Louisville defeats Ole Miss to reach Elite Eight

This story will be updated.

SEATTLE - Taking on Ole Miss for an unexpected matchup in the Sweet Sixteen round of the NCAA Tournament, the Louisville's women's basketball program was able to keep their dream of a national championship alive, slugging their way to a 72-62 victory Friday night at Climate Pledge Arena.

The fifth-seeded Cardinals (26-11, 12-6 ACC) clinch their fifth consecutive trip to the Elite Eight, where a showdown against No. 2 Iowa on Sunday for a trip to the Final Four awaits them. It's their seventh appearance in the Elite Eight since 2013, and eighth overall.

Louisville narrowly avoided a showdown with top-seeded Stanford, whom the eighth-seeded Rebels (25-9, 11-5 SEC) upset in the Round of 32. Ole Miss used a stifling defensive performance against Stanford to reach the Sweet Sixteen, but it was Louisville and their surging defense that won the day.

Both teams struggled to get into an offensive flow early, as was expected, but it was Louisville who found their groove first. After Ole Miss jumped out to an early 9-3 lead, the Cardinals then went on a 21-6 run throughout the rest of the first quarter and into the first minute-plus of the second.

Just when it seemed like the Rebels were on the verge of getting blown out, they found a spark of life and fired off a 14-3 run to briefly jump back in front. However, Louisville clamped back down on defense, countering with a 7-0 run to take a 34-29 lead into the half. Outside of that Ole Miss run, where they shot 6-of-7, the Rebels were held to just 6-of-26 by the Cardinals, who shot 13-of-28 for the entire half.

The two teams traded barbs over the first five minutes of the second half, then Louisville slowly started building a decent cushion. They ended the third quarter on an 11-4 run, giving them a double digit lead by the end of the period. Ole Miss gave Louisville a scare after trimming their lead to just five with under five minutes to go, but they were able to keep the Rebels at arm's length for just long enough to capture the win.