No. 2 Louisville Hosts Boston College in ACC Opener on Thursday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 2 University of Louisville women's basketball opens Atlantic Coast Conference play on Thursday night when it hosts Boston College. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. ET and broadcast on ACC Network Extra and 790-AM WKRD.

Tickets for Thursday's game are available and fans can enjoy $4 draft beer and $3 sodas. The first 200 fans will receive Louisville themed 2022 sunglasses.

The Cardinals (10-1) enter Thursday's contest on a 10-game winning streak, which includes three wins over Top 15 opponents, a 70-48 victory over No. 12/9 Michigan, a 64-58 win over No. 14/14 Kentucky and a 69-64 win over No. 7/6 UConn.

It marks the sixth time in the past five seasons that Louisville has had a winning streak of 10 games or more. They have had a winning streak of 10 games in each of the last five seasons, including two in 2017-18. They opened the 2017-18 season with a program-record 20 straight wins. Last season, they opened the year with a 16-game winning streak.

Louisville moved up to No. 2 in the Coaches Poll, while holding at No. 3 in the Associated Press poll. It marks five straight seasons that the Cardinals have reached No. 2 in the Coaches Poll.

Kianna Smith was named MVP of the Basketball Hall of Fame Women's Showcase after leading the way with 16 points in the win over UConn. She had 11 of her 16 points in the third quarter and shot 5-of-6 from the floor in the third.

She leads the Cards with 12.6 points per game and four times this season has led the team in scoring. She ranks second in the ACC and 23rd in the NCAA with a 46.0 3-point field goal percentage and 10th in the ACC with 2.1 made 3-pointers per game.

In the win over UConn, Hailey Van Lith had 10 of her team-high tying 16 points in the fourth quarter. She was 2-of-2 from deep and 4-of-4 from the stripe in the fourth. In the win over UK, she had 8 of her 13 points in the fourth and shot a perfect 4-of-4 in the quarter.

She ranks second on the team with 11.3 points per game.

In the last three games, Ahlana Smith is averaging 9.7 points while shooting 5-of-11 (.455) from 3-point range. She had nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from deep in the first half against UConn to help keep the Cardinals close.

UofL has won their last eight conference openers, including going 7-0 in ACC openers. Last season, they won 73-49 at Duke on Dec. 9, 2020. Their last loss in a conference opener was an 86-80 defeat at DePaul in 2012-13.

Overall, head coach Jeff Walz is 12-2 in conference openers, 7-0 at home, and his teams have won 12 of their last 13. The other blemish came in 2008 at Syracuse (L, 79-56). This marks the first time that Louisville and Boston College have played in a conference opener.

ABOUT THE EAGLES

Boston College enters Thursday's game with an 8-3 record. The Eagles are 0-1 in ACC play after falling 76-73 vs. North Carolina on Dec. 19 in their league opener. BC is shooting 48.7 percent from the floor, which leads the ACC and ranks third in the country. They average 18.1 assists per game, which ranks second in the league and 16th in the nation. Taylor Soule leads the Eagles and ranks third in the ACC with 16.8 points per game. She is shooting 69-of-116 from the floor, good for 59.5 percent, which leads the ACC and ranks 17th in the NCAA. She is 46-of-58 from the free throw line, which ranks third in the league in both makes and attempts, while shooting 79.3 percent from the stripe, which ranks sixth in the ACC. They have four other players averaging more than 8.6 points per game - Cameron Swartz (12.2 ppg), Marnelle Garraud (9.9 ppg), Makayla Dickens (9.1 ppg) and Maria Gakdeng (8.6 ppg). Garraud ranks second in the ACC with 2.6 steals per game and fifth with 4.6 assists per game.

Series History - Louisville is 10-1 all-time against Boston College. The Cardinals are on a 10-game winning streak in the series, 9-0 since joining the ACC, and they are 5-0 at the KFC Yum! Center. The lone loss to Boston College came in the first meeting on Dec. 28, 1985, when Louisville suffered a 74-68 loss in the NC State Christmas Tournament. In the last 10 games, the Cardinals have won by an average of 21.6 points per game. Thursday's meeting marks the seventh straight time that the teams have faced off when Louisville was ranked in the top five.

Last Meeting (Feb. 4, 2021) - Dana Evans scored 23 points and Hailey Van Lith added 15 to help top-ranked Louisville bounce back from its first loss of the season with a 97-68 victory over Boston College. Kianna Smith scored 14 points, Liz Dixon had 11 and Mykasa Robinson grabbed eight rebounds for the Cardinals. BC tied the game at 33-33 midway through the second quarter. Louisville scored the next 14 points and BC never got within single digits again. Evans had six points and Dixon had five during the game-changing run, when the Eagles went more than four minutes without scoring.

GAME FACTS
Date: Thursday, Dec. 30
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Site: Louisville, Ky. | KFC Yum! Center (22,000)
TV: ACCNX (Jeff Greer, play-by-play; Jody Demling, analyst)
Radio: 790-AM WKRD (Nick Curran, play-by-play; Adrienne Johnson, analyst)
Last Meeting: W, 97-68 (Feb. 4, 2021 at Boston College)
Series History: 10-1 (W10, 5-0 home, 4-0 away, 2-1 neutral)
Next UofL Game: Sunday, Jan. 2 at Georgia Tech

For the latest on Louisville women's basketball, visit GoCards.com, follow the team's Twitter account at @UofLWBB or on Facebook at facebook.com/UofLWBB.

No. 2 Louisville Hosts Boston College in ACC Opener on Thursday

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Players Mentioned

Liz Dixon

Dana Evans

Mykasa Robinson

Ahlana Smith

Kianna Smith

Hailey Van Lith

University of Louisville Athletics