Games 383-384: Sweet 16's next

NCAA Tournament second round

384 - (12) Quinnipiac women at (4) Miami
March 20 at Watsco Center in Coral Gables, FL
ESPN

383 - (5) Tennessee women at (4) Louisville
March 20 at KFC Yum Center in Louisville, KY
ESPN

We watched some history in both games as Louisville started the night with a 75-64 win to advance to its fourth Sweet 16 in the last five seasons.

It's incredible to even be writing these words, but this was Tennessee's first-ever loss in 29 second-round games. Hard to win when you shoot 33% from the field, 27% from three-point range and your best player, Diamond DeShields, is a non-factor. DeShields finished with 15 points, but sat for a good portion of the second quarter with two fouls, missed nine of her 12 field goal attempts and just never got going.

Tennessee stayed close thanks to a great night from Jaime Nared (28 points, 11 rebounds).

Louisville's stand out sophomore, Asia Durr, wasn't at her best for much of the game - 23 points, though on just 8-of-22 shooting (1-of-8 from three) - but that didn't matter nearly as much as it might have because Mariya Moore picked up the slack.

The junior was a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range and had 19 points. It was a 47-46 Tennessee lead after three quarters before Moore took over at the start of the fourth. Moore scored the first eight points of the final period and her three at the 7:22 mark put her team up 54-47. The Volunteers got as close as 55-51, then Durr followed with consecutive jumpers to make it an eight-point game with just over five minutes to go.

In the nightcap, Quinnipiac got an absurd evening off the bench from Morgan Manz (22 points, 6-of-8! from three-point range) & continued its remarkable run, winning 85-78. I think the most impressed I was with Quinnipiac tonight was when they just kept the lead, though slim at times, throughout the stretch where top players Adily Martucci and Jen Fay sat each with four fouls.

The Bobcats' bench out-scored Miami's 41-8.

And, the Bobcats accomplished the following things Monday:

- Reached the school's first Sweet 16. This follows the first-ever NCAA win - a 68-65 triumph over Big East champion Marquette - in Saturday's opening round.

- Defeated a ranked team for the first time. Miami was No. 16 in the Associated Press final regular season poll.

- Defeated their first Atlantic Coast Conference team.

The Bobcats face top seed South Carolina in Stockton, CA this weekend with a spot in the Elite 8 on the line.

This is just great for womens basketball - a second team from Connecticut is also two wins from the Final Four.