Cards advance to Elite Eight with 76-64 win over Tennessee

(WAVE) - Hailey Van Lith scored 23 points and dished out six assists and Emily Engstler had 20 points and 10 rebounds as the top seeded Cards beat #4 seed Tennessee 76-64 in an NCAA Sweet 16 game in Wichita, Kansas on Saturday.

UofL advances to the Elite Eight for the seventh time in school history and the fourth straight year.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well,” UofL head coach Jeff Walz said. “Not the way we have been shooting, and we had great looks. So I think it’s encouraging to sit here and look at this and say, we came away with a win and didn’t shoot it all that well.”

They shot 42% from the field for the game and were outrebounded 52-36, but the Vols turned the ball over 18 times.

UT did cut a 15 point deficit to just two early in the fourth quarter, but the Cards quickly responded.

“We practiced telling each other to stay calm and collected,” Engstler said. “I think Coach Walz has been telling us that for the past week. That’s where we faltered when we took losses. And we wanted to change everything we did wrong so we wouldn’t lose in the fourth quarter again, and that’s exactly what we did.”

The Cards improve to 28-4, Tennessee finishes 24-9.

UofL will face #3 seed Michigan (25-6) on Monday night at 9 p.m. in the Wichita Region final. The Cards beat the Wolverines 70-48 on December 2 in the KFC Yum! Center.