Notre Dame Women's Basketball Beats Louisville To Claim ACC Regular Season Crown

Notre Dame women’s basketball found itself in a precarious position Sunday afternoon in Louisville, but after some ups and downs the Irish prevailed 68-65. The Fighting Irish trailed the host Cardinals 33-29 at halftime after their ACC Player of the Year candidate point guard Olivia Miles had exited the game with a leg injury with 2:25 left in the first half.

The Irish (24-4, 15-3 ACC) entered the day tied for first place at the top of the ACC standings with Duke. A Notre Dame win coupled with a Duke loss to North Carolina would give the Irish the outright regular season ACC championship and the No. 1 seed later in the week at the ACC Tournament.

To pull off their end of the bargain, the Irish were going to have to play the entire second half without Miles, their leader in scoring, rebounding and the ACC’s leader in assists.

No problem.

The Fighting Irish put on a defensive clinic in the game’s final 10 minutes to close out the Cardinals. The win, along with Duke’s 45-41 loss to North Carolina, gave the Irish their first ACC regular season crown under third-year head coach Niele Ivey.

Louisville (21-10, 12-6) hit just 4 of 15 shots in the game’s final quarter, including a stretch of more than four and a half minutes without a field goal finding the rim. Notre Dame won with muscle and grit in the second half, forcing Louisville to score 12 of its 19 points from the free throw line as four different Irish players were hit with their fourth foul of the game.

Sonia Citron paced the Irish with arguably the biggest game of her career. Citron’s 27 points were two off her career-high, but she led all scorers in the game. She scored 17 points in the second half, with a game-best nine of them coming in the pivotal final quarter.

Notre Dame fell behind by 10 points early in the second half, but Citron scored Notre Dame’s final six points of the third quarter to pull the Irish to within 46-43 going to the fourth.

KK Bransford, who finished with 14 points, scored eight in the second half as she took turns with Citron filling in for Miles running the point. Miles never returned to the game, but she limped out of the locker room in the third quarter and watched the rest of the gam from the Irish bench.

A pair of Citron free throws put Notre Dame up 54-53 for their first lead of the second half with 5:30 to play. She calmly drained her third and final triple of the game with 3:13 remaining to put the Irish on top by five.

Louisville made its last push with 2:04 to play after Lauren Ebo was assessed an intentional foul as she pursued a loose ball after an Irish missed shot. Hailey Van Lith, who led the Cardinals with 23 points, hit a pair of free throws to cut Notre Dame’s lead to 62-59. Louisville had possession, but could not score on the possession.

Sparked by Cassandre Prosper’s defensive presence, Notre Dame’s defense held Louisville to six straight missed shots and 0 for 6 shooting over a six minute stretch.

Citron went to the line with the Irish up by two with :17 second to play. The 81% free throw shooter uncharacteristically missed both charity shots, but Van Lith air balled a jumper on the ensuing possession. Prosper, who scored all 11 of her points in the fourth quarter, grabbed the rebound and drew a foul to put the Irish up 68-63 with :06 second left to seal Notre Dame’s first victory at Louisville since Feb. 7, 2016.

Notre Dame has a double bye in the ACC Tournament and will play a to be determined opponent on Friday at 2:00 pm EST in Greensboro, NC.

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