Louisville women fall to Miami in ACC Tournament after giving up 15-point lead in fourth quarter
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Louisville women's basketball's ACC Tournament run came to an end before it ever got started on Friday.
The second-seeded Cardinals collapsed against No. 7 seed Miami in a 61-59 loss. Louisville fell in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals for the first time in program history.
The Cardinals led by 15 points with 5:44 left in the game and never scored again. Miami ended the game on a 17-0 run and Destiny Harden hit the game-winning shot as time expired. Louisville had the ball, with the game tied and 31 seconds left, but never got a shot attempt up and had a shot clock violation.
The Cardinals (25-4, 16-3) will not play again until the NCAA Tournament. Louisville will still host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, but its chances at a No. 1 seed is now unknown.
Three takeaways from the game.
Collapse in final five minutes
Louisville was in a great position to advance to the ACC Tournament semifinals, leading by 15 with 5:44 left.
But turnovers, poor defense had Harden's play doomed Louisville. She scored 15 points during the Hurricanes' 17-0 run.
The Cardinals turned the ball over on six consecutive possessions to end the game. The most crucial one was the shot clock violation on its final possession, which gave Miami the ball back with 1.2 seconds left.
If Louisville had attempted a shot, the game would have gone to overtime. Instead, Miami had enough time to score the winning shot.
Turnovers difference-maker for Cardinals
Louisville's turnovers were a team problem on Friday.
The Cardinals turned the ball over 21 times, a season high. Payton Verhulst was the only player who played more than a minute who didn't record a turnover.
That was uncharacteristic for Louisville, which had turned the ball over just 398 times this season, fourth-lowest in the ACC.
NCAA Tournament implications
Louisville came into the ACC Tournament a likely one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Barring any crazy upset, Louisville seemed locked into that seed for the tournament, but then the Miami loss happened.
The Cardinals are still a No. 1 seed, even after the loss, according to ESPN bracketologist Charlie Creme. Holding that seed line depends on Baylor and its Big 12 Tournament run. If the Bears win the Big 12 Tournament, it's likely that the Cardinals drop to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and Baylor takes the final No. 1 seed spot.
Regardless, Louisville will host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. But it will have to watch and hope Baylor loses if it wants to hold onto the No. 1 seed, for now.
Cameron Teague Robinson CTeagueRob@gannett.com; Twitter: @cj_teague.