Tennessee Lady Vols unable to come back, fall 76-64 to Louisville in Sweet 16

WICHITA, Kan. – A trip to the Elite Eight was within Tennessee's grasp. The Lady Vols had cut Louisville's lead – which was a large as 15 points in the second quarter – down to two points at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

However, Tennessee turned the ball over four times in a row, and the Cardinals went on a 8-0 run to get their lead back up to 10 points just minutes later.

Wichita was the end of the road for No. 4 seed Tennessee (25-9) in the NCAA Tournament, falling 76-64 to No. 1 seed Louisville (28-4) Saturday at Intrust Arena. The Sweet 16 run was the furthest Tennessee had gone in the NCAA Tournament since 2016.

"On paper I'm not sure we're supposed to cut that game to two in the fourth quarter," Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said. "But you don't play on paper. You play with players who are out there fighting and clawing."

The Lady Vols flipped the script from behind the arc after halftime, hitting 4-of-6 in the third to outscore Louisville 22-16 and make it a five-point game going into the fourth. Tess Darby was a perfect 3-for-3 after missing all three of her attempts in the first half. Rae Burrell, who had 15 of her 22 points in the second half, hit a 3-pointer to end the third quarter and reclaim some momentum. It just wasn't enough to overcome Louisville's defense.

Hailey Van Lith led the Cardinals with 23 points and Emily Engstler added 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Tennessee leading scorer and rebounder Jordan Horston remained unavailable, still rehabbing from an elbow injury she suffered on Feb. 17.

"She did everything for us," Harper said of Horston. "You might cover one area, but it's just really hard to cover all those areas ... So proud of our team for stepping up and giving it their all to be able to do that. That was hard to do. That's an All-American candidate that they lost. They hung in there and made plays, found ways to win without her."

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Louisville creates separation in second quarter

Tennessee only trailed by five after the first quarter, despite going 1-of-8 from 3-point range compared to Louisville going 3-for-8.

But the Cardinals opened the second quarter on a 8-0 run, aided by Tennessee turnovers. By halftime, the Lady Vols had eight turnovers and Louisville scored nine points off of them and held a 39-28 lead. Tennessee continued to try to close the gap with 3-pointers and missed all four in the second quarter. Tennessee ended with 18 turnovers, which Louisville scored 21 points off of.

Karoline Striplin gave the Lady Vols some welcome production off the bench, hitting both of her jumpers and going 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. The freshman had seven points and five rebounds by halftime.

"Karoline Striplin was fantastic today," Harper said. "She didn't get a lot of minutes early in the season, and her and Kaiya Wynn got in the gym every single day, and they worked hard every single day. That's the toughness we had throughout the season from everybody. When you have everyone like that pulling together, it's just a good feeling and it's why we were able to accomplish what we did."

Lady Vols struggle to take advantage of Key

Tamari Key's height was one of Tennessee's only advantages going into game. The 6-foot-6 junior didn't get a shot attempt until there was 2:46 left in the second quarter.

Key was on the boards for Tennessee and drew some fouls, but the Lady Vols struggled to get her the ball and settled for jump shots and 3-pointers in the first half. Key scored 34 points in Tennessee's first two games of the NCAA Tournament.

When Key gets 10 or more shots off in a game, she has an average of 17.1 points, 9.4 rebounds and shoots 60.5%. Key recorded three double-doubles in Tennessee's last eight games.

She ended Saturday with three points, 10 rebounds and one block.

Tennessee wins rebounds, but Cardinals offense prevails

Tennessee won the battle on the glass in the first half, out-rebounding Louisville 30-23. The Lady Vols had 15 offensive boards and scored 12 second chance points.

The Lady Vols are averaging a program record of 48 rebounds per game, and they capitalized on that strength against the Cardinals. Tennessee out-rebounded Louisville 52-36 and the Cardinals, who grabbed 11 offensive rebounds in the first half, only had two in the second.

But it didn't matter with Louisville's offense on a roll in the second half, shooting 48.1% from the field.

Cora Hall: Covering UT women's athletics
Twitter | cora.hall@knoxnews.com
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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee Lady Vols' season ends with Sweet 16 loss to Louisville