Louisville Cardinals Reach ACC Finals

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Following a one-year absence, the Louisville Cardinals are back in the finals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Dana Evans scored 13 points, and Ahlana Smith added 11 as the top-seeded Cardinals defeated fifth-seeded Syracuse, 72-59, in the first game of Saturday’s semifinal session at Greensboro Coliseum.

The Cardinals (23-2) will face the winner of Saturday’s second semifinal between NC State and Georgia Tech in Sunday’s noon championship game (ESPN2).

Louisville will be seeking its second ACC Women’s Tournament championship and its first since 2018. Sunday will mark the third time in four years that the Cardinals have played in the finals.
Syracuse’s Emily Engstler led all scorers with 21 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season and the 15th of her career. Maeve Djaldi-Tabdi scored 11 points for the Orange, and Kamilla Cordoso had 10.

Olivia Cochran added a double-double for Louisville with 10 points and 10 rebounds, and Norika Konno scored 10 points, including a pair of 3-pointers that helped the Cardinals earn some breathing room. Cochran made 6-of-6 free throws, typifying a day in which the two teams shot a combined 32-for-35 from the line.

Syracuse, coming off a dramatic comeback win over Florida State in Friday’s quarterfinal, slipped behind early on Saturday and spent the afternoon playing catchup. The Orange (15-8) stayed within striking range of the Cardinals most of the way, but couldn’t muster a real surge after Louisville extended its lead to double figures in the third quarter.

Nine of the 10 players who saw action for Louisville in the first half scored, and the Cardinals rode the balanced attack to a 37-30 halftime lead. Mykasa Robinson led all scorers with nine points on 4-of-6 shooting from the floor. Engstler’s eight points led Syracuse in the first 20 minutes, and Kiara Lewis added seven.

Louisville did not allow Syracuse to creep closer than five points at any time in the second half.

OF NOTE
– Louisville dropped an 80-74 decision to NC State at home in the lone regular-season meeting of nationally top-five ranked teams on Feb. 1. The Cardinals defeated Georgia Tech, 85-74, when the teams met in Louisville on Feb. 11.

– Louisville is now 12-5 all-time in ACC Tournament games, while Syracuse slipped to 9-8.