Alabama dropped another back-and-forth battle on Sunday afternoon, losing to Tennessee 70-59 in a game that was much closer than the final score suggested.
“I thought we had a competitive nature about us that was really special,” head coach Kristy Curry said. “We weren’t able to keep the ball in front of us a couple times. I’ve told our team, sometimes it’s only one possession, but they accumulate. We had too much accumulation that we couldn’t find ways to counter.”
It was a high-ranking SEC matchup, with Alabama coming in at No. 21 in the AP ranking and Tennessee entering at No. 22. Within the conference itself, Tennessee was tied for first at 4-0, while Alabama was sixth, due to losses against No. 2 South Carolina and unranked Auburn, despite owning a win over AP No. 7 Kentucky
Alabama began the game unfazed by the caliber of its opponent. In front of another packed-out crowd creating a raucous atmosphere, the Crimson Tide started on a 10-2 run powered by 3s from guards Jessica Timmons and Karly Weathers.
Curry’s squad started immediately in its matchup defense, which blends man-to-man and zone principles and often leads to opponent offensive stagnation. This scheme was effective against the Lady Volunteers, who missed several early-possession jump shots to start the game, while Alabama was much more dynamic in its flow.
Alabama never quite saw that level of success again in the first half. Following a Tennessee timeout, Tennessee went on an 8-0 run and kept it even through the rest of the opening period, and the first ended 17-14 in favor of Alabama. The Lady Volunteer run extended into the second quarter, and by the midpoint of the second, the Crimson Tide found itself having gone from up 3 to down as many as 8.
The story of the second quarter as well as the third, however, wasn’t Alabama’s deficit — it was that the team kept fighting. In that time span, the Tennessee lead got up to 10 but never went over, despite the situation always feeling precarious. Alabama was playing with its feet on the edge of a cliff, always a turnover or a basket given up away from falling off but never tumbling over.
The Crimson Tide brought the score to 29-26 late in the second but found itself down 35-28 at halftime. It brought the count to 35-31 before going down 41-31. Across the third quarter, there were multiple stretches where Alabama would lack on one side of the ball while excelling in the other. It strung together defensive stops but couldn’t convert them into points, or it knocked down shots but couldn’t keep Tennessee from doing the same.
The team went on a 5-0 run to end the third quarter and extended it to a 13-4 run to begin the fourth. Timmons was instrumental in the comeback, scoring 8 of those 13 points herself, and it culminated in a 3-point shot at the 7:19 mark that gave the Crimson Tide its first lead since the second quarter and sent Coleman Coliseum into a frenzy.
Unfortunately for Alabama, Tennessee punched back. Lady Volunteer guard Mya Pauldo got to the line, made two free throws and hit a 3 to make it 58-54, and her team never looked back. From the point in the fourth quarter when Alabama took the lead, Tennessee finished the game on a 17-5 run.
“We were caught there in the fourth watching a lot of loose-rebound plays,” Curry said. “We missed open looks, missed a couple free throws. Those things in a one-possession game — your margin of error in the SEC shrinks.”
Some key factors in the box score: Tennessee forced two more turnovers and won the points-off-turnover battle 20-9. It scored 8 more points in the paint and won the bench battle by 6.
Alabama will now have a week of rest and turn its attention to the Mississippi State Bulldogs, who come to town Sunday. The game is set to tip off at 2:00 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.
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