Destiny Harden scored a pivotal midrange jumper at horn to complete a one-woman recovery. Miami won the final 17 points and stunned No. In Friday night’s quarterfinals, Louisville defeated 61-59.
With 5:44 remaining, the second-seeded Cardinals led by 59 to 44. However, the seventh-seeded Hurricanes made a dramatic rally that turned what appeared to be a Louisville win into an astonishing reversal.
Harden was the only one to do it. He scored the last 15 points of the game for Miami (19-11), en route to 27 points with 11-for-15 shooting. This included the game-winning 3-pointer from Harden’s left wing, which took 31 seconds.
With 1.7 seconds remaining, Miami took the ball from the Cardinals, who had committed a shot clock violation. Harden was hit on the right side by Kelsey Marshall’s one-bounce pass. Harden caught and turned over Hailey Van Lith, launching a shot that landed all the way.
Van Lith stared in shock as the horn sounded. The Hurricanes bench rushed onto the court right beside her to begin a baseline celebration.
Chelsie Hall scored 13 to lead the Cardinals (25-4), which missed their last five shots in order to see the lead disappear amid Harden’s onslaught.
BIG PICTURE
Miami: The Hurricanes won five of six regular season games and are likely to be on the right side in the NCAA Tournament bubble. In Thursday’s second round they beat Duke (10th seed), with Katie Meier, their coach, saying that she doesn’t think there is any doubt that the Hurricanes belong in the big dance. This is especially true after taking down a team that spent the entire year ranked amongst the nation’s elite.
Louisville: For the fifth consecutive season, the Cardinals were a top-2 seed in the tournament. They lost their matchup against regular-season champion, third-ranked North Carolina State, and were defeated at No. On February 17, 16 North Carolina lost by one point, but they had won their previous three matches — including the blowout win at Notre Dame (41-3) — and coach Jeff Walz said that his team’s attention was sharper. This was the case until Harden and Hurricanes changed everything.
UP NEXT
Miami: The Hurricanes reached Saturday’s semifinals and will face the Georgia Tech–Notre Dame winner.
Louisville: The Cardinals must wait to see which seeds they receive in the NCAA Tournament.
