No. 19 Alabama women’s basketball dropped its first home game of the season Thursday night to No. 2 South Carolina, losing 76-58.
3,669 fans were in attendance as the Crimson Tide hosted the reigning national champions, and head coach Kristy Curry expressed her gratitude after the game.
“Thank you to our crowd. My wish, my plea is that we continue to grow our crowd,” Curry said. “I know that everybody understands, but when we’ve been at Ole Miss and Texas, you’re plus 10 [points] when you walk in the door if you have the home court advantage.”
The Crimson Tide was without the services of guard Sarah Ashlee Barker as she missed her fourth game of this season due to a leg injury, but that did not keep the fans from attending the SEC clash.
This ranked-versus-ranked matchup provided a measuring stick game for Alabama. Although Curry said that she does not like to find moral victories, a positive takeaway is that the Crimson Tide can hang with the defending champions even with injured players.
South Carolina opened the game by bringing a high-level of aggressiveness on both ends of the floor. The Gamecocks stormed by the Crimson Tide early, going on a 10-2 run in the first five minutes of play. Alabama starting guards Zaay Green and Karly Weathers were held scoreless during this opening stretch.
“I think a lot of Zaay’s success comes from other people’s spacing, their patience on screens, their screen actions,” Curry said. “We’ve got to open the driving lanes.”
Although Alabama did not find many open looks in the first quarter, guard Aaliyah Nye found ways to create her own shot, scoring 7 points.
South Carolina finished the opening period with a 21-12 lead, but Alabama did not lie down.
Green and forward Essence Cody owned the second quarter, as the pair combined for 12 points. The Crimson Tide shot 42.9% from the field and outscored the Gamecocks 18-17.
South Carolina went into halftime with an 8-point lead, but the door was left open for a potential Alabama second-half resurgence.
The third quarter featured more inside baskets from the 6-foot-4 Cody, who scored 6 points.
With 2:27 remaining in the third, sophomore guard Diana Collins converted on a second-chance layup that sparked a wave of momentum for the Crimson Tide. Alabama stopped South Carolina on the next possession, and Weathers charged down the floor and converted a turnaround jumper that sent Coleman Coliseum into a frenzy.
“It was exciting, but we still had to keep pushing,” Cody said, referring to that moment in the game.
The Crimson Tide had cut the Gamecocks’ lead down to 5 with less than two minutes remaining in the third, but head coach Dawn Staley’s squad weathered the storm and responded with a 3-pointer that quieted the crowd.
Alabama trailed South Carolina by 6 points with one quarter to go. The Crimson Tide’s 3-point shooting, which is its bread and butter, was not there in the third quarter, with the team shooting 1/6 from downtown.
It seemed as if fatigue was starting to kick in for the short-staffed Alabama squad in the fourth quarter. Because of the lack of depth, Curry played her starters over 30 minutes in this game, but no South Carolina’s player exceeded the 30-minute mark because of a deep and fluent rotation. Their bench contributed 43 points in this game.
“That’s what makes them really special. It’s not always the first wave that gets you. Sometimes it’s a second wave, and I thought their bench was really the difference,” Curry said.
The Crimson Tide missed three free throws in the fourth quarter and were called for eight fouls, which led to the Gamecocks making 10 from the stripe.
South Carolina closed out the final quarter on a 12-2 run to wrap up another statement victory.
The Gamecocks’ 90.5% shooting from the foul line paid dividends in the game’s outcome. Staley said that every player has to make 30 free throws before they leave the practice floor and believes this is the best free throw shooting team she’s had during her tenure.
On a positive note, Green and Cody both finished with 15 points, and Weathers collected her 100th career steal.
Despite Curry’s emphasis against moral victories, there is something to be gained from putting up a fight against the reigning national champions.
Next up for Alabama is a road game against Arkansas on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network at 4 p.m. CT.