In a 70-59 loss to Tennessee, Alabama struggled to overcome the dominating size advantage of the Lady Vols, playing into Tennessee’s hands both defensively and scoring in the paint.
Tennessee’s interior players dominated to start the game. Forwards Janiah Barker and Zee Spearman combined for 16 points and nine rebounds on 7/16 shooting in the first half. The pair finished the game with 22 points and 15 rebounds.
With Alabama forward Essence Cody missing the game due to a lower-body injury, the Crimson Tide’s starting lineup had an average height of 5-foot-11, a major factor in the success of Tennessee’s forwards.
Tennessee, in comparison, towered over Alabama with an average forward height of 6-foot-3. This gave the Lady Vols a significant advantage when it came to presence in the paint.
The Lady Vols scored 18 points in the paint in the first half, next to Alabama’s 10. Alabama finished with 20 points in the paint, while Tennessee racked up 28.
Alabama ran a four-guard starting lineup in Cody’s absence, with Naomi Jones as the primary interior starter. Although Jones came down with 11 rebounds, she couldn’t match the offensive production of Tennessee’s frontcourt and scored 5 points in the game.
“There’s a lot of bodies and a lot of activity in there,” head coach Kristy Curry said. “You’ve just got to clean up a little bit, and we didn’t clean up.”
Giving up offensive boards proved costly for Alabama as well, and despite finishing with three more offensive rebounds than Tennessee, Alabama still trailed Tennessee in second-chance points 12-9.
Tennessee capitalized on Alabama’s consistent turnovers, ending the game with a total of 20 points off of just 14 turnovers.
Alabama paled in comparison, with just 9 points off of 12 turnovers. In the first half, Alabama turned over the ball seven times, but was only able to force four turnovers and scored only 1 point off of all four.
“It’s a game of mistakes. It’s a game of possessions, and we just made a couple more than they did,” Curry said.
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