No. 3 Cardinals Contain No. 14 Vermont, 72-52

Saturday, March 21

LOUISVILLE, KY

12 PM

University of Louisville

28-7,15-3ACC

No. 14 Vermont

27-8,13-3America East

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Vermont	17	11	10	14	52
Louisville	16	16	23	17	72

Mackenly Randolph and Elif Istanbulluoglu celebrate versus Vermont

March 21, 2026 | Women's Basketball

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Louisville improves to 16-1 all-time in the first round under head coach Jeff Walz

By: Matt Paras

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The No. 3 seed Louisville women's basketball team (28-7) used a strong second half to pull away in the 72-52 win over No. 14 seed Vermont (27-8) Saturday afternoon at the KFC Yum! Center. After heading to the half with a four-point lead, Louisville outscored the Catamounts 23-10 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. With the win, Louisville improves to 16-1 in the 1st round of the NCAA Tournament under head coach Jeff Walz.

Mackenly Randolph continued her torrid play of late with a team-high 20 points and 11 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. She has had a double-double in four of her last five games and the 20 points was a career high for Randolph. She became the seventh player this season to score 20 points or more in a game for Louisville. Tajianna Roberts scored 12 points with a team-best four assists and two steals. She leads the team with 24 double-digit scoring games this season. Laura Ziegler added 12 points of her own with seven boards and Imari Berry tallied 10 points. It is the 34th time this season Louisville has had three or more players score 10-plus points in a game.

Vermont picked up the first basket of the game but the Cards responded with a 6-0 spurt to take the lead. Hardy got to work down low and to draw fouls and get four early points for the Cards. The Cards had a cold spell from the field and Vermont was able to take a 7-0 run to get the lead back. After the opening 10 minutes, Vermont had a slim 17-16 lead.

Louisville picked up the first five points in the second to jump back in front. Berry converted a three-point play after a layup and the foul to help the Cardinals build their lead. The Cards had back-to-back threes from Roberts and Randolph to grow the lead to five. The Cardinals were 3-for-4 from three in the second and took a 32-28 lead into the break.

The Louisville defense picked up the pace in the third quarter, holding the Catamounts scoreless for over four minutes. The Cards were able to go on a 9-0 run during that stretch and got the lead up to double digits for the first time in the afternoon. Randolph picked up her 10th rebound in the quarter for another double-double over the past few weeks. The Cards also started to catch fire from the field as they hit seven of their last eight shots to end the quarter. Heading into the final quarter, Louisville had a 55-38 lead.

Another big spurt for the Cards came at the start of the fourth quarter. They scored 10 of the first 13 points to get the lead above 20 and forced the Catamounts to burn a timeout. Randolph eclipsed the 20-point plateau for the first time in her career, the seventh Louisville player to score 20 or more points this season. The bench got valuable minutes to close out the game as the Cards picked up their 46th all-time win in the NCAA Tournament.

The Cardinals will host No. 6 seed Alabama on Monday at the KFC Yum! Center with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. The Cardinals and Crimson Tide will square off at 12 p.m. ET and it will be broadcast on ESPN.