Tide Tame Tigers 67-59 In Physical SEC Battle

Coming off a tough loss to powerhouse South Carolina, the Alabama Women's Basketball team (9-1, 2-1) looked to make a statement and bounce back in SEC play Thursday night inside Coleman Coliseum when they faced off against the LSU Tigers (4-5, 2-1)

In the first half of the game, it was a tale of two quarters for the Crimson Tide. While gaining the early lead, Alabama would shoot just 33 percent from both 3 point range and from the field. This was nullified by out rebounding LSU 19-5, and also leading in second chance points and points in the paint.

The second quarter was a bounce back effort for the Tide as they would shoot an impressive 7 of 10 from field-goal range, and 66.7 percent from 3 point range. Leading the way for the Tide was Jasmine Walker. Walker would finish the half with 10 points and 5 rebounds.

"You try to take every game seriously," Said Ariyah Copeland. "I wanted to make things physical and I wanted to contribute, and I felt like I was able to do both. I kept working throughout the game and it worked."

Both Alabama and LSU would play a typical SEC physical game in the second half, but Alabama used their height to their advantage. In the 2nd half, Alabama would use the physical style to score in the paint as they would lead that category 44-27 in rebounding. LSU would make it close several times in this game thanks in large part to forward Khayla Pointer who scored 25 points in this game for the Tigers.

"We have to take this game and learn from it," LSU head coach Nikki Fargas said. "Moving forward, we have to take away tendencies from good teams. We have to execute, and I felt that Pointer (Khayla) played very competitively throughout this game. We have to take ownership and play better for 40 minutes."

Alabama would go on to take the lead late in the contest and never look back thanks in large part to our Tide 100.9 player of the game, Ariyah Copeland. Copeland would finish the game with 20 points 14 rebounds and a blocked shot.

"We had incredible execution tonight," Said Alabama head coach Kristy Curry. "Adversity builds character. We had some adversity tonight with 12 turnovers. We have to get all the right columns going in the same good direction. Tonight we were able to have a positive one with rebounding."

Alabama moves to 9-1 on the season and 2-1 in conference play. Up next for the Tide will be a matchup on the road against the Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday afternoon. Remember you can follow Alabama Women's Basketball all season long and download the FREE Tide1009 app on your Android or iPhone device!