Alabama Women’s Basketball Pulls Off A Stunning Upset Over Tennessee

GREENVILLE, S.C. – No. 11 seed Alabama women's basketball made history Thursday night in the second round of the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament, defeating its rival, the No. 6 seed Tennessee Lady Vols.

The Crimson Tide defeated the Lady Vols 76-64 to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2024. That year, No. 4 seed Alabama received a double-bye and lost to No. 5 seed Tennessee in the quarterfinals. Before that, in 2022, Alabama reached the quarterfinals after defeating Georgia but fell to Tennessee 74-59.

Alabama and Tennessee have a long history in the SEC tournament, but Thursday night was more than just a win over Tennessee. It was bragging rights over their rival and the achievement of ending Tennessee's streak of winning 31 of its last 32 SEC tournament openers. The last time the Lady Vols lost an opening SEC game was in 2017 to Alabama.

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The Crimson Tide asserted dominance early and never allowed the Lady Vols to take the lead. Veteran Jessica Timmons, who didn't contribute many points during Wednesday's win over Missouri, found her stride. "Timmons Time" was on full display as she scored seven early points to give Alabama a 10-7 lead.

The last time the Crimson Tide and Lady Vols met, the Lady Vols won by double digits (70-59) on Jan.18. In the regular-season matchup, the Lady Vols forced turnovers, out-rebounded the Crimson Tide, and played better defense. The Crimson Tide remembered that and cleaned up those mistakes, going on a 9-0 run later in the first quarter. Alabama closed out the first quarter with a 25-18 lead and without a single turnover.

Alabama began to separate from Tennessee in the second quarter, even after the Lady Vols regrouped and outscored the Crimson Tide 5-2 in the first three minutes. Nya Robertson hit a 3-pointer, and Zee Spearman scored off an offensive rebound to cut Alabama's lead to 27-23 with 6:47 left in the quarter. The Lady Vols managed to score just 11 points in the second.

Tennessee's defense improved, holding Alabama to 14 points. However, it wasn't enough to stop the Crimson Tide. The Lady Vols' shooting didn't improve, leading to eight turnovers, and the Crimson Tide scored 12 points off those turnovers to take a 39-29 lead into halftime.

Coming out of halftime, the Crimson Tide pressured the Lady Vols, who couldn't get a stop on defense. The Crimson Tide went on a 6-0 run to take a 17-point lead before Spearman hit a layup to cut it to 15. Tennessee trailed 53-38 at the media timeout with 4:55 left in the third quarter. The third quarter was Alabama's best, outscoring Tennessee 22-17 to take a 61-46 lead into the fourth quarter, while shooting 55% from the field.

The Lady Vols gave their all in an effort to make a comeback, but with Timmons back to her normal shooting ability and Ta'Mia Scott also reaching double-digits, the comeback fell short in the fourth quarter. Alabama extended Tennessee's losing streak to seven games with the 76-64 loss.

Next, No. 11 Alabama and No. 3 Texas will face off in primetime to cap off the quarterfinals. All of Alabama's SEC tournament matchups have been in primetime, and the Crimson Tide have put on a show. The two teams just met four days ago in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in a hard-fought regular-season finale that saw the Longhorns win 72-65.

With the Longhorns looking to maintain their dominance and the Crimson Tide looking to build on their success, Friday's 7:30 p.m. CT tipoff on SEC Network is one that fans and analysts alike won't want to miss.

Alabama Players with Double-Digit Points

Jessica Timmons - 23

Ta'Mia Scott - 20

Essence Cody - 10