Hailey Van Lith keeps No. 1 seed Louisville rolling past No. 4 Tennessee into Elite 8

Tennessee refused to back down.

But top-seed Louisville was just too strong on Saturday as it held off a Lady Vols rally for a 76-64 win to punch its ticket to the Elite Eight of the women's NCAA tournament. The Cardinals threatened to run away with things early while opening a 30-15 lead. They maintained a 55-45 edge with 3:05 left in the third.

But Tennessee, a No. 4 seed, responded with an 8-0 run to cut its deficit to 55-53 early in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals responded with backcourt ball pressure from Emily Engstler that forced a bad pass by Alexus Dye into the hands of Louisville's Kianna Smith. Engstler was rewarded with a transition layup on the other end to stop the Tennessee run and maintain the Louisville lead.

Tennessee didn't get within two points again.

As she's done throughout the tournament, Hailey Van Lith came up big in the Cardinals win. A day after calling out Louisville's doubters, the sophomore guard led the Louisville effort with 23 points, six assists and three rebounds. It was her third 20-point effort in as many NCAA tournament games after dropping 20 on Albany in the opening round and 21 on Gonzaga in Round 2. Engstler added 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Louisville secured the win despite a 41.8% shooting effort from the field and a 13-of-21 (61.1%) clip from the free-throw line. It made its mark on the game much like it has all season on defense, forcing 18 Tennessee turnovers while holding the Lady Vols to 36.4% shooting from the field.

WNBA prospect Rae Burrell led Tennessee with 22 points and six rebounds in her final college game as a senior. Fellow senior Jordan Walker was the only other Tennessee player in double figures with 10 points and four assists.