Alabama women's basketball falls to Ole Miss in final second, loses out on a Quad 1 win

Alabama women’s basketball missed out on a Quad 1 win to end the regular season when the Crimson Tide squandered a fourth-quarter lead and fell 57-55 to Ole Miss on Sunday at Coleman Coliseum.

After Aaliyah Nye made back-to-back 3-pointers to tie the game with a minute left in the game, Ole Miss made both free throws to take a two-point lead with three seconds on the clock. Alabama was unable to get the shot off in time as time expired.

The Crimson Tide (20-9, 9-7 SEC) started slow on offense and trailed by eight after the first quarter against the Rebels (22-7, 11-5). Alabama rallied back to being down one at the half with a 7-2 run. The Crimson Tide outscored the Rebels 17-10 in the third quarter but quickly allowed Ole Miss to tie the game.

The Crimson Tide was led by Nye with 12 points and Brittany Davis with 11 points.

Timeout sparks run into half

Alabama took a timeout with 2:12 left in the first half, down six points with an offense that was struggling up until that point. Coming out of the timeout, Sarah Ashlee Barker got a tough layup to fall and got another the next time down the court. Nye hit the second 3-pointer of the game before the defense forced a shot clock violation to go into halftime.

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Alabama's defense steps up

Alabama was 3 of 21 from the field and 0 of 7 from deep at one point in the first half but was still in the game thanks to its strong play on the defensive side of the ball.

The Crimson Tide forced 16 turnovers, including nine steals. The defense forced multiple shot clock violations.

Slow start for Alabama

Alabama went 2 of 16 from the field and went on a six-plus minute field goal drought in the first quarter. Compounding the problem is that they had two turnovers on back-to-back possessions coming out of the media timeout. It wasn’t until midway through the second quarter that Alabama had its first 3-pointer.

Alabama was able to take advantage from the line, going 5 of 7 in the first quarter. The offense found a better rhythm in the second half.

Up next

The Crimson Tide will wait and see its SEC Tournament seeding and matchup. The tournament starts Wednesday in Greenville, South Carolina.