Louisville comes back from 18 down to beat Northwestern

Kianna Smith scored 16 points and No. 2 seed Louisville advanced to the Sweet 16 by rallying from an early 18-point deficit to beat seventh-seeded Northwestern 62-53 on Wednesday night at the Alamodome.

The Cardinals (25-3) got off to another rough start, trailing 25-7 late in the first quarter. The deficit was 40-28 midway through the third quarter before the Cardinals scored 17 straight points.

The game was tied at 40 heading into the fourth, and Louisville increased its first lead to 45-40 before Lindsay Pulliam — Northwestern’s third-ever 2,000point scorer — got her only basket of the game.

The Wildcats (16-9) closed to 53-50 on Jordan Hamilton’s 3-pointer with 3:26 left. They had a chance to move closer, but Veronica Burton missed two free throws 30 seconds later.

Louisville didn’t miss from the line in the final two minutes as the Cardinals converted nine of 10 free throws to seal the game.

OREGON 57, GEORGIA 50 Sedona Prince scored 22 points, Nyara Sabally took over late and the sixth-seeded Ducks beat the No. 3 Bulldogs at the Alamodome to advance their fourth straight Sweet 16.

Sabally scored six straight points — including a putback of her own missed shot — to break open a tie game and give the Ducks (15-8) a 54-48 lead with less than a minute to go. She finished with 15 points, including 10 in the second half, and nine rebounds.

MARYLAND 100, ALABAMA 64 The Terrapins and their offensive juggernaut are rolling fast and easy into the Sweet 16, getting 19 points from Angel Reese and overwhelming the Crimson Tide at Bill Greehey Arena.

Second-seeded Maryalnd (27-2) came into the tournament with the nation’s highest-scoring offense and hasn’t taken its foot off the gas. The Terps are averaging 99 points in their two tournament wins after its seventh 100-point game of the season.

INDIANA 70, BELMONT 48

Grace Berger scored 17 points and the fourth-seeded Hoosiers used another suffocating defensive effort to beat the Bruins to earn the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance.

MISSOURI STATE 64 WRIGHT STATE 39

Elle Ruffridge had a careerhigh 20 points with five 3-pointers, Jasmine Franklin had a double-double and the fifth-seeded Lady Bears are going to their second consecutive Sweet 16 after knocking off the Raiders in a matchup of mid-major teams at the UTSA Convocation Center.