Notre Dame Falls To Louisville In ACC Semifinals

The Fighting Irish fall in the ACC semis for the second straight year, await their NCAA fate

Greensboro, NC - A game that started with virtually nothing going right ended with seemingly everything going wrong as the Notre Dame women’s basketball team (25-5) fell to Louisville (23-20) by a 64-38 final in Saturday’s semifinals of the ACC Tournament.

The Fighting Irish and Cardinals were playing for the third time in 16 days. Notre Dame won the first two meetings by a combined total of five points. The Irish barely topped that number by scoring just seven points and trailing 12-7 after the game’s first quarter.

After officials in last Sunday’s regular season finale at Louisville, a 68-65 Irish win, let physical play go uncalled, officials called Saturday’s game much closer. Notre Dame forward Lauren Ebo picked up her second foul just 91 seconds into the game and sat the remainder of the half.

Seven total fouls were whistled in the game’s first five minutes and 11 combined fouls were called on the two teams by the end of the first quarter. Maddy Westbeld, who finished with a team-high nine points, also picked up her second foul with 33.6 seconds left in the quarter.

The Fighting Irish shot just 3 of 17 in the quarter and 7 for 26 in the first half. Westbeld hit Notre Dame’s only 3-pointer of Notre Dame’s 10 attempts from beyond the arc.

Louisville was just 3 for 16 in the first quarter, but warmed up as the half progressed, hitting 8 of 14 shots in the second quarter to use a 12-0 run to go up 29-15 at halftime.

The Cardinals, who were led by a quiet 15 points from leading scorer Hailey Van Lith, smothered Notre Dame defensively throughout the game. They held Sonia Citron to eight points a day after the All-ACC guard led the Irish with 28 points in their ACC opener against NC State.

Citron had been dynamic in her last two games without fellow All-ACC teammate Olivia Miles in the lineup. Miles missed her second straight game after suffering a knee injury in last week’s win over Louisville.

But without the ball handling, court vision and distribution ability of Miles, Notre Dame had just nine assists and committed 22 turnovers. Louisville’s defense turned the Irish miscues into offense, scoring 26 points off turnovers.

Notre Dame also scored in single digits in each of the first three quarters of the game. It’s the first time that has happened this season. The 38 points is also the fewest the Irish have scored all season.

The Fighting Irish now wait until March 12 – Selection Sunday – to find out where and when they play next in the NCAA Tournament. Notre Dame has a NET ranking of No. 6 and was one of four No. 3 seeds in the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Committee’s last top-16 early reveal that was announced on Feb. 23. A team must be a top-4 Regional seed in order to host first and second round NCAA Tournament games. The Irish have not hosted since 2019.

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