Led by Hailey Van Lith, Louisville survives and advances to NCAA Tournament round of 32

AUSTIN, Texas — Jeff Walz gave a simple command: calm down.

Louisville guard Chrislyn Carr had just committed a turnover on a bad pass to Hailey Van Lith in the third quarter of the Cardinals’ first-round game against No. 12-seed Drake in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday night at the Moody Center. Defensive lapses and mistakes had allowed the Bulldogs easy looks at the basket much of the night.

When fifth-seeded Louisville needed it most, however, Van Lith scored half of her game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter to beat Drake 83-81. Fifth-year senior guard Mykasa Robinson added 14 points along with seven assists, five rebounds and three steals.

U of L (24-11) moves on to face fourth-seeded Texas (26-9) on Monday at 7 p.m. in the second round of the tournament. The Cardinals beat the Longhorns, who were without freshman guard Rory Harmon at that time, in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in November.

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Van Lith, who finished 10 of 20 from the field and added three assists and two steals, made all three of her free-throw attempts in the final 16 seconds to hold off the Bulldogs (22-9).

"I knew I just had to keep it simple," Van Lith said of her crunch-time performance. "Sometimes I can make too many moves, and it'll make it tough on me. I knew I just had to work with my footwork, my jab steps, and I would get what I wanted."

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Drake made 51.8% (29 of 56) of its shots from the field and 47.1% (8 of 17) from 3-point range. It was the fourth time this season an opponent shot 50% or better against Louisville, and the second Missouri Valley Conference team (Belmont) to do so.

The Bulldogs went 21 of 38 on layup attempts. U of L junior forward Olivia Cochran, who finished with seven points and four rebounds, admitted the Cardinals were caught off guard by the volume.

"It was pretty impressive because they just went one layup after another after another, and then I thought the second half, if you go back and watch it, they just missed them,” Walz said. "I thought we wore them out some by being as aggressive as we were in trying to press full court and trying to get some traps. They missed some that they normally make but I think a lot of that was because of us.”

U of L was efficient as well, shooting 51.7% (33 of 64). It was just enough to keep the Bulldogs at bay.

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Tied at 54 near the end of the third quarter, Walz drew up a well-designed play that ended with Liz Dixon banking in a buzzer-beater to take the lead. Drake never regained the lead but got within one a handful of times in the final quarter, including on a Sarah Beth Gueldner 3 with 14 seconds remaining that made it 81-80.

Eleven seconds later, Louisville, ahead 83-80, opted to foul to prevent a potential game-tying 3-pointer and put Drake’s Anna Miller at the line. Miller made the first free throw and missed the second, but the Bulldogs couldn't snag the rebound for one last attempt to tie the game.

With Saturday's win, Louisville remains unbeaten in first-round games under Walz (14-0), who is in his 16th season leading the program.

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: NCAA Tournament scores: Louisville WBB wins close March Madness game