NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s basketball team (7-14, 2-7) ran into a hot-shooting No. 5 Louisville Cardinals (21-1, 10-0) squad inside Purcell Pavilion on Thursday night. The visitors shot 54.0 percent from the field compared to the Fighting Irish’s 29.5 percent to earn an 86-54 victory.
Sophomore Katlyn Gilbert and freshman Sam Brunelle combined for 35 points tonight. Gilbert led the team in scoring for the seventh time this season with 18 points on 5-for-14 shooting, including an 8-for-8 night from the free-throw line. Brunelle followed right behind with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting, and nearly earned a double-double with nine rebounds.
How It Happened
Louisville opened the game on a 9-0 run before Notre Dame found a little rhythm after a Coach McGraw timeout. The Irish shortened the deficit to 14-8 forcing Coach Walz to call a timeout of his own. With the Cardinals regrouped, the visitors ended the quarter on a 13-3 scoring spree, shooting 10-of-16 in the period to go up 27-11.
Brunelle gave the Irish a little bit of a spark in the opening minutes of the second quarter, firing off seven consecutive points to cut it to ten at 33-23. However, Louisville stymied the rally by ending the period on a 17-4 scoring run to go up 50-29 at the half, shooting over 60 percent again in the quarter. Brunelle led at the half with nine points and five boards, while Gilbert and Vaughn followed with eight and six points, respectively.
The third quarter was highlighted by Gilbert who tacked on 10 points to her total in the period, thus recording her team-leading 18th game in double-figures. Brunelle then tacked on the other four Irish points in the third.
In the fourth, Brunelle added her second three-pointer of the game, marking her seventh straight game in which she’s converted multiple treys. Speaking of three’s, walk-on Nicole Benz added one to her resume in the final minute.
Notes
- Today marked the 23rd meeting between Notre Dame and Louisville. The Irish are now 16-7 all-time with a 6-3 mark at home.
- Brunelle continued her hot trend from beyond the arc, knocking down multiple three-pointers for the seventh straight game.
- Brunelle recorded her fourth straight double-digit scoring effort, and 16th on the year, with 17 points today. Brunelle has totaled 79 points in said four-game span.
- Gilbert tallied her team best 18th double-digit scoring effort with 18 points. Gilbert tallied 10 of those points in the third quarter alone.
Up Next
The Irish hit the road to Atlanta for a Sunday showdown with Georgia Tech on ACC Network. Tip is set for 2 p.m. ET.
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