Notre Dame snaps losing skid with regular season finale statement win vs. Louisville

There was a Louisville fan sitting high up in section 110 at Purcell Pavilion on Sunday who’d yell “miss it!” every time a Notre Dame player attempted her second free throw in a set of two. That particular Cardinals supporter, along with any other who braved the drive north to see Sunday’s regular season finale in person, went home unhappy at the number of times his calls for a miss went unanswered — and unhappy at the final score.

Notre Dame 72, Louisville 59.

The No. 3 Fighting Irish (25-4, 16-2) responded to their two-game losing streak with a fourth-straight victory over rival Louisville (20-9, 13-5) to claim a share of the regular season ACC championship. NC State, though, will be the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament later this week because of the Wolfpack’s double-overtime victory over Notre Dame in Raleigh, N.C., a week ago.

Of course, Notre Dame would have loved to have won the league outright. Would have loved to been the No. 1 seed. The Irish lost control of that with their loss to Florida State three nights ago, though. The Louisville game was less about conference standing and seeding and more about getting back to playing a brand of basketball that’s sustainable in the month of March. So that’s exactly what head coach Niele Ivey’s team did at high noon in a nationally televised game on ESPN that was preceded by the network’s flagship pregame show, College GameDay.

“I felt like we played to our standard today, and I’m hoping we can utilize this win and take that into next week because next week is 0-0,” Ivey said. “A new season, and we’re excited to be in March.”

The physicality often brought by coach Jeff Walz’s Louisville teams seemed to rattle the Irish early. They trailed by one after the first quarter. The second quarter was Notre Dame’s issue against Florida State, losing it by 13. Sunday, the Irish outscored the Cardinals in the second by nine. The third quarter was even better; Notre Dame won that frame by 10.

The Notre Dame team that succumbed to game flow dictation by NC State and Florida State instead stood up to Louisville and dominated from the middle onward. The Cardinals didn’t back down in terms of physicality; they kept hammering the girls in green at every opportunity. The Irish stepped up to the line, literally, knocked down 18 of 23 free throw attempts and played well enough in every other phase to win comfortably. The mental side of things, as a result, is much better headed to Greensboro than it would have been with a third consecutive loss — or just another unsatisfactory performance.

Notre Dame backcourt mates Hannah Hidalgo and Olivia Miles played more within themselves than they did during the losing streak. They didn’t force anything. Hidalgo had 20 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Miles had 15, 5 and 3, respectively.

Miles hit a buzzer-beating three fading away toward the base line to put the Irish ahead by 18 going into the fourth. She just so happened to be perfectly placed after the shot went in to receive praise from Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman in the form of a wide smile and an enthusiastic high five.

It was that kind of afternoon for the Irish — everything went right. Everything felt right. A far cry from the team’s last two games. Was it perfect? No. Never is. But it was 100 percent a winning effort, from the guards doing their thing to freshman center Kate Koval standing up to Louisville’s playing style and holding firm in the paint on both ends of the floor. Veterans Maddy Westbeld and Sonia Citron made timely shots and finished with 9 points apiece, too. Koval had 8.

Graduate senior forward Liza Karlen had a similar impact off the bench to that of Koval; the two charges she drew were every bit as important as the 7 points she scored.

“They want to get downhill, they want to get to the basket, and we knew we had to play great defense this game to win,” Karlen said. “It takes what it takes.”

Especially in March.