Rockne's Roundtable

Kayla McBride hits four of her first six field goal attempts for 14-6 lead.

No. 13 Louisville settles down and hits two straight threes to tie the game at 16, forcing ND to call timeout at 11:18. Shone Schimmel drills two threes, and the Cards are on a 16-4 run. Skylar Diggins sat the previous two minutes.

Second media timeout at 10:48 has the Irish ahead 19-16 after a Diggins trey. It's her first basket, but she already had four assists and two steals.

Last media timeout of the half (3:39) has Notre Dame ahead 28-20, after an Achonwa basket off the slip screen.

First half ends with Notre Dame leading 32-26. McBride has 10 on 5-of-13 shooting and Diggins has 9 on three treys.

Irish were somewhat stagnant offensively in the last six minutes or so, settling for a lot of jump shots and not getting as much motion in their half-court sets.

Second half opens with several Louisville misses before Achonwa takes it coast to coast for a 34-26 lead.

Diggins drains her fourth three in five attempts and a 37-28 lead. It is her 115th game in double-figure scoring,tying the school record set by current associate coach and all-time scoring leader Beth (Morgan) Cunningham.

Achonwa and Diggins baskets extend the lead to 45-28 as the Irish begin to pull away with a 13-2 run.

First media timeout at 14:05 sees Achonwa at the line to try to finish off a three-point play after her basket makes it 47-30. She makes the free throw to push the score to 48-30. Irish have only five turnovers in 27 minutes.

Notre Dam 57, Louisville 32 at second media timeout (11:48). Kaila Turner fires home threes. The offense is humming now — taking a cue from the intense D — and the Irish have sensed the kill.

Turner hits her third straight three. The two senior guards, Diggins and Turner, are unofficially a combined 7-of-8 beyond the arc. The Irish lead 68-37 at the third media timeout under the 8-minute mark.

Notre Dame wins 25th in a row to improve to 30-1 overall with an 83-59 victory over 24-8 and No. 13 Louisville.

ND will seek its first ever Big East Championship tomorrow night, with UConn the likely opponent. ND is 0-6 against the Huskies in the the title game of the Big East Championship.

McBride scored 17, Diggins had 14 points and six assists, Achonwa 11 points and nine rebounds, and Kaila Turner came off the bench to tally 12 points. None of the starters had to play more than 28 minutes, providing a decent breather for tomorrow.

great set-up. go irish!