By Josie Simpson

Louisville suffered a tough loss against the No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a game that slipped away in the second half.

Competitive

The game began with both teams battling for control, trading baskets in the early minutes.

Notre Dame stayed on top, but Olivia Cochran and Nyla Harris were determined to muck things up and make their presence known.

The score was 6-8 after a couple of free throws from Harris, then the Irish put together a 12-0 run in a very long three minutes. The onslaught came the same way the Cards held serve with the Irish, by Hannah Hidalgo and Kate Noval dominating the paint.

Louisville stuck to it, however, and kept attacking the paint. Led again by Cochran and Harris, the Cards went on a 7-0 run of their own until Liatu King stopped the bleeding with a layup right before the buzzer.

Louisville trailed 13-22 at the end of the first quarter.

Notre Dame got on the board quickly with a three-pointer from Olivia Miles, but the Cards didn’t lose their focus. Louisville went on a 16-3 run to take their first lead of the day. During the run, the Cards finally got some offense going from the outside. Tajianna Roberts took control of the game, and Cochran even chipped in with a three of her own.

From there, the second quarter was back-and-forth. Hidalgo went blow-for-blow with the Cards, with Jayda Curry specifically picking up her scoring efforts and jousting each time down the court with one of the better scorers in the country.

Hidalgo go the better end of the duel, hitting a layup right before the horns.

By halftime, Louisville closed the gap but trailed 38-39.

Out-gunned

Despite keeping things close in the first half, Louisville struggled to keep pace after the break.

Louisville continued to hang with the Irish offensively, but failed to slow down their stars. Hidalgo scored at will, and Miles and King each got theirs as well.

By the middle of the third quarter, the talent gap grew more clear. Notre Dame went on a 15-7 run to end the third, going into the final quarter with a score of 54-65.

By the fourth quarter, the Irish did not let up. Sonia Citron picked up her scoring output, and King and Hidalgo continued to score however they saw fit.

The deficit grew as large as 23 points, but the game was over far before that.

Louisville lost 71-89.

Highlights of a low night

Despite the big margin in the final score, Louisville has reason to hang their heads high.

Louisville shot 43.8% from three with 17 turnovers compared to Notre Dame’s 30% and 23 turnovers.

Another bright spot was Mackenly Randolph, who played with the most energy and effort of anyone in a Cardinals uniform. Her play didn’t manifest itself in points, but she grabbed 10 rebounds and one steal.

Other standout performers included Roberts, Cochran and Curry, who scored 17, 14 and 12 points, respectively.

The problem was interior shooting and rebounding, both of which the Irish held a major advantage. Louisville was held to 35.8% from the field and managed to grab 29 boards, while Notre Dame shot 55% and hauled in 44 boards.

On the rare occasion when they would miss a shot, King could just scoop up the miss and put it right back up and in.

With this loss, Louisville falls to 15-7 on the season and 8-3 in ACC play.

As Louisville continues to match up against ranked teams, they will continue to be tested. If they don’t pass some of those tests and get back to their winning ways, they could be in for a suspenseful Selection Sunday.

Photo Courtesy // Rachel Klotz, Louisville Athletics