TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Coming off a win against an SEC rival where they did the near impossible, the Alabama Crimson Tide looked to ride the momentum of a hard fought comeback into their next matchup against the No.1 ranked South Carolina Lady Gamecocks.
Amidst the thunderous rounds of applause echoing throughout Colonial Life Arena, the Alabama women’s basketball team went through their pre-game warmups with demeanor. They embraced the challenge ahead as the underdogs, a familiar role for them, having previously upset the then No. 20 Louisville. Now, they were faced with another opportunity given the absence of South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso – the Lady Gamecocks’ top rebounder and scorer. However, despite the snow white jerseys outlined in garnet and black, the Tide faced an unexpected opponent on the court – themselves. The end result being a loss to the South Carolina Lady Gamecocks with a final score of 72-44.
In Alabama’s defense, the first quarter saw both teams struggling with sloppy play. The initial five minutes were tough to watch, resulting in a score of only 4-0 in favor of South Carolina. Offensive challenges plagued both sides, with numerous turnovers – Alabama gaining 5 and South Carolina finishing with 4. While Alabama seemed to be their own worst enemy, credit has to be given to Dawn Staley’s focus and attention on defense. South Carolina ranks first in the nation in blocks, and opponents field goal percentage. This matchup was a perfect example of that as Alabama went 0-9 with two minutes left in the first quarter. The struggles continued into the second quarter as South Carolina went on a 7-0 run, prompting Alabama head coach Kristy Curry to call a timeout nearly a minute into the quarter. It didn’t get any better from there as the Tide shot 3-20 from the field, finishing the first half with the lowest shooting halves in the SEC this year– shot 15% from the floor.
The second half played out much like the first, with one notable difference – Jessica Timmons brought some offensive energy. Starting the third quarter, Timmons led a 6-0 run for the Tide, emerging as the lone bright spot for Alabama’s offense as she finished the game with 20 points and 8 rebounds. However, despite her scoring output, Timmons points didn’t come easily as she finished 6-18 from the floor, and 1-5 from beyond the arc.
The Tide’s leading scorer for the season, Sarah Ashlee Barker, had a tough day as well. Not only mentally, but physically as she left the game early due to an undisclosed injury. Barker finished with 4 points and 6 rebounds, shooting 2-11 from the floor. Aaliyah Nye, the second-highest scorer for the Tide also struggled, managing only 3 points and 5 rebounds while shooting 1-9 from the field and 1-6 from three. Despite having 91 made threes this season, Nye was having trouble from deep this time around as she fell just short (by 2) of breaking Alabama’s record for three-pointers made.
South Carolina didn’t just contain Alabama’s newest 1,000-point club members; they limited two of the top scorers within the SEC to a mere 7 points combined – with ease. The Lady Gamecocks dominated in a way that left Alabama with little, to no response. Even Carolina’s bench contributed significantly, creating a massive 31-0 deficit in bench points. A true testament to the program Dawn Staley has built as she earned win No. 600.
“First off, congratulations to Dawn [Staley] on win number 600.” said head coach Kristy Curry.
“I have such great respect for all that she’s done for our game, all that she continues to do and how much she cares about everybody in our league being great. Congratulations to her team on winning the SEC. You have to credit South Carolina for finishing plays early and we did not, which put us on our heels, and we weren’t able to recover.”
With this victory, South Carolina extends to an impressive record of 43 consecutive regular season wins (SEC) and an outstanding 55-game winning streak at home, ranking them third in all-time.
For the Crimson Tide, they will now look to bounce back Sunday against Mississippi State at 4.pm inside Coleman Coliseum.
Jaylon Brooks serves as WVUA-FM’s senior women’s basketball writer and host of The Student Section: NFL Tuesdays 7 p.m. & The Crimson Case Fridays 12:15 p.m. on WVUA 90.7.
You can follow him on X @JaylonbrooksUA.
