limit the FSU second chance points to nine while recording eight of their own. How about Kylee Shook and her five blocks !

Kiah Gillespie was the top player for the Seminoles after recording 13 points and six rebounds.  She was held to one three-pointer on seven attempts.  Nicki Ekhomu added 11 points and Nausia Woolfolk added eight points with four steals.

The fouls were less common than normal.  Louisville was called for 13 while the Seminoles were called for 19.  This officiating crew has a history of whistle-heavy games.


F-R-E-D Report

Actor Fred Thompson's look here probably
mirrored many Noles fans feelings last night.

Free Throws: Louisville shot 13-19 (68.4%) from the line.  Fuehring and Shook both went 2-4 to drag the average down.  Durr also missed two free throws but her 5-7 doesn't look as bad.  At one point in the third quarter Louisville rebounded a missed free throw and Durr drew a foul to drain two immediately after.  We saw a rebound following a missed free throw a couple times in the fourth quarter too.  Doing the Jeff Walz math you could almost argue that the Cards deserve a capital letter, but I'm only awarding a lowercase "f"  in this case.

Rebounding: Louisville out-rebounded a good rebounding team in FSU.  It wasn't even close as the Cards won the battle 37-25.  Despite only eight offensive rebounds those turned into a handful of second chance points.  Shook finished with nine rebounds and Durr added seven.  No question about a capital "R" here.

Effort/Efficiency: In terms of efficiency Louisville shot extremely well.  They shot 25-45 (55.6%) from the field and 5-11 (45.5%) from the land of three-pointers.  However, of the 25 made field goals only 11 were assisted.  Louisville turned the ball over 17 times, mostly due to sloppy play at the start of nearly every quarter.  Bad passes found their way into the hands of Seminoles players way too many times.  Sloppy play and missed layups (c'mon, seriously? let's make layups, please) keep the letter small- lowercase "e".

Defense: Louisville surrendered a total of 49 points, coincidental, don't ya think?  The best quarter was limiting FSU to 6 points.  Yes, SIX.  By the way, that's four straight Louisville opponents held to under 50 points.  The Seminoles shot 18-56 on the floor (32.1%) and struggled with the deep ball, going 3-18 (16.7%).  Credit the seven blocks for a heavy presence in the paint.  The four steals was probably the only downside for the defense.  You could potentially debate for a lowercase letter but I'm sticking with the capital "D" here.

f-R-e-D ain't too shabby.  Great team victory against a ranked opponent on the road, especially a tough, talented Florida State team.

After seeing almost as many Cardinal band members and cheerleaders at the game as there were Cardinal fans -- it makes me grateful for the fan base Louisville women's basketball has." J.J. Airlines" had a plane full of about 70 in the seats, according to a report.

That's a huge amount for the "player pass list".

Paulie's hope of 5000 or more for the game fell a bit short. 3446 was the official attendance. That's a shame, really, for such a important and rivalry battle between two  top 25 ranked squads, but, not all fans revolve around their WBB squads like Louisville fans do.

Louisville returns home Sunday at 2:00 against a struggling Pittsburgh squad.


Other Games



Let me start by congratulating the men's basketball team for a 84-77 victory over #21 NC State

The #23 Cards are now 14-5 and are tied for first in the ACC at 5-1.

Moving over to women's basketball NC State's undefeated season continues after they survived Clemson 54-51.  The Tigers doubled up the Wolfpack in the final quarter but fell just short.  I think we were all with regular reader/commentor Arthur on this one hoping Clemson would pull off the upset.

Notre Dame handled a struggling Tennessee team easily, winning 77-62.  The Vols' season is in jeopardy.  Notre Dame remains perfect in the conference, alongside NC State. UT has lost six in a row now. Gotta wonder if Holly can hold on as head of this group or the Volz show her the exit.

In the battle of winless in the ACC Duke downed Wake Forest 66-52.  The Demon Deacons join Pittsburgh as the only teams to have a 0 in the wins column in conference play.



Caption This

We've had some fun with the "Caption This" feature during basketball season and here's a photo from last night's action at Tallahassee that caught Jeff Walz during the game.  

The Cards got their first victory over FSU on the road since 2011. 

How many Cardinal WBB players can you remember from that 2010-11 squad? Paulie came up with Becky Burke, Nita Slaughter, Asia Taylor, Shoni Schimmel and Sherrone Vails right off the bat.

Is Walz possibly looking for one of those stalwarts to relieve his girls last night? Has someone just called his name and he's turning around to have a look? 

Leave your caption in the comments section and let's continue the celebration of "knocking off Noles" Day !!




Happy Friday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Louisville women's basketball -- Knocking Off Noles next mission -- THURSDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

NEW STARTERS BUT SAME RESULTS FOR FSU


The University of Louisville women's basketball squad is in Florida this morning. Tallahassee, to be more specific, to play their seventh game of their ACC slate and 19th game of the season. A top 25 matchup on tap, FSU at 16-2 and 4-1 in the ACC The Cards are #4 in the nation, the Seminoles #22. 

Why, the Noles are even handing out free hot dogs to entice fans to attend the contest! (If Joey Chestnut shows up, they could be in serious trouble). The "Tuck" holds 11,500 people. That's a lot of buns and wieners...but in reality, anything over 5,000 in house tonight would be a surprise, in my humble opinion.  

When one thinks of nemesis schools...those schools that seem to have the Cards WBB squads "number"...obviously Connecticut come to mind, with the 1-17 mark against the Huskies. Maybe you think of Notre Dame, they're 14-6 all time against Louisville. 

Add Florida State to that list. 

In series history, FSU is 16-13 against the Cards. In the Jeff Walz era, they hold a 4-3 edge over Red and Black. They have won three of the last four contest against Louisville...including the 50-49 win at the YUM! that broke up the Cards "perfect" season last year. Prior to the Walz era, the Noles had a 10-game win steak over Louisville, going back to 1988.  

When FSU lost Chatrice White, Shakayla Thomas, Ama Degebon, Imani Wright and A.J Alix to graduation at the end of last year...a season that ended ingloriously and surprisingly for Chief Osceola's bunch with a loss to #13 seed Buffalo in the second round in Tallahassee...the departure of these stalwarts seemed to bode well for the Cards in the 2018-19 season. Sure, the Noles had a few talented reserves coming back, but how seriously can you take a team that has lost all their starters? 

Sue placing an order for a dog or two?

Guess what? Sue "Sem-a-nole" Semrau is back with five new starters and FSU is wreaking havoc on the ACC and other foes again without missing a beat. "Say hello to our little friends" Kiah Gillespie, Nicki Ekhomu, Nausia Wollfolk, Valencia Myers and Kourtney Weber. They are a combination of freshmen, reserves from 2017-18 and transfers. 

Gillespie, the transfer from Maryland and now a red-shirt junior, is the apparent ring leader of this northern Florida mob.  18 points per game and the leading three-point shooter of the tribe.  Ekhomu (14.3 ppg) and Wollfork (11.8 ppg) are juniors who saw plenty of action last year...bookend 5'9" guards who are an integral part of a defense that allows just 57.2 points a night. Myers, a freshman is almost a double digit performer at 9.4 points a contest. Weber is the third guard on the roster and this freshman splits time with Savannah Wilkinson, a sophomore from London England that shot 43.3% from three-point range last year off the bench but hasn't zeroed from the deep yet in 2018-19 with just a 4-29 (14%) accuracy.

It is "homecoming" night for Cardinal junior Jazmine Jones, who played her high school ball in the shadow of the campus at FAMU DRS. Jones will have a contingent in the stands, with up to 60 friends and family, providing she can get tickets for them all. 

Jones chose the Cards over the Noles, Ohio State, Baylor and others and is excited to be playing, most likely for the final time, in front of her homemade cheering section. Let's hope "J.J. Airlines" is in full flight tonight. You would expect Asia Durr will have a contingent in the Donald F. Tucker Center tonight as well...with the drive from the Atlanta area to FSU around just four hours. 

I put up a nice read about the return of Jaz at the link below.

LINK: The Return of J.J.

Rebounding has been kind to FSU in 2018-19. They average 39.8 a night and have a + 7.4 edge in the stat over opponents. The Cards average 36.1 a game and actually hold a +0.8 edge over foes this year. In the ACC, Louisville is last in rebounding offense and ranked eighth in rebounding defense. Florida State checks in at second in rebounding defense and 10th in rebounding offense. 

what's the chances of sneaking
this onto court tonight? 

Maybe too much focus is being placed on rebounding. After all, at 17-1, rebounding hasn't plunged the Cards into the depths of the icy Ohio River yet. Coach Walz will tell you that he and the coaches have been working with the squad in terms of "going to get the basketball". Some of the things that the team will want to work on tonight is slowing down the defensive transition of the Noles, an area where they are very effective. Keeping FSU off the free throw line will be an objective -- they shoot 73% from the charity stripe.

The Cards need a better start for Asia and Sam than we saw against Wake Forest and if the "Ville" can keep the turnovers low and win the "second chance" stat, it'll increase UofL's chance of winning dramatically. These two school are very similar in players, FSU seems to be more comfortable with a lower scoring game but maybe not the kind the Cards are capable of producing, Louisville's last three opponents have failed to reach 50 points. Louisville held FSU to 50 last year but that was two points short of gaining the win. 

The contest is on the Raycom Sports Network, which means in our area Fox Sports South will most likely be showing the event. Cards Radio 790 WKRD is always a good choice for the game, with Nick and AJ, and you can avoid the probable home-team bias of the screen talking heads.

Will Coach Sam P. get a chance to practice his new
"get back" role tonight? 

It's rare that the Louisville men's team plays on the same night as WBB, but Chris Mack's guys are hosting the N.C. State Wolf Pack tonight down at the YUM! At least the start times are different (the men tipping off at 8 p.m.). For those attending, I hope the KFC YUM! Center provides some screens showing the contest between Noles and Cards. 

So, it's payback time for Walz and company tonight. FSU's two losses have come at home (Clemson and LSU) The 'Noles have played one top 25 team this season prior to tonight, defeating then #12 Iowa 71-67 about two months ago. 

Normally, this would be a chance for Louisville WBB to shine in the Sunshine State tonight. The weather refuses to cooperate, though, with a high of 55 expected today in Tallahassee and temps hovering around the mid-40's at game time. We're hoping the chilling climate extends to FSU shooting tonight and the Cards can thaw out to put the Seminoles in the deep freezer. Hey, the temps in Tallahassee are a heat wave for Cardinal players, compared to what they've been experiencing in the Derby City. 

We'll have the full recap here tomorrow. Jared Anderson will bring the goods. His g/f Katy is a student at FSU. Purported attempts to dress her in Red and Black for tonight contest have been a fail.

He can't even get her in Red and Black when she visits the 'Ville. 

I wish we had the budget to send our intrepid photographer down for the game, but, knowing Katie...she'd find a way to get him in Garnet and Gold for the ensuing battle. As Huey Lewis and the News sang..."The Power of Love is a curious thing. Make one man weep and another man sing." Remember that epic song? It's linked up below: 


LINK: HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS -- THE POWER OF LOVE

Have a terrific Thursday and let's hope the Cards get some "love" down at FSU tonight...

paulie
xxxxx

Cards Prepare for FSU -- Softball Takes Over Instagram -- Spring Sports Media Day I -- WEDNESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

UofL WBB Heads to Tallahassee

UofL vs FSU. Jan. 21, 2018.

The Louisville women's basketball team prepares to play their second straight road game.  Their next foe is Florida State.  The key word to this game: revenge.

Last season, the Seminoles came into the KFC Yum! Center to take on an undefeated and second-ranked Louisville squad.  The Noles walked away with a 50-49 victory.  It was the only time all season the Cards scored under 50 points and it was the sole loss at home.

This season Louisville looks to return the favor... sort of.  Florida State is ranked 22nd in the AP Poll and boasts a 16-2 record.  The Cards can't ruin a non-existent undefeated season and FSU isn't hovering in the shadow of the number one team in the country.

However, the Seminoles are a formidable opponent.  Their two losses have come at home to LSU and Clemson.  Something about tigers seems to have an effect on Florida State.  They're half a game back in the ACC behind the Cards with a 4-1 conference mark.

UofL vs FSU. Jan. 21, 2018.

Florida State excels defensively.  They give up a mere 57.2 points per game, but also are quiet on the offensive side with just 70.2 points per game.  They've held opponents to under .400 from the field this season and allow only .283 from three-point range.  Due to solid defense and pressure, their opponents commit about 17 turnovers per game.  FSU isn't much better with their own ball control, turning the ball over 14 times per game.

Like Louisville, the Seminoles have a small bench.  Nine players have recorded minutes and only six of those nine see more than 15 minutes per game.  They shoot well from the floor with a .419 mark but struggle on the perimeter, shooting .280.  They can hurt you from the free throw line with a strong .725 percentage.

Keep in mind that head FSU WBB coach Sue Semaru is doing this with five new starters.

Kiah Gillespie has been the go-to player this year.  The junior forward has been averaging nearly a double-double this season with 18 points per game and 9.5 rebounds per game.  Gillespie is also a threat on the perimeter and leads the Noles by shooting .330 from deep.  Valencia Myers has been productive this season, averaging 9.4 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game.  The freshman forward also leads the team in blocks with 28, but often finds herself in foul trouble.  Nicki Ekhomu is another deep range threat, shooting .324.  She is almost unstoppable at the free throw line, shooting 804.  The junior guard's 14.3 points per game is second on the team.

Walz's Serena Williams impression

Despite the strong three-point shooting by a couple of their upperclassmen, no one has made 30 or more threes this season for Florida State.  Asia Durr (.326) has made 46 and Arica Carter (.465) has made 40.  Lindsey Duvall, Dana Evans, and Kylee Shook are all effective three-point shooters too.

Louisville's biggest issue will be in the post position.  Can the likes of Sam Fuehring, Bionca Dunham, and Kylee Shook hold their ground?  Florida State averages 3.5 more rebounds per game than the Cards and have crushed some opponents on the glass this season, a spot of weakness for Louisville this year.

You can catch this game on TV tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m.  It is listed as a regional sports network, meaning it'll probably make it's way to Fox Sports South or one of the news channels.

No truth to the alleged rumor that Coach Walz and Sue Semerau will have an exhibition tennis match or three-point shooting contest at halftime.




Maddy Newman and UofL Softball Take Over IG

In preparation for the new season NCAA Softball has been handing over their Instagram social media account to a different school each day the past few weeks.  Louisville made their way onto the list and took over yesterday with Maddy Newman taking the lead on it.


Newman, along with some assistance from Celene Funke, gave the 115K+ followers a tour of the facilities and a chance to meet the team and staff.  As always, UofL has some of the nicest Olympic sports (non-football and basketball) facilities in the country.  Some soccer friends (Emina Ekic and Gabby Kouzelos) made special appearances and the Louisville Athletics Talent Show was featured.


The season opener is just 16 days away!

Note: Softball photos are all screenshots from the NCAA Softball (@ncaasoftball) Instagram account.







SPRING SPORTS MEDIA DAY

Track and Field, Swimming and Diving and Tennis were featured in the first of two UofL Spring Sports Media Days yesterday over at the "Korber" on Floyd Street. Each head coach was represented with several of their student-athletes in the hour plus presser. 

Headlining the appearances was free-style swimmer and World Champion Mallory Comerford.

Paulie was there to capture the sound. Click on the links below to hear these Cardinals and coaches talk about their sports. 


LINK: MEN'S TENNIS

LINK: WOMEN'S TENNIS

LINK: LOUISVILLE SWIMMING DIVERS

LINK: TRACK AND FIELD

LINK: MOLLY COMERFORD, ARTHUR ALBIERO, "BATMAN"


Happy Wednesday and Go Cards!

- Jared -

Basketball and Beyond -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

UofL has three other sports besides hoops going on currently.

It is the time of year when our thoughts here at CARDINAL COUPLE and most likely with you turn to the orange ball bouncing on wood and double-doubles. Both the Cards WBB contingents are having fine seasons, the men recently joined the top 25 and WBB is #4 in the nation, facing a truly tough challenge Thursday night in Talhassee against FSU.

Speaking of challenges, it's allegedly rumored that Coach Walz got a call from the NCAA about his "shooting" and such. No more details available, but, I guess we can assume there will be no more "catch and shoots" from the Cardinal WBB coach. 

There are other activities currently engaged in competition, though...with more to come...so, let's take today and catch up on how tennis, swimming and track & field are doing. Two of the three are currently involved in their "indoor" seasons (imagine trying to serve and volley on slicked surfaces and snow drifts or sprinting down a ice-covered track). 

UofL has a couple of Spring Sports Media days planned, the first today with the aforementioned three in the spotlight. Next week, softball, rowing, lacrosse and golf take the stage to discuss their upcoming seasons.

 Today, let's look at how those who make serves, sprints and splashes are doing. 

TENNIS

The Cards field men and women's sports in this racket, net and ball based sport and this is an activity that features an indoor and outdoor season. Since we primarily cover women's sports here at "the Couple" that's where my focus will be today. 

Louisville women's tennis began the spring season on Sunday at the Bass-Rudd Center adjacent to I-65 and brought in two schools from the Buckeye state to kick the schedule off. In the morning session, UofL faced Bowling Green and successfully got a 5-2 win over the Falcons from the MAC. A 2-0 start for the season for Mark Beckham's squad ! 

As we have covered here before, seven "points" are obtainable in a contest, although nine matches are actually contested (six singles and three doubles). The players are ranked for the contests (#1 thru #6) in singles on each squad and they face off against their counterpart with the objective to win two sets.  The Cards fared well in the morning/early afternoon session, getting wins from their #2 thru #5 players and picking up four points. Those that triumphed were #2 Nikolina Jovic, #3 Raven Neely, #4 Diana Wong, #5 Chloe Hamlin. 

So the score was 4-2 Cards with (1) point left to decide in doubles competition. Whichever team wins two of the three matches gets that point and the Cards accomplished that with #1 doubles team Sena Suswami and Raven Neely and #3 Diana Wong and Aleksandra Mally getting wins. 

Head coach Mark Beckham discusses the win here: BECKHAM DISCUSSES BOWLING GREEN MATCH

In the afternoon, the Cards went against Miami (OH). Once again the Cards found success, downing the RedHawks 6-1. The seeding of the players can change from one match to another, so a slightly different group of Cardinals went to singles competition and picked up five points...all seeds winning except the #1 seed for the Cards. This match it was, in ranking order, Suswam, Jovic, Neely, Wong and Hamlin getting net success. 

With five points already in the bag, the Cards doubles units swept the RedHawks in all three contests to pick up the final point and the 6-1 triumph. 

Beckham also discussed the Miami win. LINK: CARDS 6-1 over Miami


TRACK AND FIELD

The Cardinal runners, jumpers and throwers have had two meets so far and distance specialist Dorcas Wasike has competed in and additional meet to kick off the spring. Once again, an indoor season and we'll focus on the women's results again.

Wasike went to Boston to compete in the aptly named BU Season Opener and won the 5000 meters, setting a new school record for the event, where she finished sixth after an unfortunate fall at the 4K mark. 

The Cards went to Purdue as a team for their season opener in the Gene Edmunds Invitational on January, January 12th. They fared well against the competition, getting six wins on the women's side. Hats off to winners Makenli Forrest (weight throw), Morgan Zacharias (pole vault), Radhida Harris (shot put) and Renate van Tonder (long jump) in field events . 

On the track, Brooke Raglin won the 60 meters and Aurilla Wilson took the 3000 meters. 

The Cards went to Notre Dame to compete on Saturday, Jan 19th. and the women got three wins in track and three on the field to win the meet. Raglin took both the 60 meters and 200 meters and Wasike captured the mile run. In field events, wins were secured by Gabrielle Leon in the pole vault, von Tonder in the triple jump and Forrest in the weight toss. 

The Cards travel to Illinois this Saturday to take part in the Illini Classic. 



SWIMMING


Success goes synonymous with swimming and the Dive and Stroke Cards entered January defeating Missouri 163-137.  

18 women's wins in the various swim and dive events, a list way too long to list here. Multiple event winners were Sophie Cattermole (500, 1000 free), Mariia Astashkina (100, 200 backstroke), and Alina Kenndzior (100 back, 200 back). 

Mallory Comerford ruled in the 200 freestyle and the Cards won numerous "team" events as well. 

It appears the #6 ranked Cards are in for a very successful season as they compete with the best in the ACC and in the nation. 

Have a great Tuesday! 


paulie
xxxxx

Louisville women's basketball shakes Wake 73-49 -- MONDAY CARINAL COUPLE

CARDS RAKE WAKE FOREST 

Using a balanced attack and stifling defense, the University of Louisville women's basketball team won every quarter in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and kept Wake Forest winless in the ACC with a 73-49, 24-point win Sunday afternoon. 

The Cards (17-1, 5-1) went on a 12-0 first quarter run to jump out to a 17-5 lead and never looked back against the Demon Deacons...getting early production from Arica Carter, who knocked down three straight three-pointers in the first quarter and ended up as the Cards leading scorer with 12-points. 19-9 after one, and it looked like the Cards might be on their way to a big blowout of the Jen Hoover coached home team. 

Wake Forest (9-9, 0-5) wasn't willing, though, to go away easily. The Deacs battled the Cards closely in the second session. They narrowly lost the quarter 16-15 and did what a lot of schools wish they could duplicate -- keeping All-American Asia Durr scoreless in the first half and limiting Sam Fuehring to just two first half points. Louisville led 35-25 at the halftime break, thanks to Carter's early start and strong play from Bionca Dunham (10 first half points) and Jaz Jones (six points in the first two quarters). 

Neither team was exactly lighting up the scoreboard and Wake held the edge on rebounds 19-15. The Cards were getting it done on the turnover side...forcing 12 while committing just four in the second quarter... and made the most of them, in getting 12 points off the turnovers. The Cards were maintaining the lead with two of their prolific point-scorers strangely silent but you had to wonder if Asia's time was coming after the break. 

Durr did deliver in the third.

She totaled all of her eight points in the ten minutes following halftime and the Cards pulled out another quarter 18-15 to lead 53-39 as the teams headed to the final ten minutes. With two threes and a nice two-point jumper, Durr also had three assists and two steals. 

The Cards have been guilty of less than perfect fourth quarters at times this season but that wasn't the case in the state of North Carolina yesterday. Louisville got a strong effort off the bench and a 7-0 run late in the quarter helped push the lead to 28 before the Cards finished with the win. The Cards held a 20-10 points advantage in the final session and got threes from Seygan Robins, Lindsey Duvall and Dana Evans. Kylee Shook sank a couple of free throws to reach that 28-point edge with about a minute left and the Cards got 18 of their 20 points from the reserves in the fourth quarter against the tired and a bit disillusioned Demons. 

I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the hustle, effort, toughness and grit of freshman Mykasa "Kasa" Robinson. In 20 minutes yesterday, she added three steals and two rebounds to her seven points. Free throws still need work (maybe they'd let her shoot them while running?) but she is a valuable "off the bench" spark for the Cards. Your car won't start this morning? Call "Kasa" she'll provide the spark and jump needed to get it rolling. Vehicle doors frozen and won't open? Have her run around it a few times, that'll heat it up.

Wake was with out their leading scorer and star Elisa Penna, who is out with a knee injury. Without her, guards Ivana Raca and Gina Conti combined for 20-points to lead WFU. Former Card recruiting target Christina Morra played for Wake and the "Canadian sensation" totaled six points and six rebounds in a reserve role in the paint. 

For Louisville, the scoring was nicely distributed. Carter (12) and Dunham (10) were the double figure scorers. Durr and Jones were good for eight points each and Fuehring, Evans and Robinson added seven each. Shook finished with six points, Robins contributed five and Duvall nailed a three for her only points. Our favorite "Attack Yorkie" Jess Laemmle got three minutes in at the end but never got a shot off. 


Cards win, the Cardinals win 73-49. They are 3-0 against the ACC schools in North Carolina this season and have held their last three ACC opponents to less that 50 points  



THE FRED REPORT

Free Throws - Louisville went just 11-18 in the foul stripe efforts yesterday. That just 61% and is undeserving of a letter. 

Rebounds - Ouch. Wake was the lead dog in the sled here, gathering a 45-25 advantage over the visitors. Kylee Shook led the way with five. We cannot award a letter here. 

Effort/Execution - The Cards forced (or were handed) 25 turnovers and committed just six. The Cards pilfered 11 steals to Wake's six. 26-22 points in the paint went Louisville's way and 14-4 on fast break points to the visitors as well. That's hustle and a capital "E".

Defense - Wake shot 40% against the Cards and that's borderline for Louisville defensive efficiency. Despite the huge rebound edge for Wake, the Cards took the second chance battle 9-8. The dominating first and fourth quarters, where Wake totaled a mere 19 points, plus the overall total of under "50" points (49) warrant a capital "D". 

FRED TOTAL -- -_-_E-D


CAPTION THIS PICTURE

You know this works. Take a look and create a caption for the picture below. 

Stay warm today. Although the roads are fine in Louisville (except for some driveways) the temperatures are still brutal. We recommend hanging around the house and binge-watching something and making a pot of soup or chili.  


MLK JR DAY

It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, so the schools are closed and some of you have the day off. As we reflect on the life and works of Martin Luther King, remember and try to follow the example, please, of these words of King: 

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that." 



paulie
xxxxx

Sunday Cardinal Couple - WBB Gameday

Wake Forest in Basketball

We frequently say you can't take a day off in the ACC in many sports, including WBB.  If you were going to take a day off, today might be the one you would pick.  The Demon Deacons are sitting at 0-4 in conference along with Pitt, VA Tech, and Duke.  (I'm still reveling that Clemson is tied for 3rd with us, and Boston College is mid-pack.  Definitely not the norm in ACC, but I'm here for it.)  Overall they're at 9-8.

This isn't a great team, but it is the ACC, so let's hope the team doesn't take my suggestion above to take the day off.

Wake does have a few mediocre wins under their belt, against the likes of Towson, Mercer, Richmond, St. Johns, and Charlotte.  None are a earth shattering wins, but there are some decent mid-majors in that list.  Several of their losses also are reasonable, with out of conference drops against VCU, Xavier, East Carolina, and Indiana.  Again, we're not talking world beater teams, here, but they're not totally embarrassing losses.

The 4 losses in conference so far are against Miami, the aforementioned Boston College, Notre Dame, and UNC.  None of those losses are particularly embarrassing, but add all of this up, and you have to come to the conclusion that this is mostly an also-ran team.

Look for the offense to mostly come from Elisa Penna, Ivana Raca, and Ona Udoh.  Watch out for Udoh in shot blocking, as well, with 30 blocks on the year, which is good enough to get her on the overall NCAA blocked shots stats leaderboard.  (For comparison, Kylee Shook has the highest blocked shots tally for UofL, at 20).

Penna, Raca, and Gina Conti will also look to be jumping passing lanes with 22, 19, and 26 steals respectively.  (Asia Durr has 27, Dana Evans has 30, and Jaz Jones has 24).

The takeaway is that UofL should be able to walk away from this one with a win without too much trouble.  Stay in the game, remember to block out on rebounding (a recent emphasis given rebounding woes of past games), and play the game plan that you've been given.

As a side note, head WBB Demon Deacon coach Jen Hoover played at Wake and was a roommate and on the same squad as Cardinal ACCNE color analyst Sara White. Jen is still the school's leading scorer and rebounder.

This is a 1 p.m. start, and is available on the ACC Network Extra.

Track and Field

It was a good day for Louisville Track and Field Cardinals in South Bend yesterday.  The Cardinal women won outright with 20+ points over 2nd place team finisher, hosting Notre Dame.  On the men's side, the Irish and Cardinals tied for first with 126 points.  Illinois, Central Michigan, and Loyola were also in competition.

The Cards got a number of top finishes, including, and stop me if you've heard this name before, Dorcas Wasike setting a personal best in the mile run.  Gabriela Leon won the pole vault event, setting a school record in the process at 4.31m

Also in Action Today

Women's Tennis has a double-header at the Bass-Rudd today, playing against Bowling Green at 11 a.m., and Miami at 5 p.m..  Their counterparts on the men's team are in Charlottesville playing against Virginia, also with an 11 a.m. start.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

Daryl Foust now has official walk-up music for the CCRH, which was debuted on yesterday's show.

She selected Alannah Myles' "Black Velvet", a jam that always gets the "This one goes to 11." treatment in my car.

She was also gifted with a bottle of Black Velvet Whiskey (yes, the caramel flavored variety), which makes me think I should maybe change my walk-up music to George Thorogood's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer".

A good time was had, and we did get a chance to talk about some UofL women's sports, mostly basketball.

You can check out the replay, at:

https://www.facebook.com/WCHQfm/videos/367558420696889/

-- 

JMcA

Upcoming Women's Events -- SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

While we're still in the semi-lull that is mid-winter, when only women's basketball games get us through the cold, dark days, there are signs of life from the other programs as spring seasons look to get started. While basketball is back in action tomorrow, let's take a look at some of the other upcoming events this weekend.

Track and Field at Notre Dame

Indoor Track and Field got their season started last weekend at the Gene Edmonds Open hosted by Purdue. Louisville came away with wins in 9 events, which is not a bad way to start the year. Today, they'll see some familiar faces as they participate in the Notre Dame Invitational. Notre Dame also competed at Purdue last weekend, meaning quite a few athletes will be seeing if they can get revenge for defeats from last weekend.

Louisville's women won the 2018 event overall, so we shall see if the Cards can repeat last year's successes and improve on last weekend's performances. The event starts at 11 a.m. and results should be available via Notre Dame's site.

Women's Tennis Set to Start Spring Season

Two teams from the state of Ohio will come into town tomorrow during the winter storm, potentially even on the same bus (I jest). Bowling Green and Miami (OH) will head to the Bass Rudd Center to take on the Louisville women's tennis team in the Cards' first matches of the season. The Cards were 13-13 last season and GoCards notes that the record included two 6 match winning streaks. (Nobody point out that if you win 6 matches straight twice in a season you went 13-13, you probably had some significant losing streaks as well.) Louisville will look to improve upon a season that saw them get their first ever win over Notre Dame and their first road win in ACC play since joining the conference. Bowling Green gets the first shot at the Cards at 11 a.m. and Miami will round out the evening at 5 p.m. If you're the type that likes to get out in a snowstorm, head on over and show your support. The matches will be indoors.

First of Three Women's Soccer ID Camps on Monday

Women's soccer has three "Winter Elite ID Camps" scheduled in the next couple of weeks. The first is on Monday, the second (for goalkeepers) is on February 2nd, and the final camp is on February 3rd. These camps are a single day for players from ages 13-18 to come and get the real experience of a college athletics atmosphere and are great for young players to get training from top coaches.

 These types of camps are also particularly useful for college athletics (especially in soccer). Talent in a sport can usually be parsed at a young age, and that can be even more true for soccer than for other sports. Academies all over the world seek to home-grow players from ages under 10. If you've got talent in soccer, it isn't likely to go away, and it isn't nearly as affected by natural growth over time as sports like basketball and football can be. An extremely talented youth football player may be outgrown by all of his peers and be left behind, while a small soccer player is not really a big deal. For that reason, these ID camps are a great chance for the Louisville coaching staff to get an early look at young players in the area.

It is unlikely that scouts will have missed players in their late teens that are from around here, but it is possible, while the Cards will specifically be looking at players to keep an eye on as they grow into the more mature club scene. It is safe to assume many of the players on Louisville's team from the Louisville area took part in at least one of these camps growing up. Louisville may find the next great homegrown talent in the coming month.

Minor Irrelevance

After Jeff Walz's errant shot Thursday night, plenty of jokes have been making the rounds. I would imagine Coach Walz didn't expect some heat from inside his own staff, though. Lamont Russell, video coordinator for the Cards, added this stat sheet to his Instagram story yesterday, poking fun at Coach.

While the joke is great, and well worth the time taken to make the graphic, I will point out that a three point field goal attempt also counts as a general field goal attempt, so he should be 0-1 in both stats. Use that in your rebuttal, Coach!

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour

It's Saturday, so you know that means that we're coming to you live from the magnificent media mansion on Mellwood Avenue with the Cardinal Couple Radio Hour. Join myself, Jeff, Paulie, and Daryl (while Jared makes change and salts the parking lot) as we bring you the joy and excitement of Louisville women's athletics.

Daryl's "walk up" song makes its debut this morning. What do you think it is?

We'll talk the dominating win over Virginia, I'll assuredly be chided for my tough scoring in the CASE Report (though it's all statistics based), and we'll talk a bit about tomorrow's matchup against Wake Forest. Plus, we'll get to all of the other exciting things going on around campus. Tune in to WCHQ at 100.9 FM, the WCHQ App, wchqfm.com or watch us on Facebook Live at 11 a.m.

Until next time, Go Cards!

-CH-

Cards Blow Out Virginia -- FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Cards Crush Virginia on Thursday Night

The best games are the games where everybody scores.  That's what happened last night as the Louisville women's basketball team overpowered Virginia, 91-43.

Asia Durr scored the first points of the game just six seconds after tip-off and a Lindsey Duvall bucket ended the scoring for the Cards, although the Cavaliers snuck in a basket at the tail end.  Durr led all scorers with 20 points.

Louisville (16-1) showed how good their defense is when things are clicking.  Granted, Virginia isn't a great offensive team, but, still -- holding an opponent to 43 points is impressive.

Props to Virginia (7-11) for fighting down to the final seconds even though this game became out of reach before halftime.  First year coach Tina Thompson has her players playing hard and with heart.  Give her a couple of years and she could have a team that will make an impact in the ACC.

The first quarter was fairly close with the Cards holding a 15-11 edge.  Louisville had a chance to pull ahead by a large margin early but some missed UofL lay-ups helped Virginia stay in it.  The presence down low by Kylee Shook, Bionca Dunham, and Sam Fuehring was the difference.  Despite the final numbers UofL started off 1-6 from three-point range.

Quarter number two swayed heavily in the Cards' favor.

Louisville claimed the quarter 31-9.  The Cards posted 16 points in the paint, tallied 11 points off turnovers, and the offensive rebounds led to 13 second chance points.  Transitions were also strong as they added six fast break points.  Virginia had goose eggs in all of those categories for the quarter.  Louisville's bench (Shook, Dana Evans, and Mykasa Robinson at this point in the game) shot a perfect 5-5 for 11 points to go along with three rebounds, four assists, and two steals.  Arica Carter and Durr combined to go 6-9 from three-point range.

Coming out of halftime Louisville stayed hot as they won the quarter 25-10.  The Cards shot an impressive 11-17 from the floor in the quarter.  They also doubled up Virginia on rebounds 12-6.  Louisville's involvement down low in the post remained a strong spot.  With the lead continuing to grow for the Cards Jeff Walz began subbing some of his reserves in.  Both Seygan Robins and Lindsey Duvall saw a fair amount of minutes in just the third quarter alone.

Walz toyed with different lineups in the final quarter.

Still, Louisville won it 20-13.  Attack Yorkie Jess Laemmle played the entire period without a break.  Duvall, Robins, and Robinson all tallied seven minutes.  The new and rather small lineup of the previously listed four plus Shook gave Virginia an advantage at nearly every position.

 Their 6'9 player Felicia Aiyeotan clogged the lane and forced the Cards to look elsewhere for points.  The Cavaliers also forced several turnovers that lead to easy points.  Duvall nailed a pair of threes, Robins knocked one down, and Laemmle hit two free throws.  Shook scored seven points in the fourth as the offense revolved around her, and she doubled her prior total for the game.

In the post game presser, Asia Durr was asked about the intimidation factor of facing 6'9" on the court. She immediately advised that, as a player, you cannot let anyone intimidate you
on the hardwood, but she did acknowledge some of the difficulties involved in planning an offense and defense around her, especially driving the lane.



F-R-E-D Report

Soccer played simply known as
Fred. 

Plot twist: Before I break down the F-R-E-D Report I ought to let you know we have a perfect score.

Everything went right, other than a missed long ball by Walz, in the victory.

F - free throws: Louisville was 7-7 from the line for a long time before Robinson missed two down the stretch.  Shook hauled in the rebound for an opportunity at some second chance points.  The Cards missed a lay-up but the chance was there.  Still 7-9 is a solid 78% and deserving of a capital "F".

R - rebounds: It appears Louisville focused heavily on this lately.  The Cards won the rebounding battle 42-27.  The 14 offensive rebounds turned into 21 second chance points.  Everyone besides Duvall recorded a rebound in the game, at least two for each player in fact.  This category has seen a lot of blanks this year but today is a capital "R".

E - effort/efficiency:  36-63 from the field for 57% is a good mark.  The 12-24 in threes for a 50% is impressive.  Seven Cards attempted a three and six made one  Durr led the way with four made.  19 assists on 36 made shots is also impressive seeing that many of the 21 second chance points and 13 fast break points didn't have need for an extra pass.  Even the bench players played hard down the stretch to the final buzzer.  Louisville was hungry for a win and they made sure that happened.  Capital "E".

D - defense: Holding an opponent to 43 points is grounds for some type of letter as is.  Virginia was held to 19-60 (31.7%) and shot 4-21 (19%) from deep.  The Cavaliers are not a strong offensive team, but Louisville pressed hard and did not give up easy shots.  During the second quarter, the Cavaliers were held to single-digits.  The Cards forced 20 turnovers.  It's easy to award a capital "D".

Bingo! We have a winner! F-R-E-D! is the final tally!


FOR YOUR VIEWING AND LISTENING PLEASURE


Last night was also Jeff Walz bobble-head night.  The first 1000 fans received a bobble-head, which led to a high amount of UofL fans arriving early.  Sadly, that meant 6834 fans were left empty-handed.  Perhaps we will see more get released at some point, or after the missed three by Walz -- fans might be returning them.  You can catch the reference in the postgame press conference.

Walz brought his A-game to the presser.  Of course, a blowout victory makes it easier, but he was all smiles and laughs from the moment he sat down.  At the 2:49 mark in the video you can see Walz's face give the "Dammit, Paulie, I knew you were going to ask that" expression.  His response was classic. Click the pic to hear the Walz comments !

Asia and Dana were the players that joined us in the media room and it seems Walz rubbed off on them as they were cracking jokes ranging from Walz missed shots to freebie bobble-heads. compliance rules. Their comments are available by clicking their picture.Cardinal staffer favorite from a few years back, Jimmy Yu, is now the assistant operation director for the Cavaliers WBB squad and made the trip form Charlottesville with the squad. It was good to see him again in the YUM! and he and Paulie had a nice chat at halftime. 

****You can catch the Cards, who are now 16-1 overall and 4-1 in conference play at Wake Forest on Sunday at 1:00. They'll be on the ACCNE. The Demon Deacons are 9-8 on the season and are in search of their first ACC victory after starting 0-4. ****

(THANKS TO JARED ANDERSON FOR SHARING HIS POST-GAME FEED WITH US HERE AT CARDINAL COUPLE. HE ALSO PROVIDES THINGS OVER AT RIVER CITY CARDS, WHEN MIKE DOESN'T HAVE HIM IN "TIME OUT". )

CAPTION THIS

You know you want to.

Jared caught this picture (but failed to catch Jeff Walz attempting a shot in the fourth quarter).

Sound off in the comments section on your caption for this one. Curtis Franklin captured the last "caption crown" and is probably wearing it proudly over in the mean streets of New Albany.

Happy Friday and Go Cards!

- Jared -


MORE GAME PICTURES FROM JARED ANDERSON

"Are you not entertained?"