The University of Louisville womens' basketball squad got 26 points from Dana Evans and place five players in double figures in the 17-point win at South Bend on Sunday. With the win, Louisville wins the ACC regular season title for the fourth consecutive year.
Louisville blew out to a 28-18 first quarter on the Irish, who started the contest with five straight turnovers, and never looked back. The Cards are now 21-2 on the season and eaarned the #1 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament, which starts Wednesday in Greensboro.
The Cards shot 51.6% from the floor in the win and forced 25 Notre Dame turnovers. It was a nice afternoon for Kasa Robinson, who went five-for-five from the floor and had 10 points, four assists and three steals in her 27 minutes of court time.
Notre Dame would get within ten in the final minute of the third quarter at 55-45 but the Cards closed out the quarter on a four-point run to lead 59-45 and push that toan 18-point lead early in the fourth quarter. It was 71-51 Louisville with three minutes to go and Louisville had successfully put away Niele Ivey's squad with a solid defensive effort. None of the Irish starters hit double figures and Notre Dame will start the ACC Tournament as the #6 seed on Thursday against Clemson.
Jeff Walz shook up the starters Sunday a bit and did it in a unique fashion. He put all the players names on slips of paper, put them all in a shopping bag and the first five he drew out were the starters. Dana Evans name was not drawn. Merissah Russell, whose name was drawn with Van Lith, Cochran, Ahlana Smith and Balogun, voluntarily gave up the chance to start and told Walz that Dana deserved the start in place of her.
A nice win Sunday and it's always good to go into the post-season with a winning streak. The Cards will play Friday at noon in the quarterfinals against the winner of the Wake Forest vs. North Carolina game.
A few eyebrows were raised when the latest NCAA "reveal" placed the Cards as #9 in the nation and put them as the top #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Walz said that it didn't matter, that there were no home court advantages this season, with all the NCAA Tournament games taking place in San Antonio, and you still had to win games to advance, no matter where you were placed.
--sonja--
Louisville blew out to a 28-18 first quarter on the Irish, who started the contest with five straight turnovers, and never looked back. The Cards are now 21-2 on the season and eaarned the #1 seed in the upcoming ACC Tournament, which starts Wednesday in Greensboro.
The Cards shot 51.6% from the floor in the win and forced 25 Notre Dame turnovers. It was a nice afternoon for Kasa Robinson, who went five-for-five from the floor and had 10 points, four assists and three steals in her 27 minutes of court time.
Notre Dame would get within ten in the final minute of the third quarter at 55-45 but the Cards closed out the quarter on a four-point run to lead 59-45 and push that toan 18-point lead early in the fourth quarter. It was 71-51 Louisville with three minutes to go and Louisville had successfully put away Niele Ivey's squad with a solid defensive effort. None of the Irish starters hit double figures and Notre Dame will start the ACC Tournament as the #6 seed on Thursday against Clemson.
Jeff Walz shook up the starters Sunday a bit and did it in a unique fashion. He put all the players names on slips of paper, put them all in a shopping bag and the first five he drew out were the starters. Dana Evans name was not drawn. Merissah Russell, whose name was drawn with Van Lith, Cochran, Ahlana Smith and Balogun, voluntarily gave up the chance to start and told Walz that Dana deserved the start in place of her.
A nice win Sunday and it's always good to go into the post-season with a winning streak. The Cards will play Friday at noon in the quarterfinals against the winner of the Wake Forest vs. North Carolina game.
A few eyebrows were raised when the latest NCAA "reveal" placed the Cards as #9 in the nation and put them as the top #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Walz said that it didn't matter, that there were no home court advantages this season, with all the NCAA Tournament games taking place in San Antonio, and you still had to win games to advance, no matter where you were placed.
--sonja--
