A 3-0 start for the Alabama women’s basketball team was not in the cards. 

The Crimson Tide (2-1) fell Wednesday night to the University of South Florida Bulls in Tampa’s Yuengling Center. The Bulls (4-0) stayed undefeated with the 67-59 victory. 

Alabama squandered a six-point halftime lead, which it obtained after fighting back from a difficult first quarter and setting the tone in its favor. 

Leading the way for the Bulls’ offense was guard Sammie Puisis, who scored 24 second half points and 26 total in addition to hitting five 3-pointers. Fellow guard Elena Tsineke was South Florida’s other double-figures scorer with 22 points. 

“We obviously knew that Puisis is really good,” Alabama head coach Kristy Curry said. “[She] really shoots the ball really well, and we just really struggled to find her. We knew [Tsineke] is conference player of the year preseason [and] is really, really good. She hurt us in multiple ways.” 

“We had too many miscues and too many tendency mistakes, coupled with giving up points in transitions [and] the offensive glass,” Curry said. “Anytime that you’re on the road in this environment, and you’re playing a really good team, we’ve got to find ways to get more stops. Credit South Florida.” 

On Alabama’s side, Brittany Davis was largely a non-factor, not scoring until more than two minutes had gone by in the third quarter. She put up a season-low five points and missed all five of her attempts from beyond the arc. Stepping up in her place was JaMya Mingo-Young, who went a perfect 3-for-3 from long range and scored 14 — and Hannah Barber, whose three triples complemented her 11 points. 

Defensively, Mingo-Young collected five rebounds to lead the Crimson Tide on that side of the ball. Davis collected the most offensive rebounds by an Alabama player in the game with three. Mingo-Young, Davis and Aaliyah Nye each had five rebounds overall. 

Nevertheless, Alabama was outrebounded 46-30, primarily because of the Bulls’ efficiency on the offensive glass. Fifteen of the rebounds grabbed by the home team were offensive. USF also edged Alabama in free throws, 16-10, and hit two more field goals. 

“Anytime that you give up 15 offensive boards, you’re going to have a hard time against a really good team that’s picked to win their league,” Curry said. 

The Crimson Tide kept up the fight, even battling the deficit down to six points with less than a minute to go after trailing by double digits.  

It was too little, too late. 

“Our kids always have that fight attitude,” Curry said. “I really do feel like today will be a blessing in disguise. We can certainly all take a lot away from it.” 

Alabama will now travel to the Bahamas for the Pink Flamingo Championship. First on the agenda at that event is the University of Utah. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. CT on Monday, Nov. 21. 

Questions or comments? Email Austin Hannon (Sports Editor) at [email protected]