Tide WBB Vanquishes Vols

The Alabama women’s basketball team won its fourth consecutive game, defeating the Tennessee Lady Volunteers, 72-56, Thursday night inside Coleman Coliseum. With the victory, the Crimson Tide improves to 19-6 on the season and 6-4 in Southeastern Conference play. Bama made a huge case to the NCAA Tourney Committee with the upset.

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The game featured a celebration of Breast Cancer Survivors and a Power of Pink theme.

The victory came on a night when head coach Kristy Curry, who guided the Tide to its seventh win in the last 13 matchups vs. the Lady Vols, was recognized prior to tipoff for collecting her 500th career coaching victory with UA’s win at Vanderbilt  Monday.

Alabama held the lead for 31:48 of the game compared to just 5:01 for the Lady Vols and were up by double digits for a majority of the second half. Aaliyah Nye led the offensive charge with 23 points, while Jessica Timmons (14) and Loyal McQueen (10) also scored in double figures. Freshman phenom Essence Cody paced the Tide with eight rebounds.

Tennessee (14-8, 7-3 SEC) was led by Rickea Jackson with 13 points and six rebounds.

Curry said, "ust an unbelievable win. I think we showed a lot of toughness and grit, especially when they made that run there and our kids responded all night long and just stayed together.

Another big résumé win and I'm just so proud of each one of these kids. Sarah Ashlee Barker struggled a little bit but found other ways to contribute and made some big baskets late. I thought Aaliyah Nye and Jessica Timmons really stepped up and our bench was as good as it's been all year with the little things. Tonight really said a lot about our team and I'm really proud of them."

Game Stats

• Alabama owns a 7-6 lead in the last 13 matchups with traditional power Tennessee.
• There were five lead changes in the opening period and the Crimson Tide held the Lady Vols to 14 points in all four quarters.
• Nye scored 13 of her 23 points in the second half, with McQueen also scoring eight of her 10 after intermission.
• UA outrebounded the Lady Vols 42-39 and Alabama shot 46 percent (27-59) from the floor, 37 percent (7-19) from deep and 73 percent (11-15) from the line. By comparison, Tennessee shot 35 percent (24-68) from the field, 17 percent (3-18) from range and 56 percent (5-9) from the charity stripe.
• Alabama won the game despite leading scorer Barker not reaching double figures for only the fifth time this season and second time in league play (nine points).
• How It Happened

• Alabama didn’t allow a field goal over the final four minutes of the opening quarter, taking a two-point lead into the second quarter, thanks to a Nye three.
• UA went into the locker room clinging to a two-point lead (30-28)
• Nye (10) and Timmons (8) combined for 18 of the Tide’s 30 first-half points.
• After both teams traded buckets to open the third quarter, Alabama went on a 15-4 run to turn a two-point lead (32-30) into a 13-point lead (47-34).
• The Tide finished the stanza by making 10 of its last 11 field goals - including nine straight - to extend its lead to 16 points (58-42).
• Tennessee made a late run and managed to trim the lead to six points early in the fourth quarter before a 9-2 UA run put the game away for good.
• Next Up

• Alabama will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to square off against LSU inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Crimson Tide and Tigers will tipoff at 3 p.m. CT with the contest airing on ESPN2 and Catfish 100.1 FM.