Louisville elevates to the Elite Eight with a 86-59 win over Stanford

By Dalton Ray —

No. 1 seed women’s basketball (35-2) made light work of No. 4 Stanford (24-11) in the Sweet 16, winning 86-59. Louisville forced 18 turnovers, leading to 22 points.

The win puts Louisville in their fourth Elite Eight under coach Jeff Walz. They will take on No. 6 Oregon State, who upset No. 2 Baylor in game one of the Lexington Regional.

Junior Asia Durr shook her tournament cold streak, dropping 24 points. She added five assists and four rebounds.

Senior Myisha Hines-Allen added 17 points and eight boards. Redshirt junior Arica Carter scored 12 on 4-of-5 shooting.

Stanford fell into a scoring lull between the third quarter and Louisville blew the game open.

Against the trees

Stanford immediately made their length felt, tipping passes and forcing Louisville to adjust their shots.

U of L gained control of the first quarter by scoring on four consecutive possessions, pushing their lead to 21-14.

Stanford scored efficiently (8-of-11 shooting) when the kept the ball, but committed seven turnovers in the opening quarter.

Riding the wave

U of L’s lead in the second quarter swayed, but didn’t surrender.

Louisville coughed up the ball six times in the first six minutes of the second quarter. Stanford took advantage of the opportunity, pulling within six points.

A three-minute scoring drought from Stanford allowed Louisville to swell their lead to 11. The teams combined for 30-of-51 shooting from the floor, but also combined for 22 turnovers.

Louisville closed the half with a 42-31 lead.

Inching away

Stanford started the third quarter 1-for-11 as Louisville began to pull away. U of L only made one field goal in the first six minutes, but held a 51-36 lead.

Louisville closed the third quarter with a swat from Fuehring that landed in the hands of Durr. She then dished out a 30-foot outlet pass to Hines-Allen, who finished the break.

Stanford shot 5-of-20 in the quarter as Louisville led 64-44.

Survive and advance

For the third straight game, Louisville won the points in the paint. Of Louisville’s 250 tournament points, 134 have been in the paint.

U of L’s scoring margin in the tournament is +22.3, one of the biggest this season.