Alabama women’s basketball dropped its second straight game, this time to Missouri on the road, 63-52. I was a back and forth contest right up until the last quarter, Missouri was able to stretch its lead to improve its record to 19-6 overall and 6-6 in the conference. Alabama, after the loss, now drops to 14-11 on the season overall and 3-9 in conference match ups.
For Alabama, sophomore Hannah Cook led the way for the Crimson Tide in her home state, scoring 15 points in the loss. Another Missouri native, sophomore Karyla Middlebrook, finished with 11 points and six rebounds for Alabama. Missouri junior Sierra Michaelis led the Tigers in scoring, scoring 14 points in the game.
“We have just got to understand critical possessions,” said Alabama head coach Kristy Curry in a press release. “I loved our fight in the third quarter. We battled. These kids are competing. They’re trying, but we’ve got to cut down on mistakes. Mistakes win and lose games.
Alabama trailed after the first quarter, 19-17. The game started with Alabama taking a four point lead midway through the quarter, but a four minute scoring drought would allow Missouri to have that two-point advantage at the end of the quarter.
Missouri continued to keep the lead in the second quarter, stretching its lead out to nine heading into halftime, 37-28. Coming out of the break, Alabama was able to climb back into the game, cutting the lead to just one at the end of the third quarter.
Alabama regained the lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter, going up one, 44-43, but Missouri was then able to take control of the game, holding off Alabama’s comeback attempts en route to an 11-point victory.
Team passing was the key to Missouri’s victory as the Tigers assisted on 16 of its baskets in comparison to just eight assists from Alabama. The Crimson Tide shot 35.6 percent (16-45) and the Tigers connected on 38.9 percent (21-54) of its attempts.
Alabama enters its bye-week after the loss to Missouri, but will return to action with a trip Arkansas to take on the Razorbacks on Feb. 18.
