With 8:55 left in the first half, Alabama women’s basketball trailed by just five points, and for the remainder of the eighth minute, the deficit fluctuated between five and seven points and went as high as 13 in the quarter against No. 6 Mississippi State.
The Crimson Tide was ice cold coming out of the halftime break, missing its first seven shots of the third quarter. It’s first shot didn’t fall until the 5:17 mark and it all spelled disaster for the Crimson Tide in a 65-49 loss to the Bulldogs.
“Sometimes it just doesn’t go in,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said. “I loved the shots we got… It didn’t go in for us today, but you have to keep shooting.”
Alabama made just three shots in the third quarter, shooting 17.6 percent. The Crimson Tide shot 30 percent for the game, including making five of its 19 3-point attempts.
Guard Cierra Johnson led the team in scoring with 15 points. Forward Shaquera Wade was the only other player to reach double figures, scoring 12 points.
Forward Jasmine Walker, the team’s second-leading scorer, finished with just six points on 2 of 9 shooting. Taylor Berry was the only player off the bench, which was 1 of 6 shooting, to score for Alabama.
The one positive for the Crimson Tide was it brought down 16 offensive rebounds, which is tied for the third most this season.
“We’ve been working, and we feel like that’s a strength of ours,” Curry said. “To me that’s an effort stat. That shows your team showed up to play today.”
The Bulldogs were led by forward Anriel Howard. The graduate senior finished with a game-high 24 points, the most she’s scored in a conference game this season.
She terrorized the Crimson Tide in the first half, scoring 15 points in 13 minutes. She was 5 of 6 while making all five of the Bulldogs’ first-half free throws.
Teaira McCowan, the team’s leading scorer, didn’t get going until halftime. She didn’t miss a shot in the first half, going 2-for-2 with five points. She finished with a double-double, scoring 12 points and bringing down 12 boards.
Alabama is back in action Thursday with a road game against Florida.
