The 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament continued Sunday with two highly anticipated Elite Eight games.
No. 3 LSU kicked off the night, taking down No. 9 Miami (Fla.). Later, 2-seed Iowa beat 5-seed Louisville.
The remaining Final Four teams will be decided Monday among 1-seed South Carolina or 2-seed Maryland, and 1-seed Virginia Tech or 3-seed Ohio State.
Here are the highlights!
FINAL: No. 2 Iowa 97, No. 5 Louisville 83
Fear the Bird
Louisville came out breathing fire, beginning the game on an 8-0 run and forcing an Iowa timeout just 2: 15 into the first quarter. Hailey Van Lith chipped in six of those points.
Caitlin Clark arrives
Clark promptly got the Hawkeyes into the game, going on a 7-0 run by herself. Her second bucket came off a steal, which she turned into a layup.
What a shot!
They may have been playing in Seattle, but Clark hit this 3-pointer from Iowa City.
3-ball is falling
In what was an electric first quarter, Chrislyn Carr hit a trio of 3-pointers for Louisville.
The Dimes
Clark went off in the first quarter, scoring 15 points, but she also recorded four scintillating assists, two of which are shown below.
Iowa led 25-21 after the first quarter.
Creating
Louisville’s Mykasa Robinson used the crossover to divert just enough attention off Olivia Cochran, who laid in the underneath bucket off the Robinson assist.
What a half
Clark finished the first half with 22 points, eight assists and two steals, helping the Hawkeyes take a 48-43 lead into halftime.
Meanwhile, Van Lith put up 17 points of her own, three of which are shown below.
Trying to stay in it
Louisville cut Iowa’s lead to one, but then the Hawkeyes went on an 11-0 run thanks to a pair of 3-balls from Gabbie Marshall. Trying to narrow the gap, Van Lith later got Louisville to within 10 points with her third 3-pointer.
Pulling away
Iowa led by as many as 21 points in the third quarter thanks to its second 11-0 run and led 78-59 after the quarter. It continued to control the game in the fourth, as Marshall forced a turnover and Clark found her down the court for the score.
Still fighting
Louisville cut Iowa’s lead to 10 when Cochran scored out of the post for her 20th point of the night. Cochran finished with a double-double (20 points and 14 rebounds).
In the end, though, the Hawkeyes prevailed.
FINAL: No. 3 LSU 54, No. 9 Miami (Fla.) 42
I’ll be taking that
LSU struck first when Alexis Morris forced a steal and then turned the turnover into points off the assist from Angel Reese.
Knifing through the defense
Morris scored LSU’s first four points, her second bucket coming off a coast-to-coast layup.
The Tigers led 10-8 after the first quarter.
The Jasmyne Roberts Show
Roberts scored eight of the Hurricanes’ first 12 points and later scored eight consecutive points for Miami, the first bucket of that run shown below.
Roberts finished the first half with 16 of Miami’s 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting from the field.
Making it work
Reese got the steal and made a remarkable pass to keep the ball inbounds. One pass later, Sa’Myah Smith got a fastbreak bucket on the other end of the floor for LSU. The bucket began a 6-0 run for the Tigers.
LSU led 26-20 at halftime.
Precision
Shortly after the halftime break, Kateri Poole threw the ball inside to Reese, who somehow caught the pass with one hand behind a defender’s head and got the underneath basket.
Big-time denial
Even though LSU scored off the ensuing inbounds pass, Miami’s Lazaria Spearman emphatically denied Smith’s inside shot attempt.
LSU led 38-27 after the third quarter.
Pulling away
With the double-team closing in on Morris, she found a wide-open Poole in the corner, who knocked down the first 3-pointer of the game for either team. The long ball gave LSU a 16-point lead with 7: 10 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Making a run
Miami went on an 8-0 run to cut LSU’s lead in half midway through the fourth. Spearman and Lashae Dwyer each chipped in four points on the run.
Morris cannot be stopped
Morris sliced and diced her way into the paint for a nifty layup, ending Miami’s 8-0 run.
A few minutes later, Morris evaded a double-team and crossed up Spearman to get the layup. She finished the night with a team-high 21 points.
COMING UP:
No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 2 Maryland (Monday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN)
No. 1 Virginia Tech vs. No. 3 Ohio State (Monday, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN)
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