FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Alabama women’s basketball team fell to Arkansas 72-61 on Thursday night inside Bud Walton Arena.
“I thought that we rebounded the ball really well, especially on the road,” said head coach Kristy Curry. “We outrebounded them and did exactly what we need to do on the boards. We emphasized not letting (Alexis) Tolefree get open looks and I thought to start the game we gave her three open looks from beyond the arc. We didn’t press up a couple of times and didn’t help on a couple of switches, but we just couldn’t get going offensively.”
For the first time since 2013, two Crimson Tide players had double-doubles in the same game, when sophomore Jasmine Walker picked up her fourth of the season after tallying 18 points and 12 rebounds in the loss, while sophomore Ariyah Copeland also earned her third of the year with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Junior Cierra Johnson chipped in 14 points and six assists, while freshman De’Sha Benjamin got back on track with 13 points off the bench.
Alabama (10-10, 2-5 SEC) never led in the game and trailed 19-13 after the first 10 minutes of the contest. The two sides battled back-and-forth in the second with Arkansas holding the 33-29 advantage at the half.
The Razorbacks (15-5, 4-2) extended their lead to 53-46 after the third quarter. Benjamin scored five-straight points to begin the fourth quarter and cut the deficit to two points with nine minutes to go in the game. Arkansas used a 5-0 spurt to go up 58-51 and led by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter on its way to the 72-61 victory.
The Tide plays at Georgia on Sunday. The game will be aired live on ESPNU.
