The Louisville women’s squad, rollin’ at 19-7 and 12-4 in the ACC, just snagged their second straight ranked road W, takin’ down No. 11 Duke, 20-7 and 11-4 in the ACC, 70-62, Thursday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The Cards straight-up flexed, handin’ Duke their first L at home this season—snappin’ a 13-game streak at Cameron and an 18-game run against unranked squads on their own turf.
Jayda Curry was straight fire, droppin’ a season-high 24 points and swipin’ five steals like she was pickin’ pockets. Sis didn’t miss a beat at the line—9-for-9, holdin’ it down with that 92.5 free throw clip, eighth in the nation, no cap. Ja’Leah Williams was ballin’ too, tyin’ her season-high 13 points and dishin’ three assists, sharin’ the squad lead. Tajianna Roberts? She notched her 21st double-digit game with 11 points—leadin’ all ACC freshmen in that stat this year, big facts.
Cards started slow, though—shootin’ like they forgot where the rim was, hittin’ just 2 of their first 11. But they turned up late in the first: Elif Istanbulluoglu banked a trey, and Williams hit a jumper at the buzzer to keep it close, down 14-13 after one.
Second quarter, Louisville woke up, hittin’ four of their first eight. They smashed a 7-0 run in like 40 seconds, had Duke callin’ timeout lookin’ shook. Post-timeout, Roberts snagged a steal, fed Curry for a layup and a foul—Cards were cookin’. Shot 8-for-16, 4-for-6 from deep, and flipped the script to lead 35-29 at the half. Oh, and they forced Duke into 10 turnovers in that quarter alone—straight chaos.
Third quarter was messy…
—Cards stumbled hard in the third, coughin’ up the rock eight times. Goin’ into the fourth, it was all knotted up, 45-45, tension thick enough to cut with a fresh pair of clippers.
Fourth quarter stayed tight—score still even at the media timeout. Cards started cashin’ in, hittin’ four early free throws, and Curry splashed her third trey of the night, but it was still 52-52 with 4:59 left. Duke snatched the lead back outta the timeout, first time since early second quarter, but it was short-lived, fam. Olivia Cochran came through with a layup and got fouled, tyin’ it up again—missed the freebie, but Merissah Russell grabbed the board, and Curry floated one in to put Louisville back on top.
Next six trips down the floor, both squads were tradin’ buckets like barbers tradin’ stories—Cards clingin’ to a two-point edge with 2:38 to go. Then, off a jump ball, Louisville had 3.6 ticks on the shot clock for an inbounds play. Russell took it to the rack, her floater kissed the glass and dropped—buzzer-beater vibes! After that, the Cards locked it down, drainin’ all six free throws to seal the dub. Fourth quarter freebies were clutch—16-for-17, ice in their veins.
Now, Louisville’s headed back to the crib for their last two home games of the regular season. They kick off the homestand Sunday, welcomin’ a squad from the Triangle to the KFC Yum! Center. It’s No. 9/10 North Carolina rollin’ up at 2 p.m. ET—ESPN’s got the national hookup. Cards out here provin’ they built for this, fam—Duke couldn’t fade ‘em! What y’all think, they keepin’ this heat goin’?
