5 seed Alabama women’s basketball defeated 12 seed Green Bay 81-67 on Saturday to advance to the Round of 32 in the NCAA women’s tournament.
“I cannot be more proud of our execution on both sides of the ball and the game plan,” head coach Kristy Curry said. “Really proud, because it is hard to win this time of year.”
In the opening minute of the game, Green Bay drove by Alabama defenders with ease, putting four quick points on the board. After the quick 2s, the Crimson Tide defense stepped up and went nearly five minutes without giving up a field goal.
Offensively, Alabama was out of sync on its first few possessions until guard Aaliyah Nye nailed a 3-pointer. After that, the Crimson Tide scored seven unanswered points.
In the closing minutes of the opening quarter, the Phoenix fired back with a 6-0 run. The Crimson Tide led 19-17.
“It was an amazing battle, and it’s kind of a slugfest back-and-forth,” Curry said. She added that she saw a lot of “toughness and grit” from both teams, but that Alabama was “fortunate that our runs were a little bit longer.”
Green Bay shot 41.2% in the first quarter, but its field goal percentage took a nosedive in the second period. The Phoenix shot 18% and only made two field goals, but it drew four personal fouls and capitalized by making seven free throws. Alabama ended up outsourcing Green Bay 19-12 to take a 9-point lead into halftime.
Alabama shot 44.1% to Green Bay’s 32.1% in the first half. Guard Zaay Green led the Crimson Tide in scoring with 14, and Nye also cracked double figures with 10 points.
The wheels appeared to be falling off in the second half for the Phoenix as Alabama’s Green nailed two 3-pointers to push the lead to 13.
After the media timeout at the five-minute mark, Green Bay found new life and blitzed Alabama with a surge of offense, cutting the deficit to 7.
The lead was slipping away from the Crimson Tide, but the team weathered the storm by tacking on 4 points to close out the third quarter with a 58-47 lead.
Alabama buried four 3-pointers in the final quarter to put the nail in the coffin. Guard Karly Weathers made one, and Nye hit the others.
“I knew it was coming,” Curry said, referring to Alabama’s 3-point barrage in the fourth quarter. “We just kept telling them to shoot it. No hesitation.”
Nye broke her own single-season program record for most triples made, surpassing last season’s total of 108.
Nye said that the key to her consistency is “not getting too high or low” during games.
Nye and Green finished with 23 and 22 points, respectively. Guard Sarah Ashlee Barker was not far off from a triple-double, as she ended up with 9 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Weathers finished with 10 points points and 10 rebounds.
Alabama won by 14 and will play 4 seed Maryland on Monday at 4 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
