After losing four centerpieces from last year’s team, Jeff Walz and his Cardinal team may have exceeded expectations this season, but it all came to an end with an 82-66 loss to Dayton on Saturday in the round of 16.

Louisville (27-7) struggled to gain any offensive consistency while Dayton shot over 50 percent from the field and knocked down 26 of 30 free throws.

Myisha Hines-Allen scored 14 points on six of 11 shooting and Bria Smith added 12 points, but Louisville’s other offensive threats could never get going.

The team’s leading scorer Mariya Moore finished with just seven points on one of seven shooting.  Sara Hammond was held to a quiet three points on one of five shooting.

Jude Schimmel was forced to put up attempts late in the shot clock, shooting four of 23 from the field.

Dayton led at halftime by one point, but sprinted out to 45-35 lead through the first five minutes of the second half.

From there, Louisville was able to close the margin to 55-53 with 8:40 left, but then the Flyers went on a 13-0 to take control of the game.

Dayton guard Andrea Hoover led all scorers with 26 points and went 15 of 15 from the free throw line.

The Flyers steady offensive approach in the second half never gave the Cardinals an opportunity to fight back into the game.  After Dayton committed 14 turnovers giving way to 18 points in the first half, the Flyers had just five turnovers in the second half.

Though this season ended in a disappointing loss to seventh-seeded Dayton, it was the program’s third consecutive trip to the Sweet 16 and the future looks even brighter.

Despite losing five seniors, Louisville will return 50 percent of their scoring highlighted by Moore and Hines-Allen while bringing in the country’s best recruiting class.