BATON ROUGE, La. — The sixth-seeded Louisville women’s basketball team’s first-round NCAA Tournament game against 11th-seeded Middle Tennessee went how plenty of other games have gone for the Cardinals.

They start strong and seem to click on all cylinders.

But a quarter of defensive lapses and offensive lulls were their downfall as the Cardinals fell to the Raiders, 71-69, during the Round of 64 on Friday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. This is the first time the Cardinals have lost in the first round under head coach Jeff Walz, finishing the season 24-10. It’s also U of L’s second straight loss to MTSU after the Cardinals’ road loss a year ago.

Here are two takeaways from the NCAA Tournament opener:

Giving up the lead

Louisville led by as many as 18 points in the first half, taking advantage of Middle Tennessee’s shooting struggles. The Raiders shot 28.6% from the field in the first quarter, with guard Savannah Wheeler going scoreless. The Cardinals were successful from beyond the arc, knocking down five 3-pointers in the first half. They went up, 38-20, midway through the second quarter after Merissah Russell knocked down a shot from long distance.

But it didn’t last as Louisville fell out of an offensive rhythm and Middle Tennessee narrowed its deficit to 11 by the end of the half.

The Raiders then outscored the Cardinals, 24-12, in the third quarter to take their first lead. Wheeler finished the game with 22 points, going 3 for 5 beyond the arc, after coming alive in the second half.

Too many fouls

U of L was without forward Olivia Cochran for much of the third quarter after the senior picked up her fourth foul. She’d been the Cardinals’ leading scorer during the game, and without her, no other Louisville player was able to keep MTSU from building on the momentum as guards Nina Rickards and Jayda Curry also played with four fouls before they fouled out in the final minute. It put Jalynn Gregory at the free-throw line twice as the Raiders went up, 69-64.

When Cochran returned to start the fourth quarter, Middle Tennessee’s posts played more aggressively. Anastasiia Boldyreva scored four of the team’s first six points to start the quarter.

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on X at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville vs Middle Tennessee in March Madness: Cards fall in first round