Notre Dame Women's Basketball loses first title game since entering ACC

The Notre Dame Women's Basketball team lost a close game against the Louisville Cardinals in Sundays ACC Championship, according to a release from the university.

After an impressive 14-game winning streak in ACC Tournament play, the Irish lost 74-72.

The highly anticipated rematch came down to the wire thanks to a second straight double-double from Jessica Shepard, who posted 23 points and 10 rebounds.

Arike Ogunbwale also posted 20 points.

“We had some opportunities that we squandered, but our execution wasn't quite as good. I think that's because of their defense. They did a great job defensively and we were not able to really see the mismatches when we had them. I thought we could have gotten the ball into Jess a little bit more, but I thought Jess played a great game," Head Coach Muffet McGraw stated in a press release from the university.

In the end the Cardinals made seven free-throws in the last 24 seconds which ultimately decided the winner.

This is the first ACC Tournament Championship that the Irish have lost since entering the conference and the first conference championship loss since 2013.

After the game both Marina Mabrey and Arike Ogunbowale were named to the ACC All-Tournament First team while Jessica Shepard was named as a Second Team honoree.

The Irish will now wait until Selection Monday, March 12th for the 2018 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship bracket to be released to find out where they will be placed.