Louisville Takes Down Alabama, Punches Ticket to Sweet 16

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville women's basketball program is moving on to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

Taking on Alabama in the second round of the Big Dance, the Cardinals tamed the Crimson Tide, coming out on top with a hard-fought 69-68 win on Monday from the KFC Yum! Center.

Third-seeded and No. 13 AP ranked Louisville (29-7, 15-3 ACC) punches their ticket to the Sweet 16 for the 13th time in program history, all coming under head coach Jeff Walz. The Cards have won 10 straight home NCAA Tournament games, having not lost since 2016 in the second round to DePaul.

Louisville got a pair of 18-point performances from Tajianna Roberts and Elif Istanbulluoglu, with the latter also hauling in 11 rebounds for a double-double. Laura Ziegler had 12 points and eight rebounds, while Macklenly Randolph added nine points and a team-best 13 boards.

It was and up-and-down offensive showing for the Cards. While they shot 45.0 percent from the field and assisted on 19 of their 27 field goals, they also only went 7-of-26 from deep plus 8-of-16 at the free throw line, and had 15 turnovers - including six in the fourth.

Defensively, they were hit-or-miss as well. Alabama shot 45.6 percent from the floor and a blazing 12-of-26 from three, but UofL only allowed them to make four trips to the free throw line and out-rebounded them 41-to-24.

Like the first quarter of their first round matchup against Vermont, Louisville had a bit of trouble finding their footing in the opening quarter vs. Alabama. They only shot 7-of-17 in the period and started 1-of-6, went 1-of-8 on three point attempts after missing their first seven tries, and turned it over five times. While they held the Crimson Tide to 6-of-14 shooting and out-rebounded them 13-to-5 in the period, which included at one point a 9-0 run, the Cardinals only lead 15-14 through one.

UofL got off to a similar slow start in the second quarter, only connecting on one of their first six tries, allowing Bama to pull ahead by as much as four in the first few minutes of the period. While Louisville finally started to hit their stride thereafter, hitting seven of their final 11 attempts of the quarter, they still allowed Alabama to shoot 8-of-14 in the period overall, resulting in trailing 35-34 at the break.

This high level shot-making carried across halftime and to the start of the third quarter, with Louisville making seven of their first nine attempts of the second half, while Alabama opened the period hitting four of their first six. Both teams cooled off in the last few minutes of the third, but the Cardinals still shot 9-of-16 in the period overall to the Tide's 5-of-13, taking a 54-49 lead into the fourth.

Louisville made their first basket of the final quarter to push their lead up to as much as seven, but Alabama didn't back down. Not only did they force the Cardinals to miss their next four shots, the Crimson Tide hit then 4-of-5 after missing their first three in the quarter, briefly taking a two-point lead with 5:31 to go.

When UofL needed it most, they came through in crunch time.

After Alabama took the lead, Louisville promptly put together a 10-2 run to lead by as much as six with 1:12 left. The Tide made things interesting down the stretch, making a pair of baskets in the final 10 seconds as part of a 7-of-16 shooting period, but the Cards did just enough scoring wise - 3-of-10 shooting and 8-of-14 at the free throw line in the period - to hold off the late charge.

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