GREENSBORO, N.C. (theACC.org) – For the second time in three weeks, Louisville survived a spirited upset bid from Boston College.
Trailing the 13th-seeded Eagles by three points in the fading minutes of Thursday’s 2024 Ally ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament second-round game, the fifth-seeded Cardinals applied the defensive clamps and escaped with a 58-55 win at Greensboro Coliseum.
Louisville (24-8) forced three turnovers in the final 1:33 and closed the game on a 6-0 run to earn a spot opposite fourth-seeded Notre Dame (23-6) in Friday’s 11 a.m. quarterfinal game. The Cardinals have now reached at least the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament in each of their 10 years as a conference member.
Boston College (14-19) closed its season with a game effort but also the frustration of having dropped a pair of games to the nationally 24th-ranked Cardinals by a total of five points. Louisville took home a 69-67 win in the Feb. 15 regular-season meeting at BC’s Conte Forum on Feb. 15.
The Eagles grabbed a 55-52 lead on Ty’ana Todd’s 3-point jumper with 3:52 remaining in Thursday’s game, but turnovers and offensive rebounding played into the hands of the opportunistic Cardinals at the finish.
Oliva Cochran had a key steal and offensive rebound, and Nyla Harris and Sydney Taylor also delivered big plays down the stretch for winners.
Taylor came up with a steal and fed Harris for a layup to bring the Cardinals within 55-54 with 1:18 left, and Harris’ rebound follow put Louisville up 56-55 with 32 seconds to play.
Taylor added a pair of free throws to make it a three-point game with 12 seconds left. Todd missed from 3-point range with nine seconds remaining, but the door remained open for the Eagles after Cochran missed a pair of free throws. Louisville, however, prevented BC from getting a good look at a 3-pointer as time expired.
Harris’ 14 points led a balanced scoring attack for Louisville. Boston College’s Teya Sidberry led all scorers with 22 points, and Todd and Dontavia Waggoner closed with 12 apiece.
Louisville, which entered the tournament averaging 4.8 made 3-point shots per game, went 5-for-11 from beyond the arc in the first half on Thursday and led 33-29 at the break. Kiki Jefferson led the Cardinals with eight points while grabbing six rebounds. Louisville’s long-range shooting helped offset 11 turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Sidberry led all first-half scorers with nine points, while Waggoner had eight points and six rebounds.
The Cardinals pushed their lead to nine points (42-33) when Jayda Curry banked in a shot clock-beating 3-pointer from the left wing midway through the third quarter. But the Eagles countered with an 11-0 run to lead 44-42 and set up the exciting finish.
Louisville, which lost at nationally 17th-ranked Notre Dame 74-58 in last weekend’s regular-season finale, improved to 8-0 this season when coming off a loss. Friday’s quarterfinal matchup versus the Fighting Irish will be the third between the teams this season; the Cardinals won 73-66 in the Feb. 8 meeting between ranked teams in Louisville.