University of Louisville
29-3 (14-2ACC)
No. 1 Notre Dame
30-3 (14-2ACC)
Team Stats
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
No. 3 Louisville Falls to No. 4 Notre Dame in ACC Championship
March 10, 2019 | Women's Basketball
Bionca Dunham led the Cardinals with 18 points and eight rebounds.
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - No. 3 Louisville fell 99-79 to No. 4 Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament championship game on Sunday afternoon at Greensboro Coliseum.
With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 29-3 on the season and will now await to see where they are placed in the 2019 NCAA Tournament.
Bionca Dunham led the way for Louisville with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Asia Durr chipped in 15 points, five rebounds and five assists and Jazmine Jones finished with 17 points.
For Notre Dame, Jessica Shepard had a season-high 30 points and 13 rebounds. Tournament MVP Jackie Young added 21 points and 10 rebounds, Brianna Turner had 20 points and Marina Mabrey and Arike Ogunbowale scored 12 apiece for the top-seeded Irish (30-3).
Notre Dame never trailed in beating the Cardinals for the second time this season and avenging their loss in last year's ACC championship game - their only one in conference tournament play since joining the ACC in 2013-14.
Notre Dame outscored Louisville 72-40 in the paint and built a 44-29 rebounding edge. The Cardinals didn't have Arica Carter to start the game, lost Sam Fuehring midway through the second quarter and frequently used a four-guard lineup.
''This is not our final goal,'' Durr said. ''We've just got to learn from it and continue to push forward.''
BIG PICTURE
Louisville: Only one of the Cardinals' three senior mainstays - Durr - lasted until the end of this one, partly explaining their struggles in the paint. Arica Carter, who scored 16 points in a semifinal win over No. 9 North Carolina State, was out with a leg injury and coach Jeff Walz said he found out 20 minutes before tipoff that she couldn't go. Then, leading rebounder Sam Fuehring injured an ankle early in the second quarter and played only two minutes in the second half.
''I wasn't willing to sacrifice (Fuehring) being able to play when the big tournament starts up,'' Walz said.
Notre Dame: Young had said that 74-72 loss to Louisville in last year's title game stuck with the Irish - even as they got the last laugh last April by winning the program's second national title. They won three games this weekend by an average of 21 points to improve to 17-1 all-time in this tournament.
STAT SHEET
The ACC's most productive offense put up 99 points against its best defense. Notre Dame, which averages a league-best 88.7 points, hung at least 80 points on Louisville for the second time after beating the Cardinals 82-68 exactly two months earlier in a 1-vs.-2 matchup. Louisville had allowed 80 points only one other time - in the opener against Western Kentucky.
QUICK SHOTS
Notre Dame's 27 points in the first quarter were the most allowed by Louisville in that quarter all season. . The Cardinals trailed 49-38 at the half, which marked just the second time they have trailed at the midway point all season.
