The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Cards still looking to establish consistency
Louisville women’s basketball guard Jayda Curry had just picked off a Notre Dame pass and was headed down the court for a transition layup three minutes into the second quarter of an ACC Tournament quarterfinal Friday in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Curry’s miss was the story of the fifth-seeded Cardinals’ day. Between an inability to make shots — including free throws — and its struggles to keep the ball, Louisville fell to No. 4 seed Notre Dame, 77-68.
Curry wasn’t ready to go home and caught fire in the second half. With Notre Dame going up by as many as 22 points three minutes into the third quarter, Curry was more aggressive on offense and scored 23 of her team-best and season-high 26 points in the second half.
“I’m just trying to do whatever I can to help my team win,” Curry said. “I think we have such a selfless team. At times, it’s to a fault. That first half, we were passing up a lot of open shots and overpenetrating. But I think just in the second half, we did a good job of finding each other moving the ball, getting downhill, attacking and drawing fouls. That’s the type of basketball we want to play and we know we can play.”
Despite her willing Louisville (24-9) to another comeback, narrowing the deficit to three points in the final minute, the Cardinals ran out of time. They had to finish the game without coach Jeff Walz, who picked up his second technical foul with 18 seconds left.
The Cardinals now have lost three of their last five meetings against the Fighting Irish.
U of L also finished with 20
ACC TOURNAMENT
turnovers for a second straight game. After Boston College’s 19 points off the Cardinals’ errors in the loss, Notre Dame capitalized with 22 points to pocket the win. Walz semi-jokingly advocated for pay-for-play so that players can be fined for turnovers, something his team has struggled with all season. The Cardinals are averaging 15.4 turnovers per game, which ranks 155th nationally, and 14.4 turnovers per game in losses.
“That’s a lot of money,” Curry, who turned the ball over four times, said in response to Walz’s suggestion of $500 per turnover.
Walz added, “That’s where we are right now, that we’ve got to care. The ball has to matter. Every possession matters. We’re going to work for a week and a half on just grinding that in and instilling that into them.”
U of L missed its first eight shots Friday and was held to its lowest first-half scoring of the season, trailing the Fighting Irish, 34-17, at the break. The Cardinals didn’t make their first field goal until Sydney Taylor’s 3-pointer at the 3:19 mark of the first quarter. Prior to that, Notre Dame had built a 13-3 lead with the help of two long-distance shots from Sonia Citron.
Despite the Cardinals’ offensive woes, they held Notre Dame to shooting 32% from the field in the first half and won the rebounding battle, 23-17. They had 13 turnovers — the second straight game of having double-digit turnovers in the first half.
“We looked anemic at times. It was really, really poor,” Walz said of the first half. “I thought our energy level really picked up in the second half. I thought we competed. Unfortunately, fell a little bit short.”
After Notre Dame went up, 43-21, two minutes into the third quarter, Louisville attacked the basket and played with more of a sense of urgency. Curry and Taylor combined for 14 points — with Curry going 3 for 5 from the freethrow line — as U of L outscored Notre Dame, 22-17, in the third quarter.
Curry’s tear continued into the fourth quarter as the Cardinals turned the momentum and took advantage of Notre Dame’s foul trouble. Star freshman Hannah Hidalgo picked up her fourth foul at the 1:16 mark of the fourth quarter. They got within four of the Fighting Irish with 43 seconds left after two free throws from Olivia Cochran, who played a crucial part in the Cardinals’ comeback over Boston College 24 hours prior. But Notre Dame finished the game with three free throws from Citron.
Cochran finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Taylor contributed 13 points, eight of which came in the final two quarters. Nyla Harris neared double-double territory again with nine points and a team-best 10 rebounds.
Louisville’s challenge moving forward continues to be establishing consistency and playing a high level of competitive basketball for four quarters.
“We just have to value the basketball and really care about it,” Curry said. “... We see the things that we can do when we take care of it, when we execute, so if we want to go deep in March, we know what we have to do. We just have to have some personal pride, some team pride, and just listen to our coaches and really just go with what they’re saying.”
Louisville will turn its attention to the NCAA Tournament, where the Cardinals are projected to be a No. 6 seed, according to ESPN’s latest bracketology. Selection Sunday is set for 8 p.m. March 17 on ESPN, with the first round starting March 22.
“The fight we showed in the second half, I think this is the ballclub that can still get to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament,” Walz said of his squad, “and then once you get there, anything can happen. Anything can happen. It’s who’s playing the best that night and then what crew you’ve got on the game. Anything can happen. So, I’m excited because they showed that fight.”
Reach Louisville football, women’s basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.