Tide washes away Green Wave for fourth straight win

CW / Austin Bigoney

The Alabama Crimson Tide women’s basketball team prevailed 66-56 in the battle of the water phenomena, beating the Tulane Green Wave in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Sunday to extend their winning streak to four games.

Redshirt junior guard Jordan Lewis played all but two minutes of the game and scored a game-high 21 points going 6 of 10 from the floor. All of her six makes came from 3-point range, which is a career high from beyond the arc. Lewis added six rebounds and three assists.

Junior forward Jasmine Walker put in 13 points for her third double-digit scoring effort in the last four games. Alabama’s leading scorer, senior guard Cierra Johnson, struggled from the floor with 2-of-11 shooting but contributed on the boards leading the Crimson Tide with eight.

Senior forward Ashley Knight continued her steady form, posting seven points, four rebounds and three blocks, which moves her just eight shy of the Alabama career record.

The third consecutive non-conference road win is the best streak for an Alabama team since 2000.

“I thought we had a lot of toughness and grit today in a hard place to play,” coach Kristy Curry said in a release. “I think that’s the best Tulane team I’ve seen in the last six to seven years. They are really good.”

The team stats for each squad were almost mirror images of each other, starting with 38% shooting from the floor by both teams. Alabama held small advantages in turnovers (12-13), free throws (13-7) and bench points (20-19). Tulane prevailed closely in rebounds (39-37), assists (15-14) and points in the paint (22-20).

It was only a two-point difference in the second quarter in favor of Alabama that was the difference between the two teams through the first three quarters.

However, the Crimson Tide was able to put in six more three-pointers than Tulane knocking down nine including three in the fourth quarter that proved to be the difference.

Lewis started the game off hot with two early threes but Tulane withstood the fast start and the score stood at 19 all after the first quarter. Walker hit a three-pointer to kick start a slow beginning to the second quarter for both teams and Alabama gained a 31-29 lead at halftime.

In the fourth, Lewis hit her fifth 3-pointer of the game to make it 50-44 early. Tulane cut the lead to two with under four minutes left before Lewis knocked down her final three-point bucket on the next possession.

“I thought we did a nice job down the stretch, we had some critical stops in the fourth and I thought our kids stood up tall to the test,” Curry said. “I’m really proud of this team.”

Johnson hit her first shot from beyond the arc in five attempts with 1:22 left and the Crimson Tide went 6 for 6 at the free throw line down the stretch to outlast Tulane 66-56.

Alabama (4-1) will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout for its next two games. The Crimson Tide will face Northern Iowa on Friday at 10 p.m. CT and Southern California on Saturday at the same time.