Jan. 14, 2006
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – Jazz Covington had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead Louisville to a 61-51 upset of No. 20 Notre Dame on Saturday.
Angel McCoughtry added 10 points and 14 rebounds for the Cardinals (12-3 overall, 3-1 Big East), who handed the Irish (10-5, 1-3) their fourth loss in five games.
Charel Allen had 10 points for Notre Dame, which shot 32 percent from the field. Megan Duffy scored just eight points on 2-of-10 shooting, eight below her team-leading average.
Louisville took control with a 15-0 run midway through the first half, holding Notre Dame scoreless for almost 10 minutes.
Louisville held the Irish to just 21 percent shooting in the half while building a 30-15 lead.
The Cardinals outrebounded the Irish 55-29 and overcame 22 turnovers to win their first game over a Top 25 opponent in nearly two years. They hadn’t beaten a Top-25 team since knocking off then-No. 23 Houston on Jan. 25, 2004.
The loss leaves Notre Dame in danger of dropping out of the Top 25 after spending 28 consecutive weeks in the polls.
— ND —
POST GAME NOTES: Notre Dame drops its fourth game in the last five outings, its first 1-4 stretch since early in the 2001-02 season, when the Irish won their opener, then lost four of five before rebounding for a 20-10 record and trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament … Notre Dame has begun conference play 1-3 for the first time since 1986-87, when the Irish also lost three of four to begin the North Star Conference season … Louisville’s 55 rebounds were the most by a Notre Dame opponent since Jan. 4, 1993, when Tennessee also had 55 boards in a 79-48 UT win at Knoxville … since shooting a season-high .560 in its Jan. 4 loss at St. John’s, Notre Dame has posted a .335 field goal percentage (59-of-176) in the past three contests … sophomore guard Charel Allen cracked double figures in scoring for the third consecutive game (the first time in her career she has done that) and she is averaging 11.7 ppg. during that stretch … senior forward Courtney LaVere scored her 1,000th career point on her only field goal of the game vs. Louisville, a hook shot in the lane 2:27 into the contest; LaVere is the 22nd member of Notre Dame’s 1,000-Point Club … LaVere and senior guard Megan Duffy have become the fifth set of teammates in school history to reach the 1,000-point milestone in the same season; Duffy hit the mark Jan. 4 at St. John’s, making the three-game stretch between the milestone games the shortest in school history (Mary Beth Schueth and Carrie Bates scored their 1,000th career point eight games apart in 1984-85).