Iowa Women's Basketball set to face Louisville in the Elite Eight
Friday evening, the Iowa Women’s Basketball team defeated the 6 seed Colorado 87-77 to punch their ticket to the Elite Eight. It is their fifth Elight Eight appearance and their first since 2019 when they fell to 1 seed Baylor. The Hawkeyes will face the 5 seed Louisville Cardinals on Sunday, with a spot in the Final Four in Dallas, Texas on the line. Iowa is 1-3 all-time in the Elite Eight and 5-4 against ACC teams in the NCAA Tournament.
Louisville defeated 8 seed Ole Miss in their Sweet Sixteen matchup to advance to face the Hawkeyes. G Hailey Van Lith led all scorers with 21 points on 7/18 shooting. After that, it was balanced scoring for the Cardinals. Five other players scored at least eight points, while G Mykasa Robinson finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Louisville shot 27/59 (45.8%) from the floor and 5/12 from three-point range. They outrebounded the Rebels 38-35.
Taking a quick look at the Cardinals, they own a 26-11 record, while they finished in a tie for fourth in the ACC with a 12-6 record. They have a 9-11 record against Quad 1 opponents and a 5-7 record against the NET Top 25. Louisville went 5-10 against NCAA Tournament participants during the regular season. They defeated 12 Drake, 4 seed Texas and now, 8 seed Ole Miss to get to this point.
The Cardinals offense ranks 46th in the country in scoring offense (73.1 ppg), while their defense is ranked 134th (63.4 ppg). Louisville averages the most possessions out of the Hawkeyes four opponents in the tournament, but still ranks 140th (71.1). The offense is led by honorable mention All-American point guard Hailey Van Lith. She is averaging 19.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game, but shoots just 28.8% from behind the arc. G Chrislyn Carr is second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.2 points per game and leads the team with 84 made three-pointers (42.6%).
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This will be the third all-time meeting between Iowa and Louisville. The Cardinals lead the series 2-0 and won the last meeting back in 2014 86-52. Louisville has an all-time record of 44-24 in the NCAA Tournament, including a 5-2 mark in the Elite Eight. The Cardinals are 7-3 against Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament.
The Hawkeyes and Cardinals will face off on Sunday evening at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Tipoff is set for 8:00pm CT and the game will be televised on ESPN.
