BATON ROUGE, La. — Savannah Wheeler scored 20 of her 22 points in the second half, and No. 11 seed Middle Tennessee overcame an 18-point, second quarter deficit to defeat sixth-seeded Louisville 71-69 in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Friday. Louisville has appeared in 15 of the last 16 women's NCAA Tournaments under coach Jeff Walz.
Jalynn Gregory scored 24 for MTSU (30-4), which won its 20th straight game and has not lost since falling to Grand Canyon on Dec. 30. The Blue Raiders matched the third largest comeback in the opening rounds in tournament history.
Center Anastasiia Boldyreva had 11 points, 12 rebounds and three blocked shots for the Blue Raiders, who advanced to the second round of the tournament for the fifth time and first since 2007.
MTSU plays Sunday against the winner of Friday’s game between No. 3 seed LSU and 14th-seeded Rice.
Olivia Cochran had 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Nina Rickards scored 12 points for Louisville (24-10), which nearly came back from an eight-point deficit in the final two minutes. The Cardinals had advanced to five straight regional finals before this season.
Sydney Taylor’s 3 with 5 seconds left made it 71-69, and MTSU’s Ta’Mia Scott missed two free throws. That allowed Merissah Russell to try a half-court shot for the win that hit the backboard and rim before bouncing out.
Louisville built a big early lead in part by hitting four of its first five 3-point attempts, with a different player making each one.
The Blue Raiders appeared unnerved early, missing 10 of their first 13 shots. The first period ended with Russell stealing the ball from Boldyreva and converted a breakaway layup just before the final horn to give the Cardinals a 28-12 lead.
Louisville led by as many as 18 points when Russell’s 3 made it 38-20 with 4:18 left in the second quarter, but that’s when MTSU began to close the gap.
Scott’s layup, Gregory’s 3 and Wheeler’s layup cut it to 38-27 at halftime, and MTSU carried that momentum into the third quarter, closing to 44-40 on Wheeler’s second 3 of the game.
Another Wheeler 3, followed by Scott’s three free throws after she was fouled on the perimeter, tied it at 48 with 1:33 left in the third. Wheeler then converted an explosive drive through several converging defenders into a layup, capping an 8-0 run that put the Blue Raiders in front 50-48 and set up a tension-filled fourth quarter.
BIG PICTURE
MTSU: Wheeler was fearless after a tentative start, hitting five of seven shots — including all three 3-pointers she took — in the second half. The Blue Raiders continued to rely heavily on their starters. This was the seventh time this season they had no bench points.
Louisville: After shooting nearly 47% in the first half, the Cardinals made just 33.3% in the second, when they missed six of seven 3-point attempts. The Cardinals lost despite outrebounding MTSU 41-34 and outscoring the Blue Raiders 34-22 in the paint.
UP NEXT
The Blue Raiders are back in action on Sunday while Louisville season ends one victory short of a potential opportunity to face former teammate Hailey Van Lith, now with LSU, in the second round.