Louisville women's basketball holds off Alabama to reach NCAA Sweet 16

Laura Ziegler brought the floor slap back. Two days prior, the third-seeded Louisville women’s basketball team did it together to start the second half of its NCAA Tournament first-round game against 14 th -seeded Vermont . UofL had just turned the ball over when Ziegler did it.

This time, alone. Seconds later, she blocked a shot and let out a yell that ignited the KFC Yum! Center .

In her final performance in Louisville (29-7), Ziegler's energy level and leadership was what Louisville needed to survive sixth-seeded Alabama (24-11), 69-68, on Monday. Ziegler finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. Here are three takeaways from the Cards’ Round of 32 victory: Louisville shakes off shooting struggles The Cardinals opened the game with a layup from Anaya Hardy but also missed their first seven 3-point attempts.

They got good looks, but the shots weren’t falling. Taj Roberts made the team’s first 3-pointer at the 1:58 mark of the first quarter, which ended with UofL going 7-for-17 from the field. Louisville settled into its game, though, and kept shooting.