All good things must come to an end. Alabama women’s basketball fell to the Tulane Green Wave 69-66 Sunday afternoon. The Crimson Tide are now 1-1 on the year. 

A tale of two quarters

Everyone knows the saying, “It was a tale of two halves.” For Alabama, it was a tale of two quarters. 

The Crimson Tide came out hot Sunday. Alabama went 3-for-3 on their first three shots of the game. All of them came from 3-point range. As in the first two games, Alabama built a strong lead.

Alabama led 26-14 at the end of the first quarter. It seemed as though Alabama would roll to another victory. Then, the Green Wave came crashing in.

Tulane went on an 8-0 scoring run at the start of the second quarter. Alabama’s shooting took a steep dive in the second quarter as well. The Crimson Tide shot 52.9% overall in the first quarter, making five out of six 3-pointers. 

Alabama shot only 14.3% overall and missed every 3-point attempt in the second quarter. Tulane shot 46.7% overall and went 3-for-5 in 3-point attempts. 

The Green Wave also had eight points off the bench in the second quarter. Alabama had zero. 

“We missed a lot of open looks,” Alabama head coach Kristy Curry said after the game. 

Alabama led 34-31 at halftime. but Tulane didn’t take its foot off the gas in the third quarter. The Green Wave, once again, beat Alabama in every statistical category. This time, however, Tulane had the lead. 

Halfway through the second quarter, Tulane outscored Alabama 27-12. This allowed Tulane to take a 41-38 lead with 5:23 left in the third quarter. 

The lead bounced back and forth during the last 15 minutes of the game, but Tulane kept its nose in front. Alabama couldn’t get many looks inside the paint against the Green Wave’s zone defense. 

When all hope seemed lost for a Crimson Tide victory, guard Megan Abrams drained a 3-pointer, Alabama’s 12th of the game. Tulane’s lead was now only three, 69-66, with just under a minute left in regulation. 

Alabama played some good defense to get the ball back with seven seconds left. Guard JaMya Mingo-Young sank a 3-pointer to send the game to overtime. 

Mingo-Young’s basket, however, didn’t count. The referees called the shot no good on the floor. Various replays showed that the ball was potentially still in Mingo-Young’s hands at the buzzer. 

With a close call like this, the referees went with what they called on the floor. The game was over and Mingo-Young’s buzzer-beater remained too late. 

“It was a good shot,” Abrams said after the game. “She just didn’t get off in time.” 

Alabama will host the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles at Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. CT, and the game will be broadcast on SEC Network+. 

Questions? Email the Sports desk at [email protected].