By Josie Simpson

Despite a tough fight, Louisville fell well short against the TCU Horned Frogs in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Started fast…

TCU started strong, winning the tip-off, but Jayda Curry quickly forced a turnover on Haley Van Lith and scored a layup.

Van Lith turned the ball over a second time, but TCU was able to finally fix their mistakes with a couple of layups to take the lead.

Curry then sank three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt, putting the Cards up by on

Nyla Harris pushed the lead to three of a layup before Agnes Emma-Nnopu hit a three to tie the game.

Curry responded with two threes, bringing the score to 13-7. TCU responded with a triple, but Curry kept the onslaught going with another basket to push the lead back up to five.

Louisville kept up their ball pressure on Van Lith, and she found Emma-Nnopu for another three.

Curry followed with a jumper to give her 15 points in the first quarter, bringing the lead to 17-13.

The Horned Frogs then went on a 7-0 run to end the quarter, with a number of good looks going up for Louisville but just failing to find the bottom of the net.

Louisville trailed 17-20.

Donovyn Hunter opened the second quarter with back-to-back threes. After five missed shots, Emma-Nnopu extended TCU’s lead to 11 with a layup, prompting a timeout from Jeff Walz.

After failing to score yet again, Harris blocked a shot from Sedona Prince to give Louisville their first sign of life in the second.

Unfortunately, with just two seconds left on the shot-clock, Prince caught the inbound pass and banked in a layup to finish off TCU’s 17-0 run.

Olivia Cochran finally snapped the almost nine-minute drought with a layup to cut the score to 19-30, but Emma-Nnopu immediately responded with a three.

Louisville finally got some offense going, but that only kicked TCU’s into overdrive. The Horned Frogs handled the traps from the Cards perfectly, finding open shooters on the perimeter and cashing in far more often than not. TCU shot over 70% from the field in the quarter.

At the half, Louisville trailed 26-47.

Not without a fight

Louisville came out of the break swinging, with Curry returning to form after only two points in the second.

The senior guard helped lead the charge with an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to 34-49.

Prince drew a foul and made both at the line, reigniting the TCU offense. A Three later from Madison Conner pushed the deficit back up to 20 points.

In spite of a masterful performance from Curry, the closest the Cards could bring the score to was 15.

The third quarter ended with Louisville trailing 51-69.

The fourth quarter opened with a powerful dunk by Elif Istanbulluoglu. Curry was fouled on a three-point attempt once again and calmly sank all three free throws to cut the lead to 13.

But Tajianna Roberts fouled Van Lith on a shot attempt. She converted both shots at the line, prompting Walz to call another timeout.

Right out of the break, Curry stayed hot as she drilled a three and knocked down another one to cut the lead to single-digits.

Price scored to bring the hole back to 11 points, Curry hit an and-1 jumper to cut the lead to eight points with just under three minutes remaining.

 Prince hit another layup to put TCU back up by 10. Then the offense went cold as the Horned Frogs successfully denied Curry the ball and the supporting cast just couldn’t take the lid off the basket.

Hunter buried a three from the corner and sealed the game with a final layup.

Louisville’s season ended 70-85 at the hands of TCU. 

At least someone showed up

Louisville fought to keep pace, but TCU’s efficient offense proved too much to handle.

The Horned Frogs shot a scorching 63% from the field and 61.1% from three, while Louisville struggled to find consistency, shooting 33.8%.

Curry had an incredible send off, with a career-high 41 points to set a postseason record for Louisville. She also added five assists and four rebound without getting called for a single foul. Curry did absolutely everything she possibly could have.

Cochran added 15 points and six rebounds, while Harris contributed down low with three boards and a block.

Cochran and Merissah Russell end their five-year careers at Louisville, as Curry and Ja’Leah Williams go out as well after transferring in.

Louisville ends their season with a record of 22-11.

Photo Courtesy // Taris Smith, Louisville Athletics