In a game where it lost the rebounding battle by 15 and the field goal shooting battle by 22%, Alabama took a 103-63 defeat on Sunday against LSU.
LSU, the No. 6-ranked team in the country, took a 12-10 lead with just under five minutes left in the first quarter, and from there it never looked back. Alabama kept it close in the opening period and finished only down 21-15, led by multiple baskets from guard Karly Weathers and forward Essence Cody, but from there 6 points was as narrow as the deficit would ever get.
“We hit a buzzsaw, and we didn’t have a response for it after the first quarter,” head coach Kristy Curry said.
Alabama clawed to keep it within 10 points for most of the second quarter, and it more or less sustained this effort until the final three minutes. Guard Jess Timmons, who led the team in scoring on the day with 15, nailed a 3 with 3:30 to make it 35-25 — not a comfortable spot for the Crimson Tide, but one that it would’ve taken going into the half considering the magnitude of its opponent.
Unfortunately for Curry’s squad, in fashion much like its SEC Opening Day loss to South Carolina, such a high-caliber foe demonstrated its capability of going on a quick run and flipping the tone of a game in an instant. LSU scored a flurry of buckets in a short amount of time, and via a 14-4 run over the remaining 3 1/2 minutes, it stretched its lead to 49-29 going into the break.
After halftime, shots continued to fall for the Tigers while Alabama struggled on both ends of the floor. What little stops the Crimson Tide got rarely turned into baskets, and the gap, which at 20 points was already sizable, turned into an untraversable valley.
Curry said LSU was “phenomenal today,” specifically highlighting the team’s backcourt play. ZaKiya Johnson, Mikay Williams and Jada Richards — three of the Tiger’s starting guards — were the team’s three leading scorers and combined for 46 points. Other starting guard Flau’jae Johnson chipped in 9.
LSU led 74-43 at the end of the third, winning the quarter 25-14. The lead progressively grew over the last 10 minutes, with the Crimson Tide shooting 6/17 from the field and committing four turnovers. Guard Diana Collins scored nine of her 14 in the final period, but otherwise the team had a quiet finish to an overall tough day.
“We certainly have a lot we can take away from today,” Curry said. “I think five out of our next seven games are teams ranked above us, so we can either do something about a day like today or we can continue to allow it to happen.”
The next of those games is a late-tip home matchup against No. 17 Ole Miss on Thursday night. The game will start at 8:00 and can be viewed on SEC Network.
