Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
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SPORTS Shoni Schimmel (left) and little sis Jude. Bound and Determined J By Jenni Laidman Photo by Gail Kamenish Inseparable both on and off the basketball court, Native American sisters Shoni and Jude Schimmel have set their sights on a better NCAA fnish for the Cards than last year's nationalrunner-up team. 30 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 12.13 ude Schimmel settles into the overstufed sofa like a cat. She stretches her legs out in front of her and then retracts them, curling and unfolding her slender frame several times until she oozes down into the cushions. As the conversation winds on in the hall outside Cardinal Arena on the University of Louisville campus, she gazes toward some spot in the distance. But every once in a while she looks up with deep green eyes, and, just like a cat, seems to analyze whether you're worth the chase. She and sister Shoni have just wrapped up four hard hours of basketball practice as U of L coach Jef Walz, whistle in mouth, demanded more, more, more. "I'm telling you to bust ass, to go hard!" he hollered as the team sprinted. On the other sofa section, Shoni perches as though she's about to spring up and begin racing, or at least pacing, the hallways. Te 21-year-old is all eye contact and assurance, punctuating her sentences with a vocabulary of eloquent shrugs. "Our family is so unique. We love being around each other." Shrug. "Basketball brought us together with more friends and whatnot." Shrug. Shrug. "My grandmother played basketball back when they only had two dribbles." Shrug. Shrug. Shrug. During last year's NCAA tournament, University of Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma, who has led the Huskies to eight national championships, called the Schimmel sisters, both guards, "the most exciting players in the country." Tat was after the ffthseeded Louisville women's team defeated No. 1 seed Baylor in the Sweet Sixteen. (Vegas oddsmakers made the Cards a 75-1 longshot against Baylor, a team that had won 74 of its previous 75 games.) Tat was after Shoni's over-the-shoulder, I'm-not-lookin' reverse layup sailed above Baylor's towering Brittney Griner and into the basket. Te 6-foot-8 Griner was the national Player of the Year, having averaged 24 points a game during the season and 33 points in the frst two tournament games. Te Cards swarmed Griner like gnats, holding her to 14 points. Auriemma's declaration came just before the sisters demonstrated their psychic connection