NEWTON, Mass. — The University of Louisville women's basketball team had a late second half surge to push past Boston College, 62-52, Sunday afternoon at Conte Forum. Facing a 42-34 deficit with 12 minutes remaining in the game, Louisville (20-9, 11-5) outscored the Eagles (13-15, 4-13) 28-10 to win their 20th game of the season and ninth on the road.
Hailey Van Lith led the team with 17 points but the Cards got a big lift from their bench. Liz Dixon scored 13 points and added a team-high 12 rebounds for her first double double of the season and seventh of her career. Merissah Russell had a career-high 13 points on the afternoon and nine of them came in the fourth quarter. Mykasa Robinson had another strong all-around game as she led the Cards with eight assists, tied a career high with nine rebounds and had five points and a steal.
The Eagles hit the first shot of the game but the Cardinals ripped off a 10-0 run afterwards into the first media timeout of the game. Van Lith hit two threes during the run and the Cards held the Eagles scoreless for over five minutes after making the first basket. The Cardinals led the Eagles 14-10 at the end of the first quarter.
The Eagles scored eight of the first 10 points of the second quarter to take the lead at 18-16 but the Cards responded with another run. Louisville went on an 8-0 run to regain the lead and held the Eagles scoreless for a three-minute stretch. The run grew to 12-0 before the Eagles got their next basket. Louisville was held without a basket over the final 2:33 in the quarter but took a 32-26 lead to the half.
Van Lith had a team-high 10 points at the break while Dixon had seven points and a team-high six rebounds.
The Eagles came out hot to start the second half as they went on an 11-0 run to regain the lead. The Eagles shot 5-for-6 over the first four minutes to build their biggest lead of the afternoon at 37-32. The Cardinals got their first bucket of the quarter at the 3:23 mark when Russell hit a driving layup. The Eagles lead got up to eight before the Cardinals scored six-straight in a minute to span to cut the deficit to two. At the end of the third, Louisville trailed Boston College 44-40.
Louisville responded with the first two buckets of the fourth quarter, both coming from Russell, to tie the game at 44 with over eight minutes to play. The lead changed hands a couple of times in the fourth as neither team could pull away. The Cardinals shifted momentum after an offensive rebound from Robinson led to a three from Chrislyn Carr to put the Cards up 56-50 with 3:26 left. From that point, the Cardinals outscored the Eagles 6-2 to close out the game and held them scoreless for the final 3:17 minutes of regulation.
The Cardinals head back to campus for their final homestand of the regular season next week. The Cards will be at home for the final two games of the season starting on Thursday, February 23. The Cards will take on Miami on Thursday from the KFC Yum! Center at it will be their Celebration of Black Culture game. Louisville will be wearing special uniforms to commemorate the game and more info on the jerseys can be found here. The Cards and Hurricanes will square off at 6 p.m. ET and it will be aired nationally on the ACC Network.