Alabama’s women basketball team lost to No. 6 Mississippi State 65-49. The Crimson Tide falls to 11-11 (3-6 SEC), while the Bulldogs improve to 21-1 (9-0 SEC).

“I thought the lay-up to start the game and the four missed lay-ups to start the second half really put us at a disadvantage,” head coach Kristy Curry said. “When you’re playing a team of this caliber, you just have a really small margin of error. I think that you just have to be tough enough to finish those. To rebound the ball the way we did today, to bounce it out on the turnovers, we had 26 a week ago and 18 today, a little bit of an improvement. You just have to make those easy baskets to start halves.

“Credit Mississippi State, credit Anriel Howard, she’s a difference maker for them and an impact for them. She certainly changes a lot for them. So, credit those guys, and we’ll pick up and move forward; have a great opportunity in front of us with seven games to go. Night in and night out we put ourselves in a position to compete against everybody in the league. I thought our fight was good; I loved our team today, they were trying really hard.”

Graduate student Anriel Howard, who was a crucial factor for the Bulldogs, finished with 24 points and seven rebounds.

Junior Cierra Johnson’s 15 points led the Crimson Tide. Johnson has scored in double digits in 17 of the last 19 games for Alabama. Senior Shaquera Wade added 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Sophomore Ariyah Copeland had nine points and nine rebounds, coming up just short of another double-double.

Alabama shot 18-of-60 for 30 percent, while Mississippi State shot 25-of-55 for 45 percent from the field. The Bulldogs outrebounded the Crimson Tide 39-37 and caused 18 Alabama turnovers. The Crimson Tide went 8-of-10 for 80 percent from the foul line.

Mississippi State had no field goals in the last 3:14 of the game and only connected on one of its last ten shots.

Alabama returns to action Thursday, Feb. 7 against Florida in Gainesville, Fla. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m.