By Derek DeBurger
Louisville’s ACC Tournament run comes to an end as early as the quarterfinals.
Notre Dame’s defense caused fits for Louisville. With just 3:26 left in the first quarter, Louisville notched 3 of the only 16 total points scored. The Cards found a two-minute stretch where they could put some points on the board, but their defense let up almost the same amount during that time.
Louisville was outscored 7-15 during the second. The team made just three field goals in the second, meanwhile, the Irish scored just about every way possible.
Louisville trailed 17-14 at the half.
Right out of the break, the Irish pushed their lead to 22 points—the largest of the game. From that point on it became the Jayda Curry show.
Curry, who only had three points in the first half, scored eight points in the third quarter and helped the Cards end it on an 18-9 run. Louisville still trailed 39-51 going into the final quarter.
Curry didn’t just continue her excellence in the fourth quarter, she turned it up a notch, driving to the basket over and again hitting shots, and drawing fouls. At one point she scored seven points on three straight possessions to cut the lead to nine points. Later in the quarter, Curry hit Merissah Russell for an assist on a wide-open three-pointer to cut the lead to five. Offensively, the Cards were fantastic down the stretch, but Sonia Citron would not be stopped. Citron finished the game with 26 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter.
Louisville was able to cut the lead to three on multiple occasions, but couldn’t get over the hump. With under thirty seconds to play, down three points, Curry had the ball stolen. Head coach Jeff Walz believed there was a foul that went uncalled, and received a technical foul and was ejected the game. This put Notre Dame on the line and gave them possession, essentially ending the comeback effort.
Louisville would lose 68-77.
Curry was the bright spot, scoring 26 points—a high for her time in Louisville—with 15 of them coming in the fourth. Louisville’s defense was also very impressive, holding Notre Dame to just 34 points in the first half and keeping Hannah Hidalgo in check for large swaths of the game.
Louisville’s offense looked anemic until Curry carried them, and Citron and Hidalgo were still able to combine for 47 points. Louisville still has some things to work on, but can unfortunately no longer improve their tournament resume.
For now, the Cards just need to wait and see their draw come Selection Sunday.
Photo Courtesy // David Yeazell-USA TODAY Sports
