Alabama Escapes Troy With Thrilling 82-79 WNIT First Round Victory

The Alabama women’s basketball team earned a wild, 82-79, win on the road over the Troy Trojans, advancing to the second round of the Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

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“Just really proud of our team for finding a way to win down the stretch,” said Alabama head coach Kristy Curry. “This was the game of their [Troy] lives, the game of the century [and] they're tweeting we want Bama and all this... it’s all in your response to it and I thought our kids really stayed together and showed a lot of poise.”

The Trojans started the game off at an extremely fast pace, forcing five Alabama turnovers early. After falling 16-6, the Tide responded with a 13-6 run cutting the Trojan lead to 22-19 at the end of the first quarter.

The Tide dominated the second quarter outscoring the Trojans 23-12 on 52.6% shooting compared to Troy’s 26.1% in the frame. Alabama took a 42-34 lead into the break.

Both teams went back-and-forth throughout the third quarter as the Tide took a 59-52 lead into the final frame.

The Tide started the fourth quarter off strong, building an eleven-point lead early. After two Hannah Barber free-throws pushed the lead out to 78-66 with 4:05 left, Troy started to amp up the pressure. The Trojans went on an 11-0 run cutting the Tide lead to just one point, 78-77, with 1:06 left in the game. With all the momentum on the side of the home team, Alabama’s JaMya Mingo-Young earned a tough layup putting the Tide back up by three.

After a Troy response layup with 15 seconds left, Megan Abrams calmly hit two free-throws putting Alabama ahead 82-79 with seven seconds left. A traveling violation on the Trojans called with two seconds left sealed the deal and the Crimson Tide escaped Trojan Arena with a huge postseason victory.

Four Alabama players scored in double figures including Megan Abrams (24), Brittany Davis (17), JaMya Mingo-Young (16), and Jada Rice (15). Rice recorded 15 rebounds, earning a double-double.

Alabama will play at Tulane in the second round on Monday, March 21 at 6:30 p.m. CST. The Green Wave defeated the Tide back in November, 69-66, in Tuscaloosa.