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Notre Dame Falls At No. 1 Louisville, 71-65

BOX SCORE

For a brief moment, Notre Dame looked like it would have a dramatic role reversal from fourth-quarter anguish and implosion this season that resulted in four defeats.

Trailing 61-50 with just under eight minutes remaining on Sunday afternoon at No. 1 Louisville, Notre Dame pulled to within 66-65 and had a chance to take the lead before losing 71-65 . The setback dropped the Fighting Irish to 8-8 overall and 6-6 in the ACC.

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Sophomore forward Sam Brunelle tied for the team lead in scoring (10) and paced the squad in rebounds (9) and assists (5) in the loss at Louisville.
Sophomore forward Sam Brunelle tied for the team lead in scoring (10) and paced the squad in rebounds (9) and assists (5) in the loss at Louisville. (Notre Dame Athletics)

Four different Notre Dame players scored 10 points apiece: starters Maddy Westbeld and Mikayla Vaughn, both of whom also hauled in eight rebounds apiece, and off the bench Sam Brunelle (to go with nine rebounds and five assists) plus early entrant point guard Olivia Miles, who was playing in her second college game and tallied three layups in a span of 1:24 during the third quarter.

After a three-pointer by Dara Mabrey pulled the Irish to within 66-65, Westbeld made a steal on Louisville’s side of the court and led a 2-on-1 fast break, with Mabrey breaking toward the bucket. Westbeld pulled up for a short jumper instead that rimmed out with 1:18 remaining.

National Player of the Year candidate Dana Evans, who finished with 27 points and five assists, then drained a three for Louisville with 58 seconds remaining. Some questionable clock management by the Irish at the end (see "Three Point Play" below) helped result in the final score.

In the first quarter, Notre Dame had an early 11-0 run, but Louisville responded with a 9-0 spurt to end the opening 10 minutes with a 21-17 advantage. Another Evans three-point right before halftime gave the Cardinals their largest lead at the time (42-34) going into the intermission.

With Miles’ drives to the basket, Notre Dame closed to within 52-50 before the Cardinals ended the third quarter and opened the fourth with a 9-0 run to make it 61-50 prior to the final Irish push coming up short.

Three-Point Play

1. Clock Management

After Evans’ three made it 59-55, a missed jumper by Westbeld resulted in a Louisville possession with 41 seconds left, and Notre Dame still had three fouls to give to send the Cardinals to the line. But the first wasn’t made until 24 seconds were remaining, burning off 17 needed seconds in a two-possession game (plus re-setting the shot clock).

By the time the third foul was committed with 14 seconds remaining — and Evans then converting both free throws — little opportunity was left in the closing seconds.

2. Minutes For Miles

Although she is a facilitator first, Miles in just 14 minutes of action took eight shots, converting five of them, all on drives/layups, with one off a nifty steal near her own bucket.

With another week to go before the next game — at Final Four contender NC State next week (which lost to North Carolina today after defeating Louisville on Monday) — more practice assimilation should result in more minutes for Miles.

3. Chances Running Out

Entering the Louisville game, Notre Dame was still deemed among the “last four in” for the NCAA Tournament by ESPN’s Bracketology. The Irish have NCAA Tournament-level talent — certainly among the top 64, and it showed some today — but the well runs only so deep with constantly missed fourth-quarter chances.

Among the final five regular season games, the Irish still have to play at No. 4 NC State, host Louisville and Syracuse (top 25 caliber) and a typically solid Florida State team that has played only 11 games (6-5) so far.

The Irish need to be at least 11-10 (9-8 in the ACC) prior to the March 3-7 ACC Tournament in Greensboro, N.C., if it is to have a chance to dance.

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