Alabama women’s basketball knocked off No. 20 Tennessee 86-65, continuing the Crimson Tide’s winning streak against its SEC East rival.
After leading by just one point at halftime, Alabama needed some help. Its second-leading scorer had just two points and made just 16.7 percent of her shots.
Then Cierra Johnson woke up.
In the second half, she scored 12 of her 14 points, including a run where she scored seven points in a two-and-a-half-minute span. She started that span while Alabama’s lead was cut to just one point.
Instead of looking to pass, as she had done for most of start of the third quarter, Johnson took the ball with the shot clock winding down and put up a mid-range shot, which bounced off the back of the rim and fell in, ending an 8-0 scoring run.
She even hit a deep 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with less than 30 seconds left in the game.
After Alabama had one of its worst performances of the season against Texas A&M last week, the Crimson Tide was lights out from the field, shooting 50 percent for the game.
“It was about getting back to work after an embarrassment on Sunday,” coach Kristy Curry said. “It wasn’t about who we played tonight, it was what we needed to be.”
Alongside Johnson’s strong second half, sophomore center Ariyah Copeland had a big second half, scoring 10 of her 16 points. She also brought down a team high nine rebounds and blocked three shots.
Alabama had five players finish in double-digit scoring, while Tennessee had just three.
Just like it did when it defeated Tennessee for the first time at home, Alabama had a dominate quarter. In the first win it was the second quarter. Thursday night it was the fourth, as the Crimson Tide outscored the Lady Vols 26-10 in the final 10 minutes.
One stat that Curry talked about before the game was the turnover ratio. Tennessee, which had forced 19 turnovers a game, struggled to continue its defensive prowess, forcing just 12 turnovers.
The 12 turnovers were the third lowest for Alabama this season.
Alabama also won the assist-to-turnover ratio, finishing with 16 assists to 12 turnovers. Tennessee had just nine assists on 14 turnovers.
Alabama remains home for its next game, as LSU heads to Coleman Coliseum on Sunday.
