By Derek DeBurger
No. 15 Louisville survived a comeback attempt from the no. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish to pick up a massive win on the season.
With two of the better defenses in the country going head-to-head, it’s no surprise that the first quarter started sloppier than anyone would like. Between both teams, there were only three points scored but six turnovers committed in the first two-and-a-half minutes. After that, the Cards were able to turn it on and extend their lead 13-2. A timeout from Irish coach Niele Ivey settled down the Irish and got them back into the game with a four-and-a-half-minute scoring drought from the Cards. At the end of the first, Louisville led 15-12.
Louisville came out of the second quarter ready to go, with Sydney Taylor hitting a three-pointer to push the lead back to eight. Notre Dame, however, responded; that was the story of the second. Despite Louisville effectively limiting Hannah Hidalgo’s offensive output in the first half, holding her to only eight points, and a great performance from Nyla Harris Louisville just couldn’t pull away. A slight run before the end of the quarter brought the lead down to one point before the half.
Louisville would hold on 30-29 at halftime.
The Cards’ containment of Hidalgo didn’t last long. The freshman phenom scored 13 in the third quarter and nine in the fourth quarter to keep the Irish in the game. Hidalgo also eclipsed the records for the most points and steals by a freshman in ACC history. Outside of Hidalgo, the Irish were held to minimal points in the third, and Louisville finally began to extend their lead to a more comfortable margin. The Cards led 54-47 at the end of the third.
The Cards and the Irish held serve to start the fourth quarter, until, once again, Louisville began to pull away off of back-to-back threes from Taylor and Jayda Curry. Louisville led by as many as 13 before they started trying to kill the clock. In the final three minutes, Notre Dame made a late push to steal the win by extending the game. Louisville did themselves no favors as they missed several free throws down the stretch, finishing the game 14-of-23 from the free-throw line. The Irish cut the deficit as close as five points, but it was too little too late.
Louisville would go on to win 73-66.
Louisville did not trail for a single second of Thursday’s game. In fact, the Cards were only tied for the first 56 seconds of the game and led for the other 39:04 after scoring the first basket.
Harris played amazing, scoring a career-high 19 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for the game’s only double-double. Taylor and Kiki Jefferson also contributed double-digits with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The team did a fantastic job rebounding, getting 42 rebounds compared to Notre Dame’s 36. The Irish were one of the top rebounding teams in the country, yet Louisville was the more dominant team for the entirety of the game. One area that the Cards were actually quite porous in, but is maybe a positive sign that they were able to overcome it, was turnovers. For most of the year, when the Cards’ turnovers got out of hand they were almost certainly lost, committing 21 and still controlling the flow of the game.
This was a big win that put the rest of the country on notice. Louisville improves to 20-4 for the 16th 20-win season in 17 years and now sits at 9-2 in the ACC.
Photo Courtesy // Taris Smith, U of L Athletics
