The Crimson Tide just can’t find their rhythm. 

Alabama women’s basketball dropped its third straight game to the Ole Miss Rebels, 86-56, at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion in Oxford, Mississippi, Thursday night. After starting the season 9-2, the Crimson Tide have lost three of their last four games. 

Alabama had an offensive explosion against No. 17 Georgia, with guard Brittany Davis making her first six 3-pointers. That helped the Crimson Tide to a 19-point lead at halftime in Athens, Georgia. 

It was quite the opposite in Oxford, Mississippi. 

The Rebels are first in the SEC in points allowed. Alabama is eighth overall in the SEC in points scored with 73.0 points. Ole Miss held the Crimson Tide well below that on Thursday. 

The contest started with each team trading baskets. Both programs made their first three shots. The Crimson Tide and the Rebels were tied at 6 just a couple minutes into the game. 

That’s when Ole Miss pulled away. 

The Rebels went on a 6-0 scoring run with just under seven minutes to go. Ole Miss had its way inside the paint in the first quarter. Fourteen of the Rebels’ 22 points in the first frame were inside. 

The offensive explosion from Ole Miss was fueled by Lashonda Monk. Monk only scored 11 total points in the team’s loss to Tennessee on Sunday, but she almost matched that in the first quarter with eight points. Monk was also a big reason why the Rebels shot 58.8% from the field in the first 10 minutes. 

“Boy, they shot the ball well,” Alabama head coach Kristy Curry said. 

Ole Miss’ strong performance on offense was paired with a stout effort on defense. After scoring 48 points in the first half against Georgia, the Crimson Tide only scored 26 in this contest. Ole Miss center Shakira Austin had five blocks in the first 20 minutes. 

The Rebels also forced Alabama to turn over the ball 10 times in the first half, as well as forcing a couple of shot clock violations. Those 10 turnovers led to 13 points for the Rebels. 

Alabama, on the other hand, couldn’t get anything going because of Ole Miss’ defense. The Crimson Tide only had three players score in the first half. Davis, guard Hannah Barber and forward Khyla Wade-Warren combined for Alabama’s 26 points. 

For much of the contest, Davis was the only one with double-digit points. 

Going into halftime, Alabama only trailed by eight points. Despite ending the half on a nearly six-minute-long scoring drought, the Crimson Tide were in striking distance to make this a game. 

Alabama couldn’t find a way to close the gap any further. 

Ole Miss outscored the Crimson Tide 27-16 in the third quarter and held Alabama to just 14 points in the fourth quarter. Despite getting more production from players like guards JaMya Mingo-Young and Megan Abrams, the lack of scoring depth hurt the Crimson Tide. 

Center Jada Rice finished the game with zero points and four fouls. Her foul trouble forced Alabama to go to its bench early. Mingo-Young and Abrams didn’t score until late in the second half. 

The Crimson Tide’s bench, in total, only had 14 points. Eleven of those came off the hands of Wade-Warren. 

It didn’t help that the Rebels were limiting Alabama’s scoring opportunities with strong press defense as well. The Crimson Tide shot the ball 20 fewer times than Ole Miss did. Alabama also made 14 fewer buckets than Ole Miss. 

The Crimson Tide will need to find their identity again and fast because their conference schedule only gets harder from here. Next up for Alabama are the Florida Gators on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT at Coleman Coliseum. The game will be shown on SEC Network+.