As the regular season begins to wind down, the intensity continues to heat up. Teams are still trying to strengthen resumes before conference tournaments and Selection Sunday.
Check out all the scores from a stacked Thursday schedule.
Louisville falls in road test to North Carolina
No. 3 Louisville went shot for shot with No. 24 North Carolina and ended up on the wrong side of a 66-65 loss. There were five lead changes in the final two minutes of play.
UNC's Kennedy Todd-Williams gave her team the lead thanks to a pair of free throws with 16 seconds left. The Cardinals had a chance at the end, but were unable to come through as Chelsie Hall's shot refused to fall.
The comeback started thanks to UNC starting to protect the basketball. In the first half, the Tar Heels turned the ball over nine times, compared to the second where there was only five. That combined with the Cardinals going 2-10 from three in the second half.
Todd-Williams and Deja Kelly lead the Tar Heels in scoring with 19 and 18 points respectively. As a team, UNC outrebounded UL 42-32.
WHAT. AN. ENDING.@uncwbb knocks off No. 3 Louisville 😱 #ThatsAW pic.twitter.com/DJE7hoDOMD
— espnW (@espnW) February 18, 2022
Alabama earns double-digit win over Tennessee
Alabama added another blemish to No. 12 Tennessee's resume with a 74-64 win over the Lady Vols.
From start to finish, the Crimson Tide were in control of the game. Tennessee's last lead of this loss came with three minutes left in the first quarter when it led 11-10. From there, Alabama would dominate. At one point, the Tide had a 16-point lead.
Brittany Davis and Megan Abrams were on fire for the Crimson Tide with a combined 50 points in the win. Davis and Abrams outscored all of Tennessee's starters 50-47. As a team Alabama shot the lights out going 45.5% from field goal range (25-55) and 40% from three (10-25) on the night.
Alabama is now 6-3 against Tennessee in its last nine matchups.
3-POINT-PLAY. 🤙@MegTheBaller pic.twitter.com/jItNosM0Mo
— Alabama Women’s Basketball (@AlabamaWBB) February 18, 2022
Notre Dame outlasts Georgia Tech in crucial ACC battle
No. 19 Notre Dame was very close to blowing its lead and dropping a heart breaker to No. 16 Georgia Tech. But, the Irish stopped the bleeding and held strong in overtime to win 72-66.
At the most, Notre Dame led by 16, that lead was later erased by GT when the Yellow Jackets tied it at 59 with less than two minutes left. Notre Dame's Maya Dodson responded with a jumper to take a 61-59 lead before GT's Lotta-Maj Lahtinen tied it up once again.
Come overtime, the Irish dominated defensively. Notre Dame held GT to 20% from field goal range (1-5) in overtime while outrebounding the Jackets 7-2.
Notre Dame had five players in double-digits including Maya Dodson, Sonia Citron and Maddy Westbeld who all recorded double-doubles.
This was a crucial win for Notre Dame. The Irish are now in sole possession of fourth place in the ACC. That means they stand to have a double-bye to the quarterfinals in the conference tournament. Notre Dame will have two more games left on its schedule (vs. Clemson, at No. 3 Louisville) and GT has three left (vs. Miami, at Florida St., at Wake Forest) to close out the season.
Maryland holds off Ohio State
Another big game for conference tournament seeding came from the Big Ten where No. 13 Maryland kept No. 18 Ohio State at bay to win 77-72. The Terrapins now jump up to a tie for first place in the Big Ten with Indiana.
The Terrapins were down 11 at the worst in the first half, but managed to claw back and complete the comeback.
The Buckeyes outshot the Terps from field goal range and three all night. But thanks to personal fouls, Maryland had 13 more attempts at the free-throw line, going 19-21 on the night.
Angel Reese came up clutch off the bench for Maryland with a team-leading 21 points on the night along with 15 rebounds. Reese was one of four Terps to finish in the double digits.
Baltimore Bucket!
— Maryland Women’s Basketball (@TerpsWBB) February 18, 2022
Angel's got 19 points and 14 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the season pic.twitter.com/lCtcOP76iO
