# 2012–13 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team

The 2012–13 Louisville Cardinals women's basketball team represented the University of Louisville during the 2012–13 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Cardinals, led by sixth-year head coach Jeff Walz, played their home games at the KFC Yum! Center as members of the Big East Conference before the conference would split. They finished the season 29–9, 11–5 in Big East play to land third in the regular season standings. They lost to Notre Dame in the semifinals of the Big East women's tournament. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA women's tournament. As the No. 5 seed in the Oklahoma City region, they defeated Middle Tennessee and Purdue to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. There they defeated No. 1 seed Baylor and No. 2 seed Tennessee in the Elite Eight to advance to the school's second Final Four. Playing as one of three Big East teams in the Final Four, they defeated Spokane regional champion California Golden Bears in the National semifinal round. In the National Championship, they lost to Connecticut.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 10/31/2012* 7:00 pm | | Eckerd College | W 83–29 | – | KFC Yum! Center (N/A) Louisville, KY |
| Regular season ||||||
| 11/9/2012* 7:00 pm | | Texas A&M | W 47–45 | 1–0 | KFC Yum! Center (10,896) Louisville, KY |
| 11/11/2012* 12:00 pm | | Portland | W 95–48 | 2–0 | KFC Yum! Center (6,423) Louisville, KY |
| 11/15/2012* 8:00 pm | | at Austin Peay | W 90–52 | 3–0 | Dunn Center (826) Clarksville, TN |
| 11/20/2012* 7:00 pm | | vs. UCF Hardwood Tournament of Hope | W 94–73 | 4–0 | Puerto Vallarta International Convention Center (136) Puerto Vallarta, Mexico |
| 11/21/2012* 9:30 pm | No. 6 | vs. Gonzaga Hardwood Tournament of Hope Semi-finals | W 55–42 | 5–0 | Puerto Vallarta International Convention Center (167) Puerta Vallarta, Mexico |
| 11/22/2012* 9:30 pm | | Oregon State Hardwood Tournament of Hope | W 61–43 | 6–0 | Puerto Vallarta International Convention Center (224) Puerto Vallarta, Mexico |
| 11/26/2012* 8:00 pm | | at UT Martin | W 79–61 | 7–0 | Kathleen and Tom Elam Center (3,223) Martin, TN |
| 11/28/2012* 7:30 pm | | Eastern Kentucky | W 76–42 | 8–0 | KFC Yum! Center (7,942) Louisville, KY |
| 12/2/2012* 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 6 | No. 9 Kentucky The Battle For The Bluegrass | L 47–48 | 8–1 | KFC Yum! Center (15,453) Louisville, KY |
| 12/8/2012* 7:30 pm | | Valparaiso | W 96–40 | 9–1 | KFC Yum! Center (7,856) Louisville, KY |
| 12/14/2012* 9:00 pm | | at Colorado | L 66–70 | 9–2 | CU Events Center (3,408) Boulder, CO |
| 12/18/2012* 7:00 pm | | Washington State | W 75–39 | 10–2 | KFC Yum! Center (7,341) Louisville, KY |
| 12/21/2012* 7:00 pm | | Wagner | W 106–32 | 11–2 | KFC Yum! Center (7,876) Louisville, KY |
| 12/31/2012* 6:00 pm | | Tennessee State | W 88–25 | 12–2 | KFC Yum! Center (9,023) Louisville, KY |
| 1/5/2013 6:00 pm | | at DePaul | L 80–86 | 12–3 (0–1) | McGrath–Phillips Arena (3,212) Chicago, IL |
| 1/8/2013 7:00 pm | | Rutgers | W 66–57 $^{OT}$ | 13–3 (1–1) | KFC Yum! Center (9,557) Louisville, KY |
| 1/12/2013 2:00 pm | | at Providence | W 70–62 | 14–3 (2–1) | Alumni Hall (681) Providence, RI |
| 1/15/2013 9:00 pm | | at Connecticut | L 58–72 | 14–4 (2–2) | XL Center (8,702) Storrs, CT |
| 1/18/2013 7:00 pm | | Cincinnati | W 72–33 | 15–4 (3–2) | KFC Yum! Center (9,752) Louisville, KY |
| 1/22/2013 9:00 pm | | at Marquette | W 64–63 | 16–4 (4–2) | Al McGuire Center (1,189) Milwaukee, WI |
| 1/27/2013 1:30 pm | | St. John's | W 57–54 | 17–4 (5–2) | KFC Yum! Center (11,543) Louisville, KY |
| 1/30/2013 7:00 pm | | South Florida | W 78–75 | 18–4 (6–2) | Sun Dome (1,227) Tampa, FL |
| 2/2/2013 2:00 pm | | Georgetown | W 74–60 | 19–4 (7–2) | KFC Yum! Center (10,495) Louisville, KY |
| 2/9/2013 2:00 pm | No. 11 | Pittsburgh | W 78–45 | 20–4 (8–2) | KFC Yum! Center (10,733) Louisville, KY |
| 2/11/2013 9:00 pm | | at Notre Dame | L 64–93 | 20–5 (8–3) | Purcell Pavilion (8,368) South Bend, IN |
| 2/17/2013 1:30 pm | | DePaul | W 81–55 | 21–5 (9–3) | KFC Yum! Center (10,906) Louisville, KY |
| 2/20/2013 7:00 pm | | South Florida | L 62–73 | 21–6 (9–4) | KFC Yum! Center (8,201) Louisville, KY |
| 2/24/2013 2:00 pm | | at Villanova | W 55–49 | 22–6 (10–4) | The Pavilion (1,239) Philadelphia, PA |
| 2/27/2013 7:00 pm | | Seton Hall | W 72–62 | 23–6 (11–4) | KFC Yum! Center (9,232) Louisville, KY |
| 3/4/2013 9:00 pm | | at Syracuse | L 57–68 | 23–7 (11–5) | Carrier Dome (441) Syracuse, NY |
| Big East Women's Tournament ||||||
| 3/10/2013* 12:00 pm | | vs. St. John's | W 62–55 | 24–7 | XL Center Hartford, CT |
| 3/11/2013* 6:00 pm | No. 16 | vs. No. 2 Notre Dame Semifinals | L 59–83 | 24–8 | XL Center Hartford, CT |
| NCAA Women's Tournament ||||||
| 3/24/2013* 2:40 pm | (5 OKC) No. 16 | (12 OKC) Middle Tennessee First round | W 74–49 | 25–8 | KFC Yum! Center (5,977) Louisville, KY |
| 3/26/2013* 7:00 pm | (5 OKC) No. 16 | (4 OKC) Purdue Second round | W 76–63 | 26–8 | KFC Yum! Center (9,236) Louisville, KY |
| 3/31/2013* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | (5 OKC) No. 16 | vs. (1 OKC) No. 1 Baylor Regional Semifinal – Sweet Sixteen | W 82–81 | 27–8 | Chesapeake Energy Arena (9,162) Oklahoma City, OK |
| 4/2/2013* 9:00 pm | (5 OKC) No. 16 | vs. (2 OKC) Tennessee Regional Final – Elite Eight | W 86–78 | 28–8 | Chesapeake Energy Arena (6,147) Oklahoma City, OK |
| 4/7/2013* 6:30 pm | (5 OKC) No. 16 | vs. (2 SPK) No. 6 California National Semifinal – Final Four | W 64–57 | 29–8 | New Orleans Arena New Orleans, LA |
| 4/9/2013* 8:30 pm, ESPN | (5 OKC) No. 16 | vs. (1 BGP) No. 3 Connecticut National Championship | L 60–93 | 29–9 | New Orleans Arena (17,545) New Orleans, LA |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. OKC=Oklahoma City. All times are in Eastern. ||||||
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