No. 23 Alabama women’s basketball defeated Mississippi State 80-60 in Humphrey Coliseum on Sunday to pick up its 20th victory of the season.
“I thought collectively, everyone from our bench to our first group did an excellent job today of understanding the importance of player tendencies and all the things we wanted to do defensively,” head coach Kristy Curry said.
Alabama got off to a blazing hot start, opening the game with a 10-0 run and holding Mississippi State scoreless for nearly 3 1/2 minutes.
The Crimson Tide was firing on all cylinders during the first quarter, while the Bulldogs struggled to string together defensive stops. From knocking down 3-pointers to scoring in the paint, Alabama was the superior team on both ends of the floor.
Guard Karly Weathers impressed in the first quarter, as she went 2/2 from behind the arc. Guard Aaliyah Nye, who broke the program record last week for most 3-pointers made in a single game with nine, joined in on the aerial attack and nailed a triple of her own.
Seven players scored a basket for Alabama in the first quarter, including guard Sarah Ashlee Barker. The graduate student made a transition layup and converted three free throws.
“We got some good defensive stops, got rebounds, and then we were able to push in transition,” Barker said. “We play our best in transition, and I think you saw that in the first quarter.”
The Crimson Tide led 26-11 after one quarter, and the team was just getting warmed up.
Forward Essence Cody hit her stride in the second quarter. The sophomore scored at will in the paint, and defenders had no answers for her post moves. Cody’s intensity carried over onto the defensive end, as she swatted three shots to go with her block from the first quarter.
“When you can finish at the rim at the level that she is, it just gives you that fourth dimension,” Curry said, calling Cody a “fourth impact player” in the Crimson Tide’s lineup.
Barker continued to create easy looks near the rim while making hustle plays. She finished the first half with 13 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Alabama led 47-22 heading into halftime. Mississippi State offensive struggles plagued them in the first half, but the Bulldogs were not completely down for the count.
Both teams traded free throws early in the third quarter, but Weathers and Nye each drilled a 3-pointer to extend Alabama’s lead to 27. Mississippi State kept battling and eventually put together a 12-2 run to cut the deficit to 17.
With less than a minute remaining in the third period, Barker and guard Zaay Green scored a layup to push the lead back to 20 plus before the buzzer sounded.
Nye scored the first points of the final quarter with a layup, but from that point on, the Crimson Tide was held without a basket for four minutes. The Bulldogs began to turn defensive stops into points, scoring 11 unanswered points to get the deficit down to 13 with under four minutes to play.
Barker put an end to the Alabama scoring drought by finishing through contact at the rim, but the Bulldogs responded with a layup of their own 10 seconds later. On the following possessions, each team traded a triple from the top of the key.
With less than two minutes remaining, Alabama closed out the game on a 7-0 run.
Barker finished with a 19-point, 12-rebound double-double and four steals while Cody ended up with 17 points and four steals. Also, Nye and Green each had 12 points while Weathers finished with 9.
With this victory, Alabama improved to 7-4 in the SEC with five conference games remaining in the regular season. The Crimson Tide will have the week off to rest and practice before its next conference game.
Curry said that it is important that her team does not become complacent after winning its last three games.
“We have a lot of competitors in that dressing room, and none of them are satisfied with where we’re at and what we’re doing,” Curry said.
Alabama’s next game is at home against Texas A&M on Feb. 17. The game will be broadcast at 7 p.m. on the SEC Network.
