Hailey Van Lith helps Louisville pull away from Kentucky in rivalry win

No. 7 Louisville and No. 14 Kentucky’s rivalry matchup lived up to the hype, with the Cardinals pulling out a thrilling 64-58 win on Saturday.

Hailey Van Lith led Louisville down the stretch, draining all four of her shots in the fourth quarter to help Louisville pull ahead of Kentucky.

Hailey Van Lith with the CLUTCH jumper with less than a minute to go
😱 @UofLWBB pic.twitter.com/IYfRbSUO8e

— espnW (@espnW) December 12, 2021

Louisville led Kentucky 19-13 at the end of the first quarter before the Wildcats went on an 11-2 run to go up 33-32 at the half.

The Cardinals succeeded at shutting down star guard Rhyne Howard but struggled to contain Robyn Benton, who led all scorers with 11 points at the break.

The Cardinals turned things around coming out of the locker room, going on a 7-0 run to open the third quarter and taking a five-point lead into the fourth. Chelsie Hall led Louisville with 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field, while Van Lith added 13 points, four rebounds and two steals.

CHELSIE HALL‼️

Watch @espn: https://t.co/hcM5CI9jhJ#GoCards pic.twitter.com/cHEe7vfAtZ

— Louisville WBB (@UofLWBB) December 12, 2021

Louisville took care of the basketball, committing 13 turnovers to Kentucky’s 21, and registered 10 steals.

With the win, Louisville improved to 8-1 on the season. Kentucky, meanwhile, fell to 6-3.

The Cardinals’ next top-10 matchup comes against UConn on Dec. 19 at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.