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No. 5 Notre Dame Falls In ACC Championship, 74-72

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Arike Ogunbowale scored 20 points in the 74-72 loss to Louisville in the ACC championship game.
Arike Ogunbowale scored 20 points in the 74-72 loss to Louisville in the ACC championship game. (Jim Dedmon/USA TODAY Sports)
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Box Score

Louisville isn’t 33 points better than Notre Dame like it was in a 100-67 victory Jan. 11, but for a second time this year against the Irish it demonstrated it is good enough to be a first-time ACC Tournament champion with its 74-72 win Sunday in Greensboro, N.C.

All five Cardinal starters scored in double figures, but more pivotal was Louisville’s relentless full-court pressure that disrupted the Fighting Irish rhythm on offense.

The Irish will enter the NCAA Tournament 29-3 after seeing their 14-game winning streak snapped. They also were attempting to become the first team, men’s or women’s, to sweep five straight ACC regular season and tournament titles.

Two Arike Ogunbowale threes — the last from beyond half court as the final horn sounded — resulted in only a two-point loss, but the 32-2 Cardinals took the lead early in the second half and never trailed in the final 15:49.

In what had been a see-saw battle, Louisville’s Myisha Hines-Allen put the Cardinals ahead for good at 47-46. Louisville built its largest lead at 60-52 and still was ahead 63-56 before the Irish answered with an isolation drive by sophomore Jackie Young and two buckets by Ogunbowale to pull within 63-62.

Another Young basket sliced the deficit to one (65-64) again at the 1:43 mark, and the Irish had a chance to take the lead before a Young turnover with 45 seconds left. Louisville answered with a basket-and-one by Sam Fuehring and then iced the outcome with six straight free throws.

Early foul trouble for Louisville resulted in three of its starters picking up two apiece and enabled Notre Dame to have a 20-12 rebounding advantage in the first half while playing a bigger lineup.

The first half had eight ties and 11 lead changes, with the Irish taking a 37-35 edge into the locker room on an inside bucket in the closing seconds by fifth-year senior Kristina Nelson, whose eight first-half points provided a significant boost. Junior Jessica Shepard also was effective with 11 first-half points, while senior Kathryn Westbeld had back-to-back put-backs off offensive rebounds.

Meanwhile, Louisville made more of its living in the first half of the perimeter while connecting on 4 of 8 three-pointers compared to Notre Dame’s 0-of-5 output.

A Marina Mabrey three to begin the second half gave Notre Dame a 40-35 lead, but the Cardinals converted their next seven field goal attempts and disrupted the Irish offense with full-court pressure to take their own five-point advantage in the third quarter at 51-46. That margin held up when Louisville entered the final quarter with a 55-50 cushion.

Shepard paced the Irish with her 11th double-double of the year, tallying 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting to go with 10 rebounds. Ogunbowale, who was 2 of 8 from the floor in the first half, made 6 of 9 in the second with the two treys in the closing seconds.


Three-Point Play

1. Pressure Point

Probably the most vital strategic element was Louisville’s full-court pressure defense, with a particular emphasis on face-guarding converted point guard Mabrey, who had been marvelous in the first two tournament games while totaling 51 points and nine threes. She was forced into 2-of-10 shooting against the Cardinals, although to her credit she still had five assists and only two turnovers.

The Irish had to turn more toward isolation plays while their half-court offense was more bogged down by the pressure that can come from not have a natural point guard. It resulted in a number of quick or forced shots, plus playing Young more at the point, which was an even bigger adjustment.


2. Name Game

At the end of the contest, a bit of discord between Louisville head coach Jeff Walz and Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw occurred because earlier in the week McGraw was relatively outspoken about Ogunbowale not getting the ACC Player of the Year Award while comparing individual numbers against Louisville’s Durr, who received the honor. What bothered Walz even more was that McGraw didn’t use Durr’s name, but referred to her as “the girl.”


3. Will Irish Get A 1 Seed?

Per women’s basketball ESPN “Bracketologist” Charlie Crème, the Irish might still get a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for at least two reasons. One, whereas Notre Dame is No. 1 in the country in RPI and strength of schedule, Baylor is No. 4 and 35, respectively. The Irish also are 9-3 against the current top 25 while Baylor is 3-1, a reflection of the strength of schedule.

Second, Baylor recently lost starting point guard Kristy Wallace to a torn ACL. Wallace had averaged 12.9 points, 5.3 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Bears.

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