The Irish lose their first game at home in almost a year as they couldn’t keep up with Louisville.
There was hope in the air and Marcus Freeman in attendance as the Notre Dame women’s basketball team hosted the #9 ranked Louisville Cardinals — but no. After a good start in the first quarter, the Irish couldn’t match Louisville bucket for bucket throughout the game and lost, 79-66.
No. 23 Irish Fall To No. 9 Louisville
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Fighting Irish dropped their first home game of the season on Thursday evening, falling to No. 9 Louisville by a score of 79-66 inside Purcell Pavilion.
Hannah Hidalgo’s 24 points led Notre Dame on the offensive end and she added eight assists, five rebounds and a steal.
Iyana Moore also had a productive night, scoring 16 points, doing most of her damage from beyond the arc, finishing 4-for-6 from three-point range. Malaya Cowles was the third Irish player in double figures with 12 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish held a 17-16 advantage following the opening 10 minutes of action. The visitors held an early five-point lead at 9-4 before the Irish scored 11 of the next 14 points to go on top 15-12. Moore led Notre Dame with seven points while Cowles added six to propel the Irish offense.
Notre Dame scored the first five points of the second quarter to grow the lead to six at 22-16 before Louisville responded by outscoring the Irish 15-4 over the next 4 minutes of action to retake the lead at 31-26 with 4:14 left in the half.
Notre Dame trimmed the lead to just two points with a little over a minute to play before the Cardinals scored the last bucket of the half to take a 37-33 lead into the break.
Hidalgo took over for the Irish in the second quarter, scoring 13 of Notre Dame’s 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting.
Louisville came out of the halftime intermission and built its lead to as many as 10, leading 54-44 with 3:31 left in the quarter. Notre Dame answered by cutting the deficit to just three at 59-56 with 30 seconds left in the period before the visitors knocked down a three with five seconds left to take a 62-56 advantage into the final frame.
Notre Dame cut the lead down to five at 66-61 off a three from Moore with 7 minutes left in the game but unfortunately for the Irish that was as close as they managed to get. Louisville pulled away in the final minutes and went on to win by a score of 79-66.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish hit the road for their final non-conference matchup of the regular season, taking on No. 1 UConn at 5 p.m. ET on Monday, Jan. 19 in Storrs, Connecticut. The game will air on FOX.
Category: General Sports
