The No.1 seed in the ACC Women's Basketball tournament will not be taking home the conference's trophy this year.
Louisville notched a comfortable 64-38 victory against top-seeded Notre Dame to advance to Sunday's conference title game.
The Cardinals were in front for all but 40 seconds of the match. Their game plan by head coach Jeff Walz stayed consistent: dominate the paint. Crashing the glass with 42 total rebounds and posting 30 points on the lower blocks, Louisville took control early on against the No. 10-ranked Irish.
Mykasa Robinson and Olivia Cochran set the tempo as the leading scorers through the first two quarters. Haily Van Lith then caught fire in the second half after tallying three buckets and seven free throws — 13 of her 15 total points.
A solid defensive effort by Louisville halted any inkling of spark from Notre Dame’s offense. It forced 22 turnovers from the Fighting Irish, accounting for 26 of its 64 points.
Olivia's having herself a tournament 🔥🔥
— Louisville Women’s Basketball (@LouisvilleWBB) March 4, 2023
Into double figures scoring!
📺 ACC Network #GoCards pic.twitter.com/hCCavit1Q4
Notre Dame had gotten the best of No. 4 seed Louisville twice this season. With an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament on the line, though, it was the Cardinals that emerged victorious in the semifinals. They will now play for the ACC's automatic bid at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
Ryan Chien joined NCAA.com in 2023 and is serving as a spring editorial intern. He previously served as a Turner Sports Production intern in the summer of 2022 and worked on shows including NBA-TV, Inside The NBA and MLB on TBS. Ryan is currently a student at the University of California, Berkeley majoring in Media Studies and Society and Environment. You can follow him on Twitter @RyanChienMedia.
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