Louisville women fall to No. 3 Notre Dame
No. 13 Louisville Basketball led for the majority of the game, but couldn't hang on as No. 3 Notre Dame came from nine-points down to win 66-61.
The Cardinals were outscored 21-12 in the final quarter, relinquishing their lead to the Irish, one of the top teams in the nation all season.
The Irish have been ranked No. 3 in the nation in every poll this season and have only lost to No. 1 UConn at Connecticut, 91-81, on Dec. 5. This season they have wins over then-No. 10 Ohio State, No. 17 DePaul, No. 10 Oregon Sate, No. 15 Tennessee and No. 24 Syracuse.
Notre Dame and Louisville both came into the game with a 10-0 ACC record, with Notre Dame sitting at 22-1 on the season and Louisville was 18-5, having recovered from an 1-4 start with a 17-1 run. The Irish are an incredible 49-1 in ACC games since joining the league.
Notre Dame came into the game with the league's best three-point shooter, Madison Cable (46.8 percent), and the league's best point guard, Lindsay Allen (5.6 assists per game, 2.46 assist-to-turnover ratio, both league bests). They were No. 1 in the league in three-point percentage (41.6), No. 1 in field goal percentage (49.1) and No. 1 in scoring (80.4 ppg).
The Cardinals did a nice job on Cable, holding her to just one three for the game, and a nice job limiting Allen. She finished with three assists and two turnovers, but Cable was effective even without the three-point shot, going 4 of 8 from inside the arc while scoring 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.
Louisville led 24-19 at the end of the first quarter on the strength of eight points from Mariya Moore and six points and three rebounds from Myisha Hines-Allen. The Cardinals shot 50 percent from the field with Moore and Hines-Allen, the super sophomore duo, going 6 of 9.
Louisville held a seven point lead at 31-24 and 33-26 in the second quarter, despite missing 6 straight shots during a stretch. The Cardinals pushed the lead to 35-26 with just over a minute remaining, but a late close by the Irish cut the margin to 35-30 by halftime.
Trailing at the half for just the second time this season (the other being the loss to UConn), Notre Dame cut Louisville's lead to three, 37-34. The Cardinals responded with a 6-0 run, aided by hot shooting from Briahanna Jackson.
Louisville's nine-point lead evaporated quickly as Notre Dame cut it to 45-43 by the 1:30 mark of the third quarter before a jumper by Asia Durr stopped the Irish run. A spinning fade-away jumper by Jackson gave Louisville a 49-45 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Notre Dame tied the score at 55-55 with 6:52 left and had the ball with a chance to take the lead, but a jumper by Hines-Allen gave Louisville the lead back with just under six minutes left. The Irish tied the game at 57, but Louisville got a 1-2 trip to the foul line by Durr and a defensive stop.
The next play may have decided the game. After a pair of empty possessions ended with Louisville offensive rebounds, Hines-Allen fouled out on a controversial rebounding call with 3:07 left. Notre Dame's Madison Cable hit a pair of free throws to give the Irish a 59-58 lead.
A three by Cable put Notre Dame ahead 62-58 with just under two minutes left. Notre Dame closed out the win at the foul line. Hitting 1-2 in four separate trips to the charity stripe.