After a rough fourth quarter, Alabama women’s basketball took a tough 72-44 loss to the No. 1/1 South Carolina Gamecocks inside Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina. This leaves the Crimson Tide at 7-6 in the SEC as conference play starts to wind down.
With this game, the Gamecocks got their eighth SEC champ title, and head coach Dawn Staley celebrated her 600th career win.
“Congratulations to Dawn on win No. 600,” Alabama head coach Kristy Curry said. “I have such great respect for all that she’s done for our game and what she continues to do.”
The game started strong for the Crimson Tide’s defense, which held the No. 1 team in the nation scoreless for almost three minutes, but two layups by Gamecock guard Bree Hall broke the seal to end the fight for Alabama.
After a 11-6 first quarter, the Gamecocks came back hard, holding the Crimson Tide to only 5 points from two layups and a free throw from guards Aaliyah Nye and Loyal McQueen, compared to 22 points of their own, which was set up by a 19-point scoring run.
The Crimson Tide found a better groove at the start of the second half, scoring 17 in the third quarter. However, guard Sarah Ashlee Barker, who is usually one of Alabama’s top scorers, left the court to head back to the locker room amid the game — she didn’t return to the court for the rest of the game.
Curry said Barker is being evaluated, and she hopes the senior is OK.
Going into the fourth quarter, Alabama trailed South Carolina by 30 points, which wasn’t something the team could overcome. For every point the team grabbed, the Gamecocks found a rebuttal that ended the match with a 28-point lead for South Carolina.
There was one area where the Crimson Tide did best South Carolina: guard Jessica Timmons, with 20 points this game, once again led the team through adversity and found herself as the highest scorer of the night, as she did in the team’s Jan. 21 loss against Auburn when she led the team with a game-high 26 points.
“She was fearless and I appreciated her response and I just thought she made some big plays for us,” Curry said. “She just continues to grow and learn and get better as the season goes on, and she’s just much improved. So, I’m excited about her future.”
Alabama saw its field goal percentage drop to 22.1% despite maintaining an average of 43.3% in the team’s previous games. Along with this dip, the team had only three 3-pointers this game despite averaging 7.5 in previous games.
Despite the loss, Curry remains confident in the team and proud of the season the Crimson Tide has made for itself.
“We have a great opportunity,” Curry said. “We feel like we’re in the tournament… these kids have done an unbelievable job. So, I don’t want tonight to put a damper on the opportunity ahead for Alabama.”
Alabama will host the Mississippi State Bulldogs this Sunday at 4 p.m. The game will be available for streaming on the SEC Network.
