Dana Evans scored 29 points and Louisville, No. 2, entered the elite eight of the NCAA women’s tournament on Sunday night with a 60:42 win over Oregon in sixth place. The Cardinals meet Stanford Louisville (26-3) in the Alamo region on Tuesday evening and continued their outstanding defensive game, keeping Oregon (15-9) on 14 points in the first half, six of them in the second quarter. Evans provided the offensive. After going goalless in the first quarter, the All-America Guard began to warm up. In Oregon, she was guarded in the opening phase by newcomer Maddie Scherr before she injured her ankle and had to drop out of the game. Evans responded with 13 points in the second round and ended the period with a nifty drive and dish right before the buzzer to give Louisville a 29-14 lead during the break. Oregon bounced back in the second half and reduced its deficit to 10 after three quarters. The ducks fell 41-33 with 50 seconds in the third after two free throws from Nyara Sabally. 20 seconds later, she sustained a left ankle injury when stepping on a teammate’s foot. Sabally had to be helped off the pitch. She did not return and finished the game with 14 points. The Ducks came in at 43:37 early in the fourth quarter, but seven direct points from Evans – including two deep 3-point points – started a 13-0 run that postponed the game. Evans ended her night on a quick pause after a spectacular pass behind Mykasa Robinson, who stole the ball with a minute from time. Oregon attempted to reach the fourth consecutive Elite Eight and second consecutive Final Four. The Ducks struggled to get into the NCAA tournament, falling five out of six before making it to Texas. Evans was also struggling late in the season and hadn’t played well in the first two games of the tournament. She hadn’t scored more than 15 points in any of the five ACC or NCAA tournament games before Sunday. The Cardinals hadn’t played well at the start of one of their NCAA games. Before the game, coach Jeff Walz joked that he would change his pre-game speech after the Cardinals were a quarter-quarter behind Marist by nine and Northwestern by 15 points, a 10-8 lead after the opening quarter. The teams shot 9 to 35 minutes in the first 10 minutes. MISFIRED The Ducks missed all nine 3-point attempts in the first half and finished the game 2 to 18. INDY BOUND, Oregon coach Kelly Graves, will travel to Indianapolis to support his son. Will, who is a companion for the Gonzaga men’s team. The undefeated Bulldogs play in an elite eight game against Southern California or Oregon on Tuesday.
SAN ANTONIO –
Dana Evans scored 29 points and Louisville, No. 2, entered the elite eight of the NCAA women’s tournament on Sunday night with a 60:42 win over Oregon in sixth place.
The Cardinals face Stanford in the Alamo region final on Tuesday night.
Louisville (26-3) continued his outstanding defensive game and kept Oregon (15-9) on 14 points in the first half, six of them in the second quarter.
Evans made the offense. After going goalless in the first quarter, the All-America Guard began to warm up. In Oregon, she was guarded in the opening phase by newcomer Maddie Scherr before she injured her ankle and had to drop out of the game. Evans responded with 13 points a second, ending the period with a nifty drive and a dish right before the buzzer to give Louisville a 29-14 lead at break.
Oregon bounced back in the second half and reduced its deficit to ten after three quarters. The ducks fell 41-33 with 50 seconds in the third after two free throws from Nyara Sabally. 20 seconds later, she sustained a left ankle injury when stepping on a teammate’s foot. Sabally had to be helped off the pitch. She did not return and finished with 14 points.
The Ducks came in at 43:37 early in the fourth quarter, but seven direct points from Evans – including two deep 3-point points – started a 13-0 run that postponed the game.
Evans ended her night on a quick pause after a spectacular pass behind Mykasa Robinson, who stole the ball with a minute from time.
Oregon attempted to reach its fourth consecutive Elite Eight and second consecutive Final Four. The Ducks had struggled to get into the NCAA tournament and lost five out of six before getting to Texas.
Evans also struggled late in the season and hadn’t played well in the first two games of the tournament. She hadn’t scored more than 15 points in any of the five ACC or NCAA tournament games before Sunday.
The Cardinals hadn’t played well at the start of one of their NCAA games. Coach Jeff Walz joked before the game that he would change his pre-game speech after the Cardinals failed in the first round against Marist after a quarter at nine and against Northwestern at 15.
Louisville didn’t fire it early this time either, but took a 10-8 lead after the opening quarter. The teams shot together 9 for 35 in the first 10 minutes.
MISFIRED
The Ducks missed all nine 3-point attempts in the first half and ended game 2 for 18.
INDY BOUND
Oregon coach Kelly Graves will travel to Indianapolis to support his son Will, who is a companion for the Gonzaga men’s team. The undefeated Bulldogs play in an elite eight game against Southern California or Oregon on Tuesday.
