#2 Irish tangle with #13 Louisville in Big East women's semifinal

• Notre Dame has advanced to the BIG EAST Championship semifinals for the 11th time in its 18 seasons as a conference member.
• The Fighting Irish will be playing their 11th ranked opponent of the season, having gone 9-1 against Top 25 teams thus far, including an active seven-game winning streak.

#2 Fighting Irish Tangle With #13/15 Louisville In BIG EAST Semifinal Monday Night
For the fourth consecutive year and the 11th time overall, No. 2 Notre Dame finds itself in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Conference Championship, as the top-seeded Fighting Irish take on No. 13/15 (and fourth-seeded) Louisville at 6 p.m. (ET) Monday inside the XL Center in Hartford, Conn. The game will be televised live to a national cable audience on ESPNU, and can also be seen around the world on the WatchESPN platform.

Notre Dame (29-1) extended its winning streak to a school-record 24 games on Sunday afternoon with a hard-fought 75-66 victory over a hot-shooting South Florida club. The Fighting Irish led by double digits in both halves, but the Bulls stayed in contention by making 10 three-pointers on 21 attempts. However, Notre Dame had the final say with a 10-1 run midway through the second half to keep USF at arm's length down the stretch.

Junior forward Natalie Achonwa etched her spot in Fighting Irish (and BIG EAST Championship) history with 20 points and a career-high 20 rebounds, becoming the first Notre Dame player in 25 years with a 20/20 game (and the first in the BIG EAST tournament since 1993). Senior guard/co-captain Skylar Diggins added 15 points and five assists, while freshman guard Jewell Loyd chipped in 14 points and junior forward Ariel Braker pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds.

Rankings

• Notre Dame was ranked No. 2 in last week's Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today polls.
• Louisville was ranked No. 13 in last week's Associated Press poll and No. 15 in last week's ESPN/USA Today poll.