The Alabama women’s basketball team closed out the season with an 88-64 loss to Missouri on senior day in Foster Auditorium, the team’s 10th consecutive loss.
Sunday’s loss left the Tide 12-17 overall (2-14 SEC). Despite the continuous losing streak the team faced, the Tide finished the season to the best of its abilities. Coach Wendell Hudson said, though they are doing well in practice, it’s not showing up during the game.
“You have to give Missouri a lot of credit because they can shoot the basketball,” Hudson said. “They have proven that in a lot of games, especially in the last five games in the SEC. Watching [Missouri] play is the way you would like to play. We were passing the ball and taking the shots but just not making them.”
Alabama started off the game strong, scoring the first goals of the half. During the first six minutes of the half, the lead changed five times. The constant back-and-forth seemed to fuel the Tide but after the first timeout the urge to win wasn’t apparent anymore. In spite of how the game started, by the end of the half, the Tide was trailing Missouri 41-23.
“We had a difficult time getting through the screens,” senior Meghan Perkins said.
During the first half alone, sophomore Daisha Simmons scored 13 points against the Tigers and scored 4 more during the second half. Normal score leader junior Shafontaye Meyers was unable to score during the first half and only scored 8 points during the second. Perkins contributed 6 points in the first half.
Missouri started off the second half scoring first but the Tide slowly started to creep up the scoreboard scoring 9 points in three minutes. The Tigers continued to dominate during the second half.
“It’s really frustrating to continue to lose because we work on it every day,” Perkins said. “As a team, of course you want to do better but we need to find a way to get together right now.”
Alabama let many players have play time, including freshman Emily Davis and senior Jessica Merritt. Merritt scored 8 points during the second half.
As the clock ticked on, the Tide appeared to be tired and less focused. Missouri pounced on Alabama’s weakness, scoring 17 points in the last seven minutes of the game.
“From our standpoint, shooting the basketball has been an awful thing for us right now,” Hudson said. “We haven’t shot the ball really well. We played well but losing is contagious.”
The Tide’s notable players were junior Jasmine Robinson and freshman Nikki Hegstetter. Robinson scored 11 points during the game while Hegstetter scored 6 points.
Alabama ended the game with a shooting average of 32.8 percent. The Tide had a 32.1 percent 3-pointer average and a 84.6 free throw percent average as well.
The Tide will go onto the SEC playoffs on Wednesday in Duluth, Ga., to play Mississippi State.
Leading in today’s Crimson White:
Tide’s win avoids weekend sweep
Tide drops 1st two conference matches against Rebels, Bulldogs
