Sunday’s Best: The Fighting Irish Visits the Cardinals
Women’s college basketball fans get ready for the ACC matchup between the Louisville Cardinals and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The Irish are ranked third in the country, while the Cardinals are unranked and currently sit in the fourth spot of the ACC Conference standings with a record of 15-6. Notre Dame is number one in the ACC Conference with a record of 18-2. The Cardinals will be hosting the Fighting Irish on Sunday at noon EST. This match promises to be an exciting battle between two talented teams.
The Cardinals have been consistent in protecting their home court with winning their last three home games. Where they’ve found themselves in trouble is on the road, especially against top-ranked teams. The most recent example of this would be their win against SMU on January 30th, the Cardinals just skated by the Mustangs with a score of 80-75. The Cardinals performed a solid three quarters but allowed the Mustangs to creep in and outscore them 24-19 in the fourth quarter. However, the Cardinals’ top performers, Tajianna Roberts and Jayda Curry settled the ship and pushed their team to victory. Roberts recorded a team-high of 22 points, along with four rebounds, and five assists. Curry added 15 points and four assists to the team effort. A strength for the Cardinals going into the Sunday matchup would be their shooting as they are averaging 43.9 percent from the field. If they shoot well and execute their defensive strategy in addition to their offense, they will raise their chances of getting the win.
Now going into this game, Notre Dame finds themselves on a roll with their only losses being against Utah and TCU in November this season. They are coming off of a strong win against Virginia Tech with a final score of 77-61. Their talented backcourt shined with Hannah Hidalgo racking up 30 points and five assists and Olivia Miles putting in 15 points and four assists of her own. The Fighting Irish shoots at a high percentage, averaging 49.7 percent from the field. They are favored to win as Notre Dame has been dominant this season, outscoring opponents by an average of 25.3 points.
