A shaky opening-round performance from leading scorer Emily Westerberg forced Arizona State to rely on a stingy defense to stay alive in the NCAA tournament. Louisville star Angel McCoughtry made sure there was no doubt her squad would advance.
Now those standout forwards will square off Monday in Los Angeles as their teams try to ride their highest seeds in program history into the round of 16.
Westerberg, who averages a team-high 13.5 points, was held to just eight points on 3-of-12 shooting as the third-seeded Sun Devils (29-4) rallied for a 57-50 victory over UC Riverside on Saturday. Arizona State rallied from a 15-point deficit with 13:10 left by closing the game on a 28-6 run.
"When you see the confidence in your coach's eyes and the confidence in your players' eyes, you know that you're going to do whatever it takes to win," the 6-foot senior forward said. "You know that even if you're down 15."
The Sun Devils hit only 9-of-27 shots and committed nine turnovers in the first half before the big finish extended its season.
"W-H-E-W. Whew," Sun Devils coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "That's called Sun Devil defense. Obviously, we did not shoot the ball very well. I mean to be able to shoot 35 percent and win a game in the NCAA tournament, that was just grit. It was absolute grit tonight."
It was quite a different first game in the tournament for McCoughtry, who helped lead the sixth-seeded Cardinals (27-7) to an 80-54 first-round win over 11th-seeded BYU on Saturday. The Big East player of the year recorded 24 points and nine rebounds.
"It was an average game for her," Cardinals coach Tom Collen said. "She amazingly steps up and makes shots with people in her face."
McCoughtry, who shot 8-of-15 from the field, boosted her season averages to 22.0 points and 10.6 rebounds. The 6-foot-1 sophomore helped the Cardinals win their first NCAA game since 1998 and avoid a first-round exit for the third straight season.
Louisville has never won a second-round game in 11 all-time trips to the NCAA tournament.
"We've had some tough draws," said Collen, whose team has already set the school record for victories. "But we were just too focused tonight on taking that extra step."
Jazz Covington, Louisville's second-leading scorer with 10.7 points, also had a strong game Saturday by shooting 6-of-9 from the field for 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds.
The Sun Devils have also set a school record for wins and are making their third straight NCAA appearance. Arizona State is going for its second trip to the regional semifinals in the last three seasons as it beat Eastern Kentucky and Notre Dame in 2005 before falling to North Carolina in the round of 16.
Several Arizona State players helped compensate for Westerberg's rough effort. Aubree Johnson had 11 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots while Briann January (15 points) and Danielle Orsillo (13) also scored in double figures.
Arizona State won 59-56 in the only meeting between these teams in 1983.