By: McKayln Crabtree
Last week, the Alabama Crimson Tide topped Kentucky for their first win of the season in the Tide’s home
opener. Alabama looked to keep the win streak alive as they traveled to face the Auburn Tigers in a top 10
Iron Bowl showdown.
The Tide and Tigers kept it close after the first rotation, with high scores from Luisa Blanco
(9.925) and Cameron Machado (9.850) on the uneven bars. Still, Auburn took the lead by only
.050 as the Olympian Sunisa Lee scored a 9.875 in her vault debut.
During the second rotation, the Tigers increased the lead by .325, which is significantly deficient
in gymnastics. Shallon Olsen kicked off the vault rotation with a season-high score of 9.900;
however, the Tide missed several opportunities as several complex routines hurt the team in the
long run.
Auburn won the third rotation on the beam, with Lee scoring a 9.975 and Gabby McLaughlin a
9.925 to increase the tigers lead 147.975-147.475. Despite having a .100 advantage in the
rotation, it was not enough for the Tide to overcome the Tigers. Alabama tried to make a
comeback in the fourth rotation as the team finished with the second-highest balance beam total in program history but fell short. Auburn won 197.525-197.125.
Alabama is now 1-3 to start the season with other losses at #3 Oklahoma and #4 Florida. Next
Friday, the Tide will have a double-header at home against Western Michigan and UNC and try
to add two more wins to their record. The rest of the schedule does not get any easier as the Tide
will welcome the Georgia Bulldogs at home before traveling to LSU, Arkansas, and #10
Missouri.
Coach Dana Duckworth and the Tide will need to use the home advantage for the next two
weeks to give the team a boost of confidence and to clean up some of the littlest mistakes. The
double-header will kick off at 7:30 p.m. next week.
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