What a start to Monday’s second round action.
No. 3 Louisville survived against No. 6 Alabama, 69-68, in a back-and-forth thriller that featured a tournament-most 18 lead changes and eight ties.
Alabama held a 35-34 halftime lead and almost the entirety of the second half was at-most a two possession game. The Crimson Tide, who went 7 for 13 from 3-point range in the first half, finished 46% from behind the arc (12 for 26), led by junior Diana Collins, freshman Ace Austin and senior Karly Weathers, who scored a combined 44 points and connected on a 12 combined 3s. Weathers hit a 3 in the final seconds to pull the Crimson Tide within one, but they would fall just short of their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1998.
The Cardinals, normally a strong free throw shooting team, struggled from the line, going 8 for 16 (50%) as a team. But sophomore Imari Berry hit the two biggest free throws of the day with 8.2 seconds left to give Louisville a four-point lead, enough to fend off one last push from Alabama. Louisville had a trio of double-digit scorers, led by an 18-point, 11-rebound double-double from junior Elif Istanbullluoglu, an 18-point performance from sophomore Tajianna Roberts and a nine-point, 13-rebound showing from sophomore Mackenly Randolph.
- Perfect bracket tracker: Most of the remaining perfect brackets had Louisville advancing to the Sweet 16. With the Cardinal’s win, there’s estimated to be over 200 perfect brackets remaining.
