Louisville Defeats Ole Miss to Reach Elite Eight
SEATTLE - Taking on Ole Miss for an unexpected matchup in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament, the Louisville's women's basketball program was able to keep their dream of a national championship alive, slugging their way to a 72-62 victory Friday night at Climate Pledge Arena.
The fifth-seeded Cardinals (26-11, 12-6 ACC) clinch their fifth consecutive trip to the Elite Eight, where a showdown against No. 2 Iowa on Sunday for a trip to the Final Four awaits them. It's their seventh appearance in the Elite Eight since 2013, and eighth overall.
Louisville narrowly avoided a showdown with top-seeded Stanford, whom the eighth-seeded Rebels (25-9, 11-5 SEC) upset in the Round of 32. Ole Miss used a stifling defensive performance against Stanford to reach the Sweet Sixteen, but it was Louisville and their surging defense that won the day.
The Cardinals held the Rebels to just 37.1 percent from the field and 4-of-15 on three-point attempts, while shooting 45.8 percent and 5-of-12 themselves.
Like in her first two games of this NCAA Tournament, Hailey Van Lith notched another 20-point performance in her homecoming. The Wenatchee, Wash. native finished with a game-high 21 points plus five rebounds and four assists.
Both Mykasa Robinson and Morgan Jones had 11-point/seven-rebound outings with the former dishing out a game-high five assists, while Olivia Cochran had 10 points and six boards.
The Rebel trio of Myah Taylor, Marquesha Davis and Angel Baker scored a combined 49 points, with no one else collecting more than six. Louisville dominated Ole Miss in bench points, out-scoring them 27-6
Both teams struggled to get into an offensive flow early, as was expected, but it was Louisville who found their groove first. After Ole Miss jumped out to an early 9-3 lead, the Cardinals then went on a 21-6 run throughout the rest of the first quarter and into the first minute-plus of the second.
Just when it seemed like the Rebels were on the verge of getting blown out, they found a spark of life and fired off a 14-3 run to briefly jump back in front. However, Louisville clamped back down on defense, countering with a 7-0 run to take a 34-29 lead into the half. Outside of that Ole Miss run, where they shot 6-of-7, the Rebels were held to just 6-of-26 by the Cardinals, who shot 13-of-28 for the entire half.
The two teams traded barbs over the first five minutes of the second half, then Louisville slowly started building a decent cushion. They ended the third quarter on an 11-4 run, giving them a double digit lead by the end of the period.
Ole Miss gave Louisville a scare after trimming their lead to just five with under five minutes to go, but they were able to keep the Rebels at arm's length for just long enough to capture the win. Van Lith and Robinson combined to score 15 of the Cardinals' 20 fourth quarter points.
(Photo of Hailey Van Lith: Matt Cashore - USA TODAY Sports)
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