Louisville Defeats Notre Dame, Extends Winning Streak to 10

Press Release from the University of Louisville:

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 9/10 Louisville Cardinals (17-3, 7-0 ACC) handled its business and came away with a 79-66 win over No. 23/22 Notre Dame (12-5, 4-3 ACC) on the road Thursday night at Purcell Pavilion. The Cardinals led by six halfway through the second quarter but ripped off a 7-0 run and never looked back to improve to 7-0 in the ACC and 4-0 on the road this season. The loss was Notre Dame's first at home this season, as they were 10-0 at home this season entering the game.

The Cardinals were led by Reyna Scott and Tajianna Roberts against the Irish. Scott had her best game in a Louisville uniform with a career-best 20 points on 9-for-13 shooting with four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Roberts had 19 points and was 4-for-5 from three with five rebounds and three steals. Elif Istanbulluoglu had 11 points on 5-for-7 shooting while Mackenly Randolph had 10 points and seven rebounds.

The Cardinals only had eight turnovers and limited the Irish to seven steals on the night. It was the lowest steals the Irish had recorded this season as they entered the game averaging 15.3 steals per game. Hannah Hidalgo only had one steal after leading the country with 5.9 steals per game. It was just the third game in her career that she had one steal or less and two of them have been against Louisville.

Notre Dame scored the first basket of the game but the Cards responded with a 7-0 run to take the lead. After that, both teams traded baskets for the remainder of the quarter and the Irish had a slight 17-16 lead after the first quarter.

Notre Dame's lead reached six in the second quarter before the Cards ripped off a 7-0 to take the lead back. Scott converted a layup and was fouled and finished off the three-point lead to get the Cards back in front. Louisville took a four point lead at 37-33 into the half.

Coming out of halftime, the Cardinals were red hot from the floor. They hit six of their first nine shots from the floor as they extended the lead to double digits. Notre Dame fought back in the quarter and cut into the Louisville lead. Notre Dame trimmed the Cards lead to three but Scott hit a big three before the buzzer and gave the Cards a 62-56 lead heading into the fourth.

Scott scored the first 4 points for the Cards in the fourth. Roberts was big time in the fourth as well, hitting key shots to keep the Cards in front. She hit back-to-back threes that put the Cards back up by double digits and forced Notre Dame to call a timeout. The Irish scored coming off the timeout but Louisville scored seventh straight to put the game away. Elif Istanbulluoglu capped it off with a three to extend the Cards lead to 16. Louisville held the Irish to 3-for-13 (23.1%) shooting from the floor in the final quarter.

The Cardinals have another tough road ahead of them to close out the week. Louisville will travel to Raleigh to take on NC State on Sunday, January 18. The Cardinals and Wolfpack will square off at 1 p.m. ET and it will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.

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