Women’s basketball: Louisville falls to Notre Dame in poorly-officiated mess

Louisville women’s basketball took it’s first loss of the season, falling to No.1 Notre Dame in a whistle-filled nightmare.

No. 2 Louisville seized an early lead against No. 1 Notre Dame, but came up short down the stretch after nearly surviving a foul-plagued 40 minutes.

Arike Ogunbowale destroyed the competition in the second half with 26 points, including an impressive 12-12 from the free throw line. On the flip side of things, Louisville only attempted 16 free throws for the entire game.

It wasn’t for lack of trying on Louisville’s part. The Cards’s Dana Evans, Arica Carter, and Jazmine Jones were all in early foul trouble, with Evans and Carter picking up three fouls before intermission. This forced Jeff Walz’s hand, having to play some more inexperienced freshmen to close the second half. In that span, the Cards’s lead- once as much as 7 points- shrank to just two points at the break.

“Well, I just have to do a better job of teaching our girls not to foul,” head coach Jeff Walz said before going into the locker room at half-time. His comments were clearly in jest, as the Cards were charged with 15 total fouls before the break. Notre Dame only scored 8 baskets in the first half, and Ogunbowale was held to just 4 points, but the Irish’s 23 free throw attempts were enough to keep them in it.

Asia Durr, who finished with 29, was electric with 18 first half points.

In the second half, it was all Ogunbowale, and all officials. The Cards were called for fouls where they didn’t even touch the opposing player, and Notre Dame was able to physically impose their will with no players in any sort of foul trouble.

Notre Dame raced to a 62-50 lead to start the fourth quarter, but over the next 7 minutes, Louisville used a 14-4 run to close the gap to two. The Cards had a chance to tie things up, but a shot went begging, and Ogunbowale did what she has so many times before and sealed the deal for the irish.

Still, one can’t help but wonder how different the outcome of the game would have been if not for some just plain awful calls. Notre Dame attemped 39 free throws to Louisville’s 16, and although Louisville made one more field goal than the Irish, and committed 10 less turnovers, Notre Dame cruised to an easy victory late because of the officiating.

And Jeff Walz, who is already suspended for Louisville’s first NCAA tournament game because of comments he (allegedly) made about officiating? Well, he’s not exactly pleased either.

The aforementioned kick? Oh yeah, just Notre Dame’s best player trying to literally kick Louisville while they were down. Now, Ogunbowale is a great sport, and is one of the most dominant players in the women’s game, but a flagrant foul is a flagrant foul.

Louisville was called for two of them in this game- one unsportsmanlike, and one intentional- yet, Arike wasn’t called for one because she “didn’t make contact” on a dead ball play that was clearly unsportsmanlike.

And then you have plays like this. Notre Dame’s worst free throw shooter doesn’t want to get fouled with the game on the line, so she literally goes down, barely being touched. The officials WENT TO THE MONITOR to review, and called the play an unsportsmanlike foul. 2 shots and the ball for Notre Dame.

It’s those kind of plays that are ruining women’s college basketball. Yes, there were plays that went in Louisville’s favor too. Most notably, a play where the ball clearly went off of a Louisville player’s foot game the Cards the ball and they scored on the next possession.

Still, in any college sport, it is rare that No. 1 and No. 2 face off, especially in the regular season. This was an opportunity for women’s basketball to be in the national spotlight, for them to showcase two fantastic teams, and continue to prove that the game is more than just UConn. Baylor, Mississippi State, Louisville, Notre Dame, and so many other programs are on the rise, but there is rarely a chance to get to see a match-up this special.

Instead, the casual fan was treated to 43 fouls, and officials huddling around monitors to continuously make unthinkably bad calls. Not ideal.

This game had potential to be special. Durr and Ogunbowale are the two best players in the ACC, and probably in the country. Two final four teams from last year. Jeff Walz and Muffet Mcgraw- two first ballot Hall of Famers. Conference championships and NCAA tournament seeding on the line. And still, this game never felt fun to watch.

NCAA, college basketball, it’s time to make some changes, and fast. Women’s basketball is growing rapidly, and could be insanely fun to watch. Do the right thing and take action. Train your officials better. Give us refs who don’t also work church rec league games for extra cash. Women’s college basketball is a big-time sport, and it’s time to start acting like it in all phases of the game.

Here’s the box score, if you dare.

MVP: You could certainly give it to her every game for the last 2-3 years, but Asia Durr was lights out tonight. 29 points on 9-20 shooting, 6 rebounds (second on the team), 2 assists, 2 steals. Appreciate her while you can if you’re a Cards fan.

LVP: We’ve dogged the refs enough already. Muffet McGraw is the least likeable person on the sideline you’ll ever see. She’s the Toby Flenderson of women’s basketball. Honorable mention goes to Ogunbawale for kicking (but, apparently, not hard enough) an opposing player.

X-Factor: How about Mykasa Robinson, the Ashland, Kentucky native, coming off the bench as a freshman on the road against the No. 1 team in the country and leading the Cards almost all the way back? A block, a steal, an assist, 3-3 from the floor. Tremendous job from the freshman!