She won a state title with Carver. Now, she’s two wins away from NCAA tournament title
A Columbus native will be on national TV Friday night, playing in the NCAA Women’s Final Four.
Olivia Cochran, who led the Carver High School girls basketball team to a state title in 2019, is a starting forward for the Louisville Cardinals. They will play South Carolina in the first of two national semifinals, televised by ESPN-TV from the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Tipoff time is 7 p.m., followed by Connecticut against Stanford. The winners advance to Sunday’s 8 p.m. national championship game.
Cochran, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, is averaging 8.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game this season. She played a key role during the fourth quarter of Louisville’s 62-50 Elite Eight victory Monday night over Michigan in Wichita, Kansas.
Louisville’s scoring drought of more than five minutes allowed Michigan to cut the margin from seven to two points. That’s when Cochran shined.
Cochran scored the next six points on three layups to help the Cardinals seal the win. She finished the game with nine points and four rebounds in 20 minutes amid foul trouble. She also took a charge from Michigan All-American Naz Hillmon, nullifying the basket, despite being one foul away from fouling out of the game.
And she produced these highlights while wearing a mask to protect the black eye she suffered from errant elbow during the Sweet 16 victory over Tennessee.
All of which explains why the Louisville Courier Journal’s headline declared Cochran came through at money time.
“Olivia is so big-time for us that we can’t appreciate her enough,” Louisville guard Hailey Van Lith was quoted as saying.
In a previous Courier Journal story, Cochran was described as the player who does “the dirty work” for Louisville.
“I’m trying to get to a national championship,” Cochran was quoted as saying. “Whatever I have to do to win I’m going to do that. It’s making sure everybody does their role.”
This story was originally published March 30, 2022 at 11:50 AM.
