Curry’s Milestone Win Capped by Comeback

Alabama women’s basketball team head coach Kristy Curry tallied her 500th career win Monday night in a 74-66 win over Vanderbilt inside Nashville's Memorial Gymnasium.

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It was a comeback by her team that helped Curry achieve the milestone.

Alabama (18-6, 5-4 SEC) trailed by as many as 12 points in the game and by eight to begin the fourth before the Crimson Tide opened the final stanza by scoring 14 consecutive points to take the lead for good.

 Sarah Ashlee Barker exploded in the third quarter, scoring 15 of her game-high 24 points - marking the third consecutive game she has scored 20-or-more points – while adding team highs of nine rebounds and six assists. Aaliyah Nye, who led the comeback with an 11-point fourth quarter, added 23 points while Loyal McQueen finished with 16.

Curry said of the historic win, “Really proud of our team down the stretch. I thought we were a lot more intentional. We were talking at halftime about their (Vanderbilt) effort and energy, it was at a different level than ours.

"Anytime you can come back out and only have three turnovers in the second half, we'd only shot two free throws, we got to the line 25 times, and then we had three offensive boards and we outrebounded them, we were getting outrebounded at the half.

"So, all the statistical categories just show how intentional and, I thought we took our effort and energy to another level. I am really proud of our team in the way they won tonight."

After getting out to an early six-point lead (9-3), Vanderbilt tied the game at 12  before holding the Commodores scoreless over the final two minutes and 46 second, taking a 4-point lead (16-12) into the second quarter.

Nye paced the Tide at the break with eight points, with McQueen close behind with seven. Barker put the Crimson Tide on her back, scoring 15 points in the third quarter, cutting Vanderbilt’s lead to six headed into the final frame (46-52).

Alabama took its momentum into the fourth quarter, going on a 14-0 run to take a 6-point lead, one it would not surrender, extending its lead to eight closing out the contest.

Next up: Alabama returns home, Feb. 8, taking on Tennessee inside Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide will face the Lady Vols at 6 p.m. CT with the contest airing on SEC Network+ and Catfish 100.1, Thursday’s game is the Tide’s annual power of pink game.