Louisville vs. Virginia Tech ACC Tournament 3-5-2023

Cards Fall To Virginia Tech In ACC Final 75-67

Mark BlankenbakerMarch 5, 2023

The No. 4 seed Louisville women’s basketball team fell just short of its second-ever ACC Tournament Championship as it dropped to the No. 3 seed Virginia Tech, 75-67, Sunday afternoon at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Cards attempted a feverish rally in the final minutes but it was not enough to overcome the Hokies

Chrislyn Carr led the Cards offensively with a team-high 27 points on 10-of-21 shooting and she hit three shots from behind the arc. The 27 points are the second-most by a Louisville player in the ACC Tournament. Mykasa Robinson has been all over the glass in Greensboro and she led the Cards with nine boards to go with eight points and two assists. Robinson tallied 25 rebounds across the three games this weekend. Olivia Cochran was in double figures for the fourth-straight game with 11 points.

The Cardinals were well represented on the ACC All-Tournament teams. Mykasa Robinson, Hailey Van Lith and Chrislyn Carr were all named to the first team and Olivia Cochran was named to the second team. The four players on the All-Tournaments team were the most by any school this weekend.

Both teams got to the championship game on the back of their defensive play but the offenses were clicking to start the game. At the media timeout in the first quarter, both teams were shooting 50 percent from the floor and Louisville had a 10-9 lead. The Cardinals finished the quarter shooting 42.9 percent from the floor but were held scoreless over the final 2:42 and the Hokies went on a 7-0 run to take a 21-14 lead after one.

The Cardinals continued to be stifled on the offensive end in the second quarter as they were held scoreless for a three minute stretch. During that time, the Hokies extended the lead to double digits and forced the Cardinals to burn a timeout. The Cardinals broke the scoreless drought after a Robinson free throw that came off a steal from Liz Dixon. The Cardinals tried to cut into the lead during the quarter but the Hokies would answer any bucket from the Cards. At the half, Virginia Tech led 38-28.

Van Lith and Carr both had nine points a piece for the Cardinals over the first 20 minutes. Robinson had a team-high seven rebounds in the first half of action.

In the third quarter, Robinson and Carr got the Cards going in the early part of the quarter. Robinson converted a layup and hit the free throw while Carr hit back-to-back shots to trim the deficit to single digits. The Cardinals hit the final two buckets of the third quarter and trimmed the deficit to 51-44 heading into the final quarter.

The Hokies opened up the fourth quarter by hitting each of their first three shots and extended the lead to its largest of the afternoon at 14. The Cardinals got the Virginia Tech lead down to nine after a 6-0 run with two minutes remaining and then as low as six after a Russell three with under a minute to go. That was the closest the Cards could get as the deficit remaining to big to overcome in the final quarter.

The Cardinals are off now until they hear their fate on Selection Sunday for the upcoming 2023 NCAA Tournament. The field will be selected one week from today on Sunday, March 12. The show will begin at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN and the 68-team field will be selected and placed for the postseason run.