By Derek DeBurger

Louisville lets one slip away from them against the No. 23 Syracuse Orange after a controversial late foul call.

The Cards led 25-19 at the end of the first, hovering around that six-point lead for most of the half. After Louisville extended their lead to seven—the highest of the game to that point—the Orange went on a run to bring the game within one point. The defense then locked up and forward Nyla Harris capped off her great first half by pushing the lead back up to six right before Orange guard Dyaisha Fair marched down the court and hit a step-back logo-three right at the buzzer.

Louisville still led 40-37 at the half.

Louisville pushed the lead to 10 points in under two minutes into the third. The Orange were eventually able to cut into the deficit and keep the game from getting away from them, failing to grab the lead due to Louisville’s defensive efforts. The Cards still led at the end of the third, 57-52.

Yet again, Louisville started the fourth quarter on a quick run, extending the lead to nine. Their aggressive attitude inside drew fouls in droves. Once they took their second nine-point lead of the quarter, Syracuse began their comeback, ratcheting the intensity of offense and defense.

In just under a minute and a half, Syracuse cut the lead down to one.

A couple of minutes later, Syracuse took their first lead of the game, 69-68. After the Cards pushed the lead back to three at 72-69, Syracuse cut the lead to one off of a rare jumper from Kennedi Perkins.

With under five seconds left on the clock, Fair drove the ball inside but Olivia Cochran fouled her with 2.3 seconds left. Louisville had two fouls to give before Syracuse reached the bonus, but the foul was called an intentional foul putting Fair at the free-throw line and giving Syracuse possession after the free-throw attempts. Fair hit both attempts and the Orange inbounded the ball to run out the final seconds.

Louisville would lose 72-73.

Despite the disheartening ending to the game, Harris had yet another career night: a career-high 22 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Kiki Jefferson scored 13 points, and five other players scored five-plus points: Nina Rickards (9), Jayda Curry (9), Cochran (6), Merissah Russell (6), and Sydney Taylor (5).

During the game, Louisville certainly swayed back and forth on the inside battles. The Cards grabbed 40 to Syracuse’s 41 rebounds but got 12 shots blocked. Louisville’s intensity was not in question—they brought and matched physicality at a high level—the problem was timing and conviction down low. It’s not something that has been a problem this season, but it was a major reason why Syracuse was able to steal the win away from the Cards.

The Cards fall to 20-5 on the season and 9-3 in the ACC.

Photo Courtesy // Syracuse Athletics