Boston College women’s basketball ended the first quarter of Sunday afternoon’s game against No. 3 Louisville up by 10 points. Except that ultimately proved to be the margin of defeat, not victory, for the Eagles.

Louisville outscored BC, 22-5, in the second quarter, holding the Eagles to just two field goals in the frame while forcing 10 turnovers. Joanna Bernabei McNamee’s team pulled within four points of the Cardinals in the back half of play but no closer, and Louisville secured a season sweep of BC with a 63-53 win.

It was a much better showing this time around by the Eagles (12-5, 3-3 ACC), who came into the weekend on a four-game win streak. They caused Louisville (15-1, 5-0) to cough up the rock a season-high 21 times and corralled 17 offensive boards—tied for the most by any Cardinals opponent during the 2021-22 campaign.

The problem was, as was the case in the teams’ first meeting, BC had trouble taking care of the ball, too. The Eagles committed 24 turnovers and scored just 15 points off Louisville’s giveaways.

Freshman center Maria Gakdeng got things going for the Eagles, scoring five of their first seven points, three of which came on a game-opening and-one. Following a couple layups from Makayla Dickens and Taylor Soule—the latter of whom finished with a team-high 17 points—Cam Swartz stitched together a self-made 6-0 run that featured a 4-point play.

BC’s 20-10 first quarter lead soon became an afterthought. Louisville owned the second frame. Ahlana and Kianna Smith, a pairing of transfer guards (unrelated), shifted momentum, combining for the first seven points of the period.

Then—thanks to jumpers from Hailey Van Lith, Chelsie Hall and Kianna Smith—Louisville stretched its run to 16-1. The Cardinals entered the half with a 32-25 advantage. Dontavia Waggoner, who chipped in seven bench points for BC Sunday, and Soule were the only Eagles to score in the quarter.

BC got down 12 in the third frame, however, a 12-4 run jumpstarted by Soule made it a 41-37 game. During that stretch, Waggoner logged five of her points.

The two-possession deficit was fleeting. Van Lith and fellow Cardinals guard Mykasa Robinson notched seven of the game’s next nine points, and Louisville carried a 48-39 lead into the final period.

Louisville maintained its distance in the fourth quarter as Kianna Smith and Van Lith rounded out the day with a combined 34 points.

Gakdeng wasn’t one of BC’s top scorers Sunday. That said, the versatile five collected a team-high seven rebounds and a career-high three steals, in addition to scoring eight points and blocking two shots.

The Lanham, Maryland, native was named ACC Freshman of the Week for the fourth week in a row Monday. She’s the first Eagle to win the weekly award four times in one season since Carolyn Swords and Stefanie Murphy in 2007-08.

Gakdeng averaged 11 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.5 blocks while posting a 71.4% field goal percentage over the course of BC’s win at Pittsburgh and loss to Louisville.

She leads the ACC in field goal percentage (69.6%) during conference competition.