No. 22/23 Cardinals Can’t Contain No. 17 Notre Dame, 74-58

Sunday, March 3

South Bend, Ind.

2 PM

University of Louisville

#17 Notre Dame

No. 22/23 Cardinals Can’t Contain No. 17 Notre Dame, 74-58

March 03, 2024 | Women's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Walz Presser

Louisville will be the No. 5 seed for the upcoming ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greensboro

By: Matt Paras

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The No. 22/23 Louisville Cardinals (23-8, 12-6 ACC) dropped the final game of the regular season, 74-58, to No. 17 Notre Dame (23-6, 13-5 ACC) Sunday afternoon at Purcell Pavilion. The Cards took a lead into halftime but were unable to withstand the second half surge from the Irish.

Sydney Taylor led the team with 11 points on the afternoon. Seven players scored for the Cardinals and all of them had seven or more points. Olivia Cochran and Kiki Jefferson had a team-best six rebounds each.

It was a back and forth first quarter between the two teams as the score was tied four times and the lead changed twice. The Cardinals shot well in the opening quarter as they hit six of their first 13 shots of the game. Cochran led the squad with six points in the frame but the Cards trailed 17-15 after the opening 10 minutes of play.

The good shooting continued into the second quarter as the Cardinals hit five of their first eight shots from the floor to begin the frame. Louisville closed out the quarter by hitting five of their last seven shots and took a seven-point lead into the break at 36-29. The Cardinals outscored the Irish 21-12 in the second quarter to take the halftime lead.

Seven different Cardinals scored in the first half with Merissah Russell leading the way at seven points. The post duo of Cochran and Harris had six points each over the first 20 minutes.

Notre Dame was red hot from the floor in the third quarter as it hit eight of their first nine shots to regain the lead. The Cardinals went cold from the floor in the third as they were just 2-for-17 and Notre Dame outscored them 30-10 in the frame. At the end of the third, the Cardinals trailed 59-46.

Louisville was unable to get the lead to single digits in the fourth quarter as the Irish closed out the win.

Up next is the 2024 Ally ACC Women's Tournament, which will be held at the Greensboro Coliseum starting next week. The Cardinals are locked into the No. 5 seed following today's result against Notre Dame and the rest of action on the final day of the regular season. Louisville will start their play in Greensboro on Thursday morning at 11 a.m. ET and they will face the winner of the No. 12 and No. 13 seed game that will be played Wednesday afternoon.