LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Destiny Harden hit a turnaround jumper at the horn to cap a one-woman comeback as Miami scored the game's final 17 points to stun No. 4 Louisville 61-59 in Friday night's quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
The second-seeded Cardinals led 59-44 with 5:44 left, only to see the seventh-seeded Hurricanes stage a frantic rally that abruptly turned what looked set to be a Louisville win into a stunning reversal.
"Everything that we needed to do to allow them to come back in the game, we did," said Louisville head coach Jeff Walz.
Harden scored the game's last 15 points for Miami, including the game-tying 3-pointer from the left wing with 31 seconds left.
Then, after the Cardinals committed a shot-clock violation, Miami got the ball back with 1.7 seconds left. Kelsey Marshall sent a one-bounce pass to Harden on the right side, with Harden catching and turning to elevate over Hailey Van Lith for a corner shot from a step or two in front of the 3-point arc.
“The 3 definitely felt good,” Harden said. “The last shot... it felt good, but I prayed for it to go in.”
The ball caught all net as the horn sounded, with Van Lith immediately raising both hands to her cheeks in disbelief. That's when orange-clad Hurricanes players began sprinting onto the court and right by Van Lith to run in convoy with Harden across halfcourt and to the far baseline before heading toward the locker-room tunnel.
Chelsie Hall scored 13 points to lead the Cardinals (25-4), who missed their last five shots to watch the lead vanish amid Harden's onslaught. But all-ACC performers Van Lith (2 for 10) and Emily Engstler (4 for 13) had rough games, while the Cardinals tied their season-high with 21 turnovers — five coming in that last 5:44.
“I wouldn't say being down on ourselves is a bad thing because we have to be down,” said Louisville's Kianna Smith, who had 10 points. “Like, that was awful. There's no question about it.”
After the loss, the Cardinals will have to wait and see where they're seeded in the NCAA Tournament.
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