LOUISVILLE – Sometimes the shots simply won’t fall and that was the case for the No. 18/19 Notre Dame women’s basketball team (19-6, 10-4) on Sunday against the No. 3/3 ranked Louisville Cardinals (22-2, 13-1). The Fighting Irish were a cold 2-of-22 from three-point range and shot 31.7 percent overall, resulting in a 73-47 loss inside the KFC Yum! Center.
Both of Notre Dame’s freshmen finished in double figures as Sonia Citron led with 13 points on 6-of-17 shooting. The New York native also reeled in six rebounds. Next, Olivia Miles totaled 11 points.
Meanwhile, Maddy Westbeld was close to a double-double, finishing with 10 points and eight rebounds. It marked her third straight game in double figures. Maya Dodson was close as well, posting eight points and nine boards.
The Irish already had a shortened bench heading into Sunday and that problem grew during the game, as Sam Brunelle exited near the end of the first with a shoulder injury. That left the Irish with six healthy players for three quarters of the game.
How It Happened
Notre Dame had several open looks from beyond the arc to start the game, but just couldn’t get the shots to fall. Despite the fact, it was just 8-7 Louisville at the 4:18 media timeout. The Irish later fired off a fast 6-0 run over 61 seconds, primarily thanks to four straight points from Sam Brunelle. Ultimately Notre Dame closed the opening quarter down one at 14-13, with Miles leading the way with five points.
A Westbeld layup at 4:51 kept it a one-possession game, down 21-19; however, that’s when the game took a turn for the worse for the Irish. Dodson had to go to the bench with two fouls, meaning no subs for the Irish. The Cardinals then finished the quarter on an 11-2 scoring spree to claim a 32-21 lead at the break.
At the midway point, Notre Dame was just 1-of-14 from beyond the arc. Overall, they were shooting 10-of-37 (27 percent) compared to Louisville’s 13-of-33 (39.4 percent).
The floodgates opened up a bit in the third as Louisville built its largest lead of the game at 52-25 at 4:26. Citron was the bright spot in the quarter, recording nine points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field, to spur Notre Dame to 16 points in the period. Louisville then outpaced ND, 15-10, in the fourth to bring it to the final score.
Up Next
The Fighting Irish will have another big test on the road in the form of No. 11 Georgia Tech. That matchup is slated for Thursday, Feb. 17, at 8 p.m. ET in Atlanta. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.
— ND —