LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Overwhelming defensive pressure and just enough offense led the Louisville women’s basketball team into the second round of the NCAA Tournament and a matchup against former Cardinal Hailey Van Lith and No. 6-ranked TCU.
The Cardinals advanced by harassing Nebraska into 24 turnovers, which they turned into a 24-5 edge in points off turnovers. That offset hot shooting by the Huskers and a 32-20 Nebraska edge on points in the paint.
The 63-58 win in Fort Worth, Texas, improved Cardinals’ coach Jeff Walz to 15-1 in first-round NCAA games and 41-15 in the Big Dance overall.
"Just really, really proud of the fight that our kids showed," Walz said. "We had done such a good job the first three quarters of defending and making things hard. And then in that fourth, they scored ten points in about three and a half minutes, and that was our problem. Called a time-out, and then we held them to four points the next 6:30, and that's why we won the basketball game. I'm proud of everybody. We had a lot of players play and a lot contributed."
Freshman Taj Roberts scored 12 points in the second quarter and kept it going in the third to give Louisville an advantage, but Nebraska came back to take a four-point lead late.
Curry was the hero in crunch time. After Olivia Cochran hit a jumper to pull Louisville within two, Curry made a jumper in the lane to tie the game at 56. She hit another just a minute later to give Louisville a 58-56 lead.
After a Nebraska score tied the game with 48 seconds left, Walz called a timeout to get Curry back into the game. She missed a three, but Cochran grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled on the put-back. She made one of two free throws to give Louisville a 59-58 lead with 30.4 seconds remaining.
On the other end, Nebraska’s Britt Prince saw a lane to the basket on the right side of the court, but ran over Jayda Curry rotating over in the lane, giving Louisville the ball back with 25.9 seconds left. Curry then was fouled, making both free throws, and Nebraska missed a three on the other end, and Mackenly Randolph came down with the rebound and was tied up. In the scramble for the ball Curry was ripped to the floor, and had to leave the game holding her injured shoulder.
In the midst of all that, Curry was cramping up in her left left. And several times she took shots to the injured shoulder that kept her from playing in the ACC Tournament. On the last loose ball, she crashed to the court and left for good.
Of it all, after the game she said, "Just a cramp. Clearly need to hydrate more. That's all that was. My teammates and my coaches talked to me, pushing me through that was a big factor. I was able to make big plays in those moments. Nothing crazy, just a little cramp."
Sitting beside her, Cochran leaned into the microphone and said, "Tough."
Walz praised her play late, and said team trainers will try to have her ready to go on Sunday.
"I was really proud of how she gutted it out," he said. "We'll try to do as much treatment as we can because she got hit in the same area and she's pretty sore right now. Hopefully, we'll see how she can go on Sunday. Obviously, she won't do much in practice tomorrow except for walk through some things. But we've got to make sure that she's ready to play because she is a big part of what's going on with us."
Roberts finished with 16 to lead Louisville. Cochran added 14. Ja’Leah Williams had five points and nine rebounds. Curry finished with 13 points and six assists.
Louisville outrebounded Nebraska 39-36 and held Huskers’ star Alexis Markowski well below her 20-point average of the past eight games. She finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Cardinals improve to 22-10 with the win.
Cochran, who was part of her 15th NCAA Tournament game, said she's glad not to have a repeat of last season's first-round loss.
"It feels amazing," she said. "This group is so special. We don't know how good we are yet. That's why we're still dancing. We'll keep putting one foot in front of the other and prepare for the next game. I know our coaching staff will come out with a great game plan for our next opponent, and we're just ready."
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