On Monday night, Alabama outscored the Commodores 50-33 in the second half.
The Alabama Crimson Tide (18-6, 5-4) defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores (17-6, 4-5) 74-66 on Monday night, resulting in the team’s fourth consecutive loss. With 24 points and 9 rebounds, Sarah Ashlee Barker of Alabama had no match for the Commodores.
Head coach Shea Ralph declared that Ashley Barker would follow her desires.
Jordyn Cambridge, Jordyn Oliver, Iyana Moore, Justine Pissott, and Sacha Washington were chosen by Ralph to start. With 16 points each, Moore and Washington led Vanderbilt in scoring.
Aaliyah Nye of Alabama opened the game with a mid-range jumper 76 seconds after the tip. Soon after, Moore made a 3-pointer to put Vanderbilt ahead 3-2. Following a 3-ball possession, Alabama responded with a 7-0 run led by two points from Barker and five points from Loyal Mcqueen.
Midway through the first quarter, Vanderbilt fell behind 9-3, but they battled back as Moore and Aga Makurat both made 3-pointers to tie the game at nine. Leading 16–12 entering the second quarter was Alabama.
Yet Vanderbilt’s 10-0 run and inability to allow Alabama to score a basket until 4:30 remained in the second quarter caused Alabama’s lead to quickly evaporate. Following three consecutive scoreless possessions between Vanderbilt and Alabama, Pissot made a 3-pointer off a Washington assist to give Vanderbilt a 25-18 lead. Moore and Nye combined for four 3-pointers, and Washington made a layup to close out the quarter.
Vanderbilt outscored the Crimson Tide 21-8 in the second quarter to take a 33-24 lead into halftime.
The two SEC rivals traded nearly every possession during the third quarter, with Alabama edging closer to Vanderbilt in the last minute of play. Before the quarter ended, Barker made a layup to put the Crimson Tide down 52-46, trailing Vanderbilt 52-44. In the third quarter, Barker scored fifteen of Alabama’s twenty-two points.
The six-point advantage Vanderbilt had early in the fourth quarter evaporated. Just over 7:30 remained in the fourth quarter, with Vanderbilt and Alabama level at 54 points apiece. With 7:07 left in the game, Barker made a free throw to give the Crimson Tide their first lead of the second half, building on the momentum that had been building.
A few moments later, with just over six minutes left in the game, Nye made it four points for Alabama, extending their lead. Pierre had two opportunities at the charity stripe with a chance to stop Alabama’s 12-0 run. Alabama’s lead increased to 14-0 on their subsequent possession after she missed both of her shots. Immediately after, with 5:22 left in the game, Pissot made a 3-pointer to give Vanderbilt a much-needed boost. The 256-second scoring drought for Vanderbilt was broken by Pissot’s 3-pointer. Vanderbilt was now 60-57 behind Alabama.
“We gave up a couple of wide-open layups and had some miscommunication on defence,” Ralph said. “You can see the wind being taken out of our sails when we’ve had a few bad calls go against us, and that just cannot happen.”
With just under four minutes left, Nye made a shot from beyond the arc, but Vanderbilt was still behind three points. Vanderbilt tried to rally, but it was unable to take the lead again. Vanderbilt was outscored 28-14 by Alabama in the fourth quarter.
“We cannot continue to play the way we did in the second half and expect to win the remaining games on our schedule,” Ralph declared.
On February 8 at 8 p.m. CST, the Commodores will play their first home game of the season against the No. 13 LSU Tigers.
