Tide offense melts away in second half

TUSCALOOSA | It was like watching the snow melt in the sunshine Sunday afternoon.

For one half, the University of Alabama women’s basketball team was about as eye- opening as the early-morning winter storm. It played a blanketing defense, didn’t allow Mississippi State to recover from a cold start, and even made some timely baskets.

Only the Crimson Tide melted in the second half faster than the white stuff outside, which was long gone by the time anyone emerged from Coleman Coliseum. Despite holding a small lead at the break, Alabama went nearly 10 minutes without scoring a point while the Bulldogs went on a 19-0 run en route to a 67-49 victory.

With the loss in the regular-season finale, Alabama (13-16, 1-13 SEC) finished last in conference play for the third-straight year and will have the unenviable task of facing defending national champion Tennessee in the first round of the SEC Tournament (6:30 p.m. Thursday, at Little Rock, Ark.).

“This team, I know it’s been hard on them,” Coach Wendell Hudson said after a long post-game session with his players. “To lose games and win that many SEC games, but at the same time if we don’t give maximum effort we don’t have a chance.”

Although Mississippi State didn’t shoot much better than Alabama, 36.1 percent (26-for-72) compared to 29.1 (15-for-55), it dominated the boards, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds for a 57-37 advantage overall, which helped translate into a 21-4 advantage in second-chance points.

“Sums the game up, really,” Hudson said.

If there was a turning point, it came about five minutes into the second half after freshman guar Ericka Russell made a nice pass to junior forward Courtney Strauthers for a layup, followed by a jumper in the paint by junior point guard Dedrea Magee for a 41-35 lead that caused Mississippi State coach Sharon Fanning to call time out.

That’s when the shots stopped falling, and after MSU junior guard Alexis Rack gave her team a 43-41 lead with 10:46 remaining things really starting to disintegrate for the Tide.

“I got kind of frustrating,” sophomore guard Varisia Raffington said. “We have to get through that.”

By the time sophomore forward Tierney Jenkins, who bragged nine rebounds but shot 0-for-7 from the field, made a free throw with 5:30 to go, MSU had already pulled away. Russell finally ended the streak of 14 missed shots with a 3-pointer with 3:19 remaining.

That was in sharp contrast to the first half, when Mississippi State missed its first eight shots and Alabama opened a 10-0 lead. Although the Bulldogs were able to come back and tie the game, the Tide never trailed and with a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Alyson Butler just before the break led 30-26.

“Alabama can shoot some jump shots,” Mississippi State coach Sharon Fanning said. “They’re very confident, they’re beginning to learn each other with their motion and finding each other. We ran into a lot of screen.

“I just felt like they outplayed us in the first half. The second half, we challenged our team, relative to the energy and who we want to be. ‘How do you want to want to finish this game and go into the tournament?’ I thought we played a lot harder.”

Rack led MSU with 19 points and sophomore forward Mary Kathryn Govero had 14 thanks to four 3-pointers. Nine different Bulldogs (21-8, 8-6) grabbed at least one rebound.

Russell topped the Tide with 12 points and Raffington netted nine. Magee had nine rebounds, eight points and five assists.

“We played together as a team the first half,” Magee said. “The second half they stole our offensive rebounds. It was like we just put our heads down an the intensity wasn’t there at all compared to the first half.”

Reach Christopher Walsh at christopher.walsh@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0196.