Louisville Stumbles in ACC Championship, Falls to Duke in Overtime

DULUTH, Ga. - The Louisville women's basketball program's quest to recapture the ACC crown will have to wait another year.

Facing Duke in the ACC Tournament's championship game, the second-seeded Cardinals could not get revenge in their rematch with the top-seeded Blue Devils, falling 70-65 in overtime on Sunday at Gas South Arena.

The No. 12 AP-ranked Cardinals (27-7, 15-3 ACC) led by four with under a minute left, but handed the No. 13 AP-ranked Blue Devils (24-8, 16-2 ACC) opportunities to claw back.

Louisville committed a 10-second violation with 59 seconds left, then Duke hit a second-chance basket on the ensuing possession while also drawing a foul. The Blue Devils missed the front end of a one-and-one, but got the offensive rebound, and Riley Nelson hit a three with 27.3 seconds left to pull ahead.

Mackenly Randolph hit a layup and Imari Berry added a free throw, but Duke hit a game-tying layup with 4.1 seconds to go. Tajianna Roberts' last-chance three on the ensuing Louisville possession was blocked, and then UofL couldn't finish the job in the extra period.

Louisville misses out on winning their first ACC title since 2018, and have lost their last four appearances in the league's title game since. Duke also won 59-58 on Feb. 5 in the lone regular season matchup between the two, which snapped a 14-game winning streak by UofL.

The key difference in the game was rebounding and free throws. Duke made 26 trips to the charity stripe with 18 makes, while Louisville made only nine and hit just six. The Cardinals were also rebounded 42-to-34 by the Blue Devils, including 19-to-14 on offensive boards.

It wasted a great defensive effort by the Cards, as they held the Devils to 38.6 percent from the field and forced 16 turnovers - although they did commit 20 fouls. Offensively, they left some to be desired, shooting only 41.9 percent and committing more turnovers (16) than assists (13).

Berry came off the bench to lead Louisville in scoring with 18 points, while Randolph nearly had a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Roberts had 12 points, and Laura Ziegler was the fourth and final Card to reach double figures in scoring with 10 points.

Louisville fell behind 16-1 to start their first matchup with Duke, but the script flipped in the rematch. After the Blue Devils pulled ahead 6-4 to start the game, the Cardinals countered with a 13-0 run to take early control.

UofL were able to find their shooting stroke early by going 9-of-15 in the first quarter, but did turn it over five times in the opening period. However, they held Duke to 4-of-11 from the field and forced six turnovers to start out, taking a 21-14 lead through the first.

Momentum started to shift in the early goings in the second quarter. Louisville missed their first three baskets of the period while Duke made three of their first five, tying the game at the 7:17 mark and forcing head coach Jeff Walz to burn a timeout and gather themselves.

The Cardinals struggled offensively in this period, shooting just 5-of-14 and turning it over four more times. But after the Blue Devils started the second shooting 5-of-8, they hit just one of their final five attempts before halftime and coughed it up five times in the quarter.

A fadeaway long two by Berry as time expired proved to be the difference in the first half, with Louisville taking a 32-30 lead into halftime.

The third quarter saw the two teams go back-and-forth, and not gain much ground on the other. Duke went 0-for-3 on threes, but went 4-for-6 on twos and a perfect 8-of-8 at the free throw line. Louisville was only 6-of-14 from the field and just 1-of-2 at the charity stripe, but were 4-of-7 from deep to take a 49-46 advantage into the final quarter.

Louisville's offense continued to struggle heading into crunch time, as they went 4-for-10 from the field and 0-for-3 from three in the fourth quarter. While their defense held Duke to 5-of-18 shooting in the period, they were out-rebounded 14-to-7 during this time to keep giving the Blue Devils a chance.

Once the game go to overtime, Louisville simply couldn't hit the shot necessary. They went just 2-of-9 in the extra period, while Duke was 3-of-6 - including a three from Nelson with five seconds left to ice the game.

Next up, Louisville awaits their draw for the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is set for Sunday, Mar. 15 at 8:00 p.m. EST.

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