No. 3 Notre Dame earns share of ACC title with win over Louisville

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Hannah Hidalgo scored 20 points and No. 3 Notre Dame bounced back from consecutive losses to clinch a share of the Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season women’s basketball title with a 72-59 victory against No. 25 Louisville on Sunday.

Notre Dame (25-4 overall, 16-2 ACC) has won or shared the ACC title eight times since joining the league in the 2013-2014 season. The Fighting Irish shared the title with N.C. State, a 69-45 winner over SMU on Sunday.

Olivia Miles scored 15 points as Notre Dame shook off losses to No. 9 N.C. State and No. 24 Florida State in the past week.

Jayda Curry scored 19 points for Louisville (20-9 overall, 13-5 ACC).

Takeaways

Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish may need a strong showing in the ACC Tournament to lock up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Louisville: Has won five of its past seven games to build momentum for the ACC and NCAA Tournaments. The only losses in the stretch have been to No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 9 North Carolina.

Key moment

Olivia Miles hit an off-balance 3 along the sideline at the third-quarter buzzer to give the Fighting Irish a 58-40 lead, and then celebrated by slapping hands with Notre Dame football coach Marcus Freeman, who was sitting courtside.

Key stat

Notre Dame outscored Louisville 21-15 in second-chance points, although Louisville had 20 offensive rebounds to Notre Dame’s 13.

Up next

The ACC Tournament is next for the Fighting Irish and the Cardinals.

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