No. 22 Alabama Women’s Basketball Falls to No.12 Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky.- The No. 22 Alabama Crimson Tide (17-5, 4-4 SEC) fell to the No.12 Kentucky Wildcats (18-2, 7-1) on the road on Thursday night. The Wildcats remain undefeated at home this season and claimed their 500th win at the historic Memorial Coliseum for women's basketball.

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In the opening quarter, the Wildcats scored first with two points. The Crimson Tide quickly countered with a 3-pointer. Wildcats Clara Strack answered back with two points of her own. A strong defensive play by Essence Cody lead to a steal and a layup, giving the Crimson Tide a brief one-point advantage. However, Amelia Hassett responded for the Wildcats with a wide-open 3-pointer. With under seven minutes remaining in the first, Sarah Ashlee Barker tied it (7-7). Strack maneuvered past JeAnna Cunningham for a layup, putting the Wildcats ahead 9-7 with five minutes left. The Crimson Tide evened the score to 9-9 as Cunningham overpowered Strack with under four minutes to go. Teonni Key's two free throws gave the Wildcats a slight edge (11-9) with 3:44 remaining, but Cody quickly tied it again for the Crimson Tide (11-11). The Wildcats regained the lead with two more points. Barker tied the game at 13-13 with 2:52 left in the first. With less than two minutes left, Barker put the Crimson Tide ahead with a 3-pointer, taking advantage due to the Wildcats defensive lapse. The Crimson Tide finished the first quarter ahead 21-15, Barker went on a 10-2 run to keep them ahead.

The Wildcats opened the second quarter with a long 3-pointer from Dazia Lawrence. Shortly after, Zaay Green scored two points, increasing the Crimson Tide's lead to 23-18. The Crimson Tide's defense forced the Wildcats into some unusual mistakes early in the second. With seven minutes remaining, Saniah Tyler narrowed the gap for the Wildcats (23-20). However, Barker responded with another impressive shot extending the Crimson Tide's lead to 25-20. Georgia Amoore then converted two with 5:15 left, bringing the score to 25-22. After several minutes of quietness from both sides, the Wildcats managed to tie the game with under four minutes remaining and subsequently took a three-point lead. Lawrence converted a three-point play after being fouled, pushing the Wildcats ahead 32-25 with 2:49 on the clock. Aaliyah Nye answered back with a 3-pointer for the Crimson Tide, cutting the deficit to 32-28. The Wildcats responded and closed out the half ahead 34-30.

An assist from Green led Barker to score first to open the third quarter (34-32). The Crimson Tide quickly narrowed the Wildcats lead with two points, but the Wildcats answered back with two of their own, extending the score to 36-32. The Wildcats held a 38-32 advantage with seven minutes left in the quarter. Barker maneuvered past Strack to reduce the deficit to 40-36 after the Crimson Tide struggled to score for a brief period. The Wildcats then found Amoore, who hit a 3-pointer, making it 43-36. The third quarter then concluded with the Wildcats leading 52-40.

The Crimson Tide finally scored in the fourth quarter, bringing the tally to 57-44 with under eight minutes to go. Hassett increased the lead to its largest of the game at 59-44. The Wildcats continued to pull ahead, while the Crimson Tide struggled to keep pace, with the score now 63-46 with 5:15 on the clock. The Crimson Tide briefly showed some life, narrowing the gap to 11 points at 63-52 with under four minutes to play. Despite a strong effort from the Crimson Tide, it wasn't enough as the Wildcats pulled away to win 65-56.

“I definitely think that we learned a few things. I thought overall, we did a really good job on Georgia [Amoore], but where we did not do well is that we had too many people standing and watching. I know she was three-of-four at half. We watched all three clips and tried to teach. Georgia [Amoore] does such a great job of finding other people, but I also thought Karly [Weathers] did a great job. Georgia [Amoore] only had eight at the half and tried to keep her in front. We communicated. We met our switches, but it was everybody around. We've got to do a better job defensively in some other positions and make catches harder and to be more physical. We'll learn a lot from this, and I think hopefully getting a chance in the SEC tournament we can correct some things," said Kristy Curry following the game. 

The Crimson Tide will return to Coleman Coliseum on Sunday to take on the Georgia Bulldogs at 2 p.m. CT. The game will be available on SEC Network+.

Game Notes

• The contest featured six ties and six lead changes throughout
• Sarah Ashlee Barker’s 22 points marked her sixth 20-plus point performance of the season
• Essence Cody surpassed 500 career points with her eight points on the night
• Alabama outscored Kentucky 34-22 in the pain but was outrebounded 35-33
• Alabama shot 41% from the floor (23-of-56), 31% from deep (5-of-16) and 63%  from the line (5-of-8)
• In comparison, Kentucky shot 41% from the field (25-of-61), 38% from 3-point range (9-of-24) and 67% from the charity stripe (6-of-9)