The No. 24 Alabama women’s basketball team traveled to play the No. 5 Vanderbilt Commodores and lost 85-60 on Thursday night.
“We must learn and grow from it,” head coach Kristy Curry said. “They’re a top five team for a reason.”
The Commodores came in 25-3, third place in the SEC and 16-0 at home on the season. Curry’s squad found itself in the middle of the pack in the crowded conference standings, with a 21-7 overall record but a 7-7 mark against SEC competition.
Thursday’s game was rarely close. It started with a first quarter that Vanderbilt won by 9, taking 28-19 at the quarter break. Guard Mikayla Brakes, who led the Commodores on the day with 35 total points, put up 13 points in the opening period, while guard Justin Pissot poured in 8.
The second quarter was Alabama’s best stretch of the game. Guards Jessica Timmons and Karly Weathers hit 3s in the first couple minutes and got it to 31-22, and then the Crimson Tide went on an extended 7-0 scoring run that included holding Vanderbilt without a field goal between the 8:55 and 3:49 marks.
Forward Aiyana Mitchell broke the drought with a layup, and that basket helped the Commodores stop the bleeding and slow Alabama’s momentum. The 7-0 run brought the Crimson Tide within 2 points, but Vanderbilt widened it back out to 4 by the halftime break.
The gap would never get smaller. A 12-0 run in the first three minutes of the second half put Alabama with its back against the wall far earlier than it wanted to be.
“Execution-wise, in the first five minutes of the third, they got some easy baskets in transition,” Curry said. “I thought we allowed some misplacements offensively to affect our ability to defend.”
Alabama’s offense tried picking itself up off the mat for the rest of the quarter, scoring 12 in the remainder after having scored 0 to that point, but it was nullified by an inability to defend. Every time the Crimson Tide strung together a few stops and put in a couple shots, it allowed Vanderbilt to do the same thing and negate any progress it had made.
Most glaringly, the Crimson Tide struggled to take care of the ball, which led to easy points on the other end.
“We turned it over 23 times. You can’t do those things and give yourself a chance to beat a top five team,” Curry said.
The Commodores scored 26 points off those 23 turnovers. Alabama finished with a 23-8 turnover-to-assist ratio.
Timmons finished with 16 points and guard Ta’Mia Scott put up 15, but it wasn’t enough to get their team back into it. Vanderbilt only increased its lead in the fourth quarter, and it returned the favor on Alabama’s second-quarter feat. Between 6:00 to go and the final buzzer, the Crimson Tide didn’t score a field goal.
Alabama will look to bounce back against stiff competition in its final game of the regular season on Sunday. The No. 4 Texas Longhorns come to town, and the matchup will tip off at 11 a.m. CT on SEC Network.
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