March Madness 2022: Van Lith, Engstler lead Louisville past Lady Vols, 76-64

Hailey Van Lith and Emily Engstler knew Louisville had allowed far too many results in slip away within the fourth quarter this season, together with the disheartening loss to Miami within the quarterfinals of the ACC Event.

Van Lith and Engstler refused to let it occur once more within the NCAA Event.

Van Lith poured in 23 factors with six assists and was strong on the foul stripe down the stretch, whereas Emily Engstler had 20 factors and 10 rebounds to assist the top-seeded Cardinals face up to Tennessee’s frantic comeback for a 76-64 victory on Saturday that despatched coach Jeff Walz’s bunch again to the Elite Eight for the fourth straight time.

Kianna Smith additionally had 12 factors for the Cardinals (28-4), whose 15-point lead was whittled to 2 within the fourth quarter earlier than they pulled away to arrange a date with third-seeded Michigan on Monday.

“We simply saved reminding one another that so long as we get stops and rebounds, we’ll be up it doesn’t matter what,” Van Lith stated afterward, “regardless of if we rating or not. We have been in a position to execute that. All of our gamers stepped up and acquired rebounds and made good performs on protection and we have been in a position to draw back.”

The Cardinals have grow to be one of many nation’s dominant ladies’s packages beneath Walz – very like the Woman Vols have been for thus a few years beneath Pat Summitt – however they’re nonetheless chasing their first nationwide championship.

“It has been a very lengthy journey,” stated Engstler, a switch from Syracuse, “and I simply assume generally you might have a sense. I really feel actually good about this workforce and I believe we will get there.”

Rae Burrell led No. 4 seed Tennessee (25-9) with 22 factors, however she did not get an entire lot of assist from the remainder of her workforce, which had 18 turnovers and was 5 of 21 from past the arc. Jordan Walker had 10 factors but additionally had 5 turnovers.

“Louisville is hard. They’re so powerful on each ends of the court docket,” Woman Vols coach Kellie Harper stated. “We would have liked to play with a couple of much less errors at each ends of the court docket. However we have no give up in us. We minimize it to 2, we gave ourselves an opportunity within the fourth quarter. Love ’em for that.”

The Cardinals asserted management halfway by the primary, taking benefit off too many unforced errors by the Woman Vols. Kaiya Wynn’s turnover led to Van Lith’s straightforward transition layup, then Wynn missed a pair of foul photographs and Burrell missed an open 3-pointer from the nook within the waning minutes that allowed Louisville to stretch the lead.

The difficulty for Tennessee actually started within the second quarter.

The Woman Vols turned the ball over on 4 of their first six possessions, usually leading to straightforward baskets on the different finish, and the Cardinals seized on the momentum swing by slapping on a full-court press, too. The lead ballooned to 27-13 earlier than Harper referred to as a timeout to rescue her workforce trapped within the backcourt.

The largest cause Tennessee hung round, down 38-29 on the half, was respectable protection of its personal.

The Woman Vols lastly acquired happening offense out of the break, with Burrell and Tess Darby because the catalysts. Darby was scoreless within the first half however hit three 3s within the third quarter, and Burrell additionally had 9 factors over that stretch, together with a 3 that hardly beat the buzzer to get the Woman Vols inside 55-50 heading to the fourth.

The turnovers lastly did them in, although.

Tennessee had closed inside 55-53 on Burrell’s 3-point play to start the fourth quarter however coughed it up on three straight journeys down flooring. Engstler scored after the primary turnover, Smith drained a 3-pointer after the second and Louisville shortly stretched the lead once more, constructing a large enough cushion to coast into the regional finals.

“We’ll have a heavyweight struggle,” Walz stated. “It should be a enjoyable day Monday. It is good to nonetheless be enjoying.”

BIG PICTURE

Tennessee: Fell to 0-3 towards Louisville within the NCAA Event, together with a loss 5 years in the past within the Candy 16. And whereas the Woman Vols are making strides beneath Harper of their return to prominence, they nonetheless have not reached the Elite Eight since 2016 and their final Closing 4 look got here in 2008.

Louisville: Reached the 70-point mark with 2:18 to go and that was a foul signal for the Woman Vols, who have been 24-2 when holding opponents beneath that complete. The Cardinals struggled from the sphere a lot of the means – Van Lith was simply 7 of 21 from the sphere and 0 for five from past the arc.

TECHNICAL TROUBLE

The middle-hung video board inside INTRUST Financial institution Enviornment went darkish about the identical time the sport tipped off, stopping each followers and coaches from seeing any replays. It lastly got here again on halfway by the primary quarter.