Louisville Overcomes Slow First Half, Knocks Off Vermont to Kick Off NCAA Tournament Run

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Despite some early concern, the Louisville women's basketball program's latest attempt to secure their first national title got started on the right foot.

Hosting Vermont for the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, the Cardinals were able to overcome a slow first half, holding off the upset-minded Catamounts to claim a 72-52 victory on Saturday at the KFC Yum! Center.

Third-seeded and No. 13 AP ranked Louisville (28-7, 15-3 ACC) moves to 42-16 in the NCAA Tournament under head coach Jeff Walz, including a 12-2 mark in tournament games hosted at home. The Cardinals have won nine straight home NCAA Tournament games, having not lost since 2016 in the second round to DePaul.

14th-seeded and America East champion Vermont (25-8, 13-3 AE) entered the matchup allowing the third-fewest points per game in D1 (51.6), and that was certainly present throughout the early goings of the afternoon. While the Cardinals shot 45.3 percent from the floor and 8-of-19 on three-point attempts, this included going 36.4 percent and 4-of-11, respectively, in the first half. All seven of their eight turnovers came prior to halftime as well.

Fortunately, UofL was able to have a good amount of defensive success. They held the Catamounts - who were already averaging just 65.8 points per game this season - to only 40.0 percent shooting, 7-of-23 on threes, and forced 14 turnovers for 13 points.

Louisville was led by a career day from Mackenly Randolph. She set a career high in points with 20, tied her career mark in rebounds with 11, and had 12 points plus seven boards in the second half alone.

Laura Ziegler and Tajianna Roberts both finished with 12 points, while Imari Berry came off the bench for 10 points. Keira Hanson led Vermont with 22 points.

Louisville ran into some significant resistance right out of the gates, connecting on just six of their 17 attempts in the first quarter, while turning it over four times in this period. While they forced five turnovers themselves, Vermont still shot 7-of-15 in the period, which included a 7-0 run to help give the Catamounts a 17-16 edge through the opening quarter.

The Cardinals were able to find a little more offensive success in the second quarter. While they only went 6-of-16 in this period, that included 3-of-4 on threes after they went 1-of-7 in the first quarter. Add in holding Vermont to 4-of-10 from the field, and their three second half threes helped them go on a 11-2 run midway through the period to take a 32-28 lead into halftime.

It wasn't until the third quarter until Louisville started to put some meaningful distance between them and Vermont. Not only did they hold the Catamounts to 4-of-12 from the field in the period, the Cardinals made seven of their final eight in the third after only making three of their first 10 after halftime, ending the quarter on a 21-8 run to head into the fourth quarter up 55-38.

UofL started the fourth quarter strong, scoring 10 of the period's first 13 points, going up 24 with 7:09 left to essentially ice any chance of a furious comeback attempt by UV. In the second half alone, Louisville shot 54.8 percent from the field and 4-of-8 on threes, while holding Vermont to 36.0 percent and 4-of-12, respectively.

Next up, Louisville will take on the winner of No. 6 Alabama/No. 11 Rhode Island in the second round of the Big Dance. Tip-off is scheduled for Monday, Mar. 23 at a to-be-determined time.

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