Louisville Falls to Notre Dame in Regular Season Finale

Press Release from the University of Louisville:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —The No. 10/11 Louisville women's basketball team (25-6, 15-3 ACC) dropped the regular season finale, 65-62, to Notre Dame (20-9, 12-6) Sunday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center. After trailing for much of the second half, Louisville had a four-point lead with five minutes left in the fourth. The Cards only scored two points the rest of the game as Notre Dame came out with the win.

Mackenly Randolph led the way as she tied a career high with 15 points and had a career-best 11 rebounds for her first career double double. It is the second time she has led the team in scoring and third time leading the team in rebounding this season. Tajianna Roberts added 13 points of her own and Imari Berry had 12 to round out the Cards in double figures. Elif Istanbulluoglu just missed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds and tied a career high with five assists.

Offense was hard to come by as the teams faced off for the second time this season. Louisville held the Irish to 3-for-14 shooting and was able to grab 12 rebounds in the first quarter. The Cardinals had eight turnovers in the quarter but held a 12-7 lead after the first 10 minutes.

Notre Dame blitzed into the lead after torrid shooting in the second quarter. The Irish scored 29 points in the frame and were 9-for-14 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 from behind the arc to take a 36-24 lead into the half.

The Cardinals came out hot in the second half, scoring the first six points and forced the Irish to call an early timeout. Louisville trimmed the deficit to 36-30 with 7:52 left in the third. The Irish got the lead out to double digits again but the Cards finished the quarter on a furious run and cut the deficit down to two multiple times. Hannah Hidalgo banked in a three at the buzzer to end the third and the Cards trailed 50-45 heading into the final quarter.

Louisville regained the lead for the first time since early in the second quarter after Istanbulluoglu converted a layup and hit the ensuing free throw for the three-point play to put the Cards up one. The Louisville lead reached four in the fourth after a three-pointer from Randolph with just under five minutes left. Notre Dame closed the game out on a 9-2 run over the final four-plus minutes to regain the lead and secure the win.

Up next for the Cardinals is the 2026 Ally ACC Women's Basketball Tournament, set to take place at Gas South Arena in Duluth, Georgia. Louisville is the No. 2 seed in the tournament and has clinched one of the four double byes. They will open the tournament on Friday, March 6 at 5 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2. Louisville will face either the No. 7 seed Syracuse, No. 10 seed California or the No. 15 seed Wake Forest.

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