Louisville Comes Up Short in Ranked ACC/SEC Challenge Matchup vs. South Carolina

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Hosting national powerhouse South Carolina for the women's basketball leg of the ACC/SEC Challenge, Louisville suffered a similar fate to their men's counterpart did, falling 79-77 on Thursday at the KFC Yum! Center.

The No. 22 Cardinals (7-3, 1-0 ACC) came just inches away from pulling off the upset against the No. 3 Gamecocks (8-1, 0-1 SEC). Taijianna Roberts launched a three-point try from the left wing with four seconds left, but her shot missed wide right

Not only has Louisville dropped all three of their matchups against AP-ranked opponents so far this season, they are on a seven-game losing streak against such teams. Their last win against a ranked squad came on Feb. 20, 2025 at No. 3 Duke.

Considering the competition, Louisville put together their best performance of the season. Facing a South Carolina team that was holding opponents to 30.1 percent from the field, they shot 47.7 percent and 9-of-23 on three-point attempts. However, the Cardinals assisted on only 11 of their 31 made shots, and turned it over 12 times.

Conversely, the Gamecocks shot it at 49.2 percent from the floor and 8-of-16 on three-pointers. USC also went 11-of-17 at the free throw line to UofL's 6-of-10.

Louisville was led by a 20-point effort by Roberts, plus a 15-point/nine-rebound effort from Elif Istanbulluoglu. Reyna Scott also added 15 points, and Skylar Jones scored 12 points. Madina Okot had 23 points and Tessa Johnson had 20 points for South Carolina, while Ta'Niya Latson was held to nine.

Both teams came out absolutely shooting the cover off of the ball, going back and forth through most of the opening period. Both Louisville and South Carolina went 12-of-19 from the floor in the first quarter, but it was the latter who ended the period with some momentum, going on a 6-0 run to take a 27-25 lead through the first 10 minutes.

Defense looked like it might be the theme of the second quarter, as Louisville missed their first four shots of the period, and South Carolina missed their first three. But then both teams went back to going blow-for-blow, with the Cardinals hitting five of their final seven attempts of the half and the Gamecocks ending the half shooting 6-of-8. This allowed UofL to keep pace with USC, but still trail 45-39 at the half.

Carolina threatened to take full control right out of the locker. They scored the first five points of the third quarter to extend their lead to 11, but then Louisville was able to counter with an 8-0 run to avoid things getting out of hand. In fact, the Cardinals out-shot the Gamecocks in the third (9-of-16 to 6-of-14), trimming their deficit to just one point heading into the fourth quarter.

Louisville finally took their first lead of the night in the fourth quarter, opening the period on an 11-5 run to lead by as much as five points with 4:23 left. However, after South Carolina opened the fourth shooting 2-of-13, the Gamecocks hit their final four, while the Cardinals were 1-of-6 after taking their five-point lead.

Next up, Louisville will attempt to bounce back with a home game against New Hampshire. Tip-off against the Wildcats is set for Sunday, Dec. 7 at 12:00 p.m. EST.

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