Women’s Basketball Quick Recap: Fighting Irish Defeat Louisville 78-76 in Overtime

BALL GAME

On Thursday night, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Women’s Basketball team took on the Louisville Cardinals in a highly anticipated matchup. The Irish won an absolute thriller of a game 78-76 in OT. Olivia Miles, who has that DOG in her, hit the game winning buzzer beater as time expired in overtime. It was incredibly reminiscent of Arike’s fade away winner against UConn in 2019.

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How the game transpired

The first half (and really most of the game) was back and forth. Louisville really did, though, hang onto the lead for most of the game. They would stay out of the danger zone of giving up the lead, but never taking total control of the game. Through the third quarter, the Cardinals led by 9 twice, but the Irish would make strides to come back.

Once the fourth quarter started, the Irish were giving up the ball on turnovers and offensive fouls, and the Cardinals couldn’t miss a shot. Louisville went up by 9 again, but no more than that. In the final 7 minutes of regulation, the Irish were clawing back, utilizing drives to the hoop from Olivia Miles, Sonia Citron, and Kylee Watson. We ended up tied at 70 with 20 seconds left in the game and the Irish calling a timeout to advance the ball to the front court to win the game. An empty possession occurred, sending the game into OT.

Even though the game was high scoring in the fourth quarter, OT saw only a combined 14 points between the two teams with both trying to limit mistakes. After the Irish took the lead 76-74, Louisville missed a shot but then Olivia Miles dribbled it out of bounds. That led to Louisville getting the ball back under their own basket to set up an Olivia Cochran layup. The Irish then got the ball and inbounded it to Watson who dished it to Miles who hit a fadeaway jumper to win the game. A thrilling game ended with the Irish winning at home 78-76. Niele Ivey got her first win over Louisville, the program’s first win since 2019 and losing six straight to the Cardinals.

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Kylee Watson stepped up and led the Irish with 20 points. Olivia Miles, the star at the end of the game, ended with 18 points and 11 rebounds, so add another double-double to her record. Hailey Van Lith for Louisville was matching Miles all night with 19 points of her own. The Irish move to 21-4 and 12-3 in the ACC, firmly in second in the ACC.

Up Next

The Irish will be ending their home stand to travel to Pitt to play the Panthers this coming Sunday at 2 PM. The Irish just played the Panthers at home just one week ago where they won 69-63.