Alabama women’s basketball falls to No. 17 Kentucky, 68-53 during the Power of Pink/Play4Kay game. A game dedicated to raise awareness and honor those who fought the fight against breast cancer. The Crimson Tide is now 11-13 (3-8 SEC), while Kentucky improves to 20-5 (7-4 SEC).

“I liked where we were at the half; we obviously had some moments where we turned it over and battled back to cut it to four at the half,” head coach Kristy Curry said. “I felt like in the third quarter the difference was we lost them in transition, and our communication broke down. They made us pay.

“So, you look at the rebounds, to outrebound Kentucky 40-19 is a tremendous job it’s a really positive, but we lost them to many times in transition,” Curry continued. “We didn’t communicate; we didn’t have our match-ups. They’re a really good team; I think that Taylor Murray and Maci Morris are as good as any duo in our league, they’re seniors and made plays on the road that got their team where they were supposed to be. Rhyne Howard is special. So, credit those guys, they made plays when they needed to, and we just turned the ball over too much tonight, just can’t do that against a team like Kentucky because they’ll make you pay.”

Kentucky’s Maci Morris had 17 points, three, and one assist. Taylor Murray finished with six points, and Rhyne Howard led the team with 23 points.

Leading the Crimson Tide was freshman Megan Abrams, who scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, two rebounds, and two assists. Junior Jasmine Walker notched her fifth career double-double, scoring 12 points and recording a career-high 15 rebounds.

In the first half, the Crimson Tide held the Wildcats to 3-of-10 from beyond the arc but allowed Kentucky to go 5-of-6 during the second half, which was a significant momentum shift.

Alabama finished 21-of-47 and 44 percent shooting, while Kentucky finished 26-of-56 and 46 percent from the field. The Crimson Tide dominated the Wildcats in rebounds 40-19 getting 28 defensive and 12 offensive boards; however, Kentucky forced 23 Alabama turnovers.

Alabama returns to action Sunday, Feb. 17 against Auburn. Tipoff is slated for 3 p.m.