LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kiki Jefferson scored a season-high 27 points and No. 18 Louisville beat Boston College for a 15th straight time, 88-60 on Thursday night.
Jefferson sank 8 of 14 shots, made both of her 3-point attempts and 9 of 11 free throws for the Cardinals (17-3, 6-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). She added seven rebounds and four assists. Elif Istanbulluoglu scored 11 on 5-for-8 shooting. Olivia Cochran added 10 points and seven boards.
Teya Sidberry had 12 points and five rebounds to pace the Eagles (11-10, 3-5), who won the first meeting between the schools but haven’t won since. Dontavia Waggoner and T’Yana Todd both had 11 points, while Nene Ndiaye scored 10.
Cochran had six points to lead Louisville to an 18-13 lead after one quarter.
Boston College pulled within 27-26 on Ndiaye’s layup with 4:50 left before halftime. Nyla Harris, Cochran and Jefferson all had baskets in a 9-0 run and Louisville took a 39-31 advantage into intermission. Ndiaye came off the bench to score nine — all in the second quarter — to keep the Eagles within striking distance.
Jefferson followed a layup with a three-point play to push Louisville’s lead to 45-33 less than two minutes into the third quarter. Jefferson sank six straight free throws and Jayda Curry hit a jumper to cap an 8-2 run to close out the quarter and the Cardinals led 61-44. Louisville was not threatened in the fourth quarter.
Louisville improved to 10-0 at home this season. The Cardinals are 55-0 against unranked conference opponents since joining the ACC in 2014. Louisville, which was coming off a 79-68 home defeat at the hands of No. 23 North Carolina, improved to 88-24 following a loss in 17 seasons under Jeff Walz. The Cardinals are 22-3 following an ACC loss and have only dropped back-to-back games in conference play three times in 10 seasons.
Louisville will host Pittsburgh on Sunday. Boston College returns home to play No. 7 North Carolina State on Sunday.