No. 5 seed Alabama lost to No. 4 seed Maryland in its NCAA Tournament second-round game on Monday, falling 111-108 in double overtime.
“You can’t understand how much I love and am incredibly proud of that group of people in our locker room,” head coach Kristy Curry said.
Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Barker set the program record for most points in a game with 45. This is also the most points by any SEC player in an NCAA Tournament game.
“Yeah, 45 points is a lot, but I would have loved to win instead of scoring 45 points,” Barker said. “But at the end of the day … it’s not my glory, it’s the Lord’s.”
Alabama and Maryland’s offensive productivity came from different places at the start of the first quarter. The Crimson Tide attacked the basket and scored its first 8 points off of layups. For the Terrapins, 3-point shooting was the primary focus in the first four minutes as they attempted five triples and made two of them.
After a string of inside looks, Barker nailed Alabama’s first 3-pointer of the game from the right corner.
Alabama and Maryland traded baskets for the better half of the opening quarter, but the Crimson Tide turned the ball over four times in the first quarter. The Terrapins scored 7 points off of the turnovers, and the Crimson Tide trailed 19-15 after one quarter of play.
Forward Essence Cody went to work down low for Alabama to start the second quarter. Cody scored 4 points in the paint, drew two personal fouls and hit 2/3 free throws.
Defensively, Alabama had a hard time shutting down Maryland. The Terrapins pushed their lead out to as much as 10, but the Crimson Tide turned up the heat around the five-minute mark.
Alabama went on a 10-0 run to tie the game, and Barker nailed her second triple of the day to take a 36-35 lead. Maryland matched it with a triple of its own to recapture the lead.
In the final two minutes, the Crimson Tide made five free throws to the Terrapins’ one, and this gave Alabama a 41-39 lead at the half. Barker was Alabama’s leading scorer with 17 points.
The Crimson Tide came out of the half on fire. The team scored 7 points in two minutes, leading Maryland to take a timeout to regroup.
After the timeout, the Crimson Tide buried five triples in the third quarter and led by as many as 17.
Despite the success from range, Maryland was able to cut Alabama’s lead down to 9 by scoring a layup and a 3-pointer in the last minute of the third quarter.
Cody kicked the final quarter off by scoring a layup through a foul, and she knocked down the free throw.
After that, Maryland started to show signs of life. The Terrapins cut the Crimson Tide lead down to 6 after connecting on two midrange jumpers.
Unfortunately for Alabama, guards Zaay Green and Aaliyah Nye fouled out with three minutes to go. Each finished with 11 points.
As the fourth quarter went on, Maryland continued chipping away at its deficit until the game was tied at 80 with a minute left in regulation.
“It was a little bit tough for us, but we never gave up and we just kept fighting,” Maryland guard Sarah Te-Biasu said.
The Terrapin fans in XFINITY Center were bouncing up and down after seeing their team tie the game having been down by as much as 17, but Alabama’s Barker quieted them down by knocking down a triple. Maryland had 37 seconds to work with, and Te-Biasu hit a contested 3 to tie the game again. The game went to overtime.
Maryland scored the first bucket in overtime. With under two minutes to go, the Terrapins took a 5-point lead, but Alabama was able to reduce the deficit to 3 points.
Barker took the last shot for Alabama and was fouled behind the arc before the play clock expired. This gave her three free-throw attempts in front of a hectic Maryland crowd.
“I walked over to Karly Weathers and told her to pray for me,” Barker said.
Barker converted all three of them to force a second overtime.
Once again, Maryland grabbed the first lead of the overtime period but could not maintain a two-possession lead throughout it. Alabama trailed by 3 with 1.8 seconds and the season on the line, but Weathers’ inbound pass was swatted away from Barker by a Maryland defender. The clock hit zero, and Alabama’s season was over.
Despite losing in double overtime, Barker had a positive takeaway from the game.
“I’m a firm believer that every single person emptied their tank tonight, and that’s all you can ask for,” Barker said.
