LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – In case anyone has forgotten, they still play a little defense at Louisville, too. And Louisville is still an Elite Eight women’s basketball program, for a fifth straight season, after a 72-62 victory over Ole Miss in Seattle Regional 4 in Climate Pledge Arena on Friday night.
Louisville’s victory sets up a showdown with No. 2 seed Iowa at 9 p.m. on Sunday, for the right to advance to the program’s fifth Final Four, and second straight.
On Saturday, most of the pregame talk was about the fantastic Ole Miss defense. Louisville coach Jeff Walz noticed.
"I'm not even sure if they on the set at ESPN knew that we were playing tonight because the quote I saw that was actually sent to me was that Ole Miss is going to be, you know, they have to get past Iowa. Maybe it was a slip-up, but that's what was said. "Maybe they forgot that that we have been to I think . . . this is our fifth straight Elite Eight. And you know, we don't get talked about as much. . . . I think these kids deserve the respect. You might not like the way we do things and I really don't give a damn OK, because I'm not going to change who I am. These kids here know I love them. And I'll take care of them. I'll do anything for them. Because they're family."
Out of the gate, Ole Miss took an early lead before Louisville acclimated to its pressure defense, and began to apply some of its own. By the end of the first quarter, Louisville had scored as many points (20) as No. 1 seed Stanford scored against Ole Miss in the entire first half of its upset loss to the Rebels.
Louisville closed the third quarter with an 11-4 run to lead 52-42, then scored the first 4 points of the final quarter. It still led by 10 midway through the final period, then held off a late Ole Miss run that pulled the Rebels within 5 points.
"Hats off to Louisville," Ole Miss coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin said. "They looked like the more experienced team. ... I did not feel like we had control of the game at any point. And that's different for our team. The lights got bright."
The players who got it done for the Cardinals late were those who have been there before. Mykasa Robinson scored 11 second-half points and was brilliant breaking the Ole Miss press.
Olivia Cochran came down with big rebounds and made big shots inside to answer Ole Miss scores. She finished with 10 points.
And Hailey Van Lith made the key free-throws late to seal the victory. She finished with 21 points, and her early scoring stabilized the Cards after Ole Miss started fast. In the process, she passed Myisha Hines-Allen into the No. 4 spot on Louisville's career NCAA Tournament scoring list.
"Our team went out there we laid our hearts out on the floor. And that's all you can ask for. So we're going to keep going," Van Lith told ESPN's Holly Rowe after the game. ". . . We're some ballers. We're not scared of the spotlight. When the biggest moment is there, we're ready to play. I've been saying all season, all we need is an opportunity. And we just won an opportunity on Sunday."
But Louisville wouldn't have been in that position if not for its bench. The Cards' reserves outscored their Ole Miss counterparts 27-6, led by 11 points from Morgan Jones and 8 each from Merissah Russell and Liz Dixon.
The 72 points scored by Louisville were the fourth-most scored against Ole Miss this season. Only Auburn, Arkansas and South Carolina scored more.
Louisville's 5 straight Sweet 16 wins under Walz have come by an average of 16.8 points. Now, the Cardinals turn their attention to a new goal: A second straight Final Four.Â
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