Louisville women’s basketball season comes to an end, eyes on the ACC Tournament

U of L's Norika Konno (11) was elated after she hit a jumper against Notre Dame during their game at the Yum Center in Louisville, Ky. on Feb. 26, 2023.Uofl Dame17 Sam
U of L's Norika Konno (11) was elated after she hit a jumper against Notre Dame during their game at the Yum Center in Louisville, Ky. on Feb. 26, 2023.Uofl Dame17 Sam

The Louisville women’s basketball team closed out their regular season yesterday against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Unfortunately, for the second time this season, the Cardinals suffered a single-digit loss to the Irish. In their first matchup on February 16th, just a couple of week ago, Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles sunk a jumper at the buzzer in overtime to send the Cardinals back home to Louisville.

Fast forward to February 26th, Louisville is coming off two straight wins over ACC foes Boston College and Miami by a total of 14 points. Now, their regular season comes to an end in a rematch against the villianized Notre Dame squad. Adding fuel to the fire, three days ago, Louisville star Hailey Van Lith told the press:

"“Controversial game winning shot…We don’t lose on Senior night and we don’t lose at home.”"

Hailey Van Lith is the perfect hero for Louisville and the perfect villian for the other team. And she fulfilled that role here perfectly. Louisville fans love her, opposing fans hate her because it’s easy to hate greatness when they are not donning the right color jersey.

So it was very easy for Notre Dame fans to mock the comments she made at the presser once the Irish handed them their second loss of the season, this time defeating the Cardinals 68-65. A heart-breaking way to end the regular season and cap off Senior Day.

Card Nation honored Mykasa Robinson, Chrislyn Carr, Morgan Jones, Josie Williams, Liz Dixon, and Norika Konno yesterday as they will move on from the Louisville program following the season. A lot of talent exiting the program, but if there is anyone who can add talent such as this back into the program, it’s Jeff Walz.

Louisville now has their eyes set on the ACC Tournament in which they have been announced as the #4 seed and will play their first game on March 3rd at 11 AM. The way the bracket is set up the Cardinals could play Notre Dame (the #1 seed) for a third time and seek revenge for their two losses.