Bama Women's Basketball Falls Short Against Delaware
12/29/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The University of Alabama women's basketball team failed to capitalize on a quick start Wednesday night as they dropped a 67-59 decision to Delaware in the opening game of the Christmas City Classic.
Alabama falls to 7-3 on the year with the loss while the Blue Hens improve to 6-2 with their fourth consecutive victory.
Lauren Hill led the Crimson Tide with 17 points off the bench including 10 in the second half. Kate Mastin also scored double digits finishing with 12 points, all on three-point shots. Senior Natasha Gamble, the Tide's starting forward, did not play against Delaware due to a foot/ankle injury suffered in UA's last game.
For the game, Alabama connected on 11 treys against the aggressive UD zone. UA also out-rebounded Delaware, 50-40, including a 22-15 edge on the offensive end. However, the Tide did commit 25 turnovers in the contest and shot just 30.8 percent from the floor.
"We had it going early but we just couldn't seem to put them away," said UA head coach Rick Moody. "I feel like we lost some aggressiveness when our shot didn't fall and also when we turned it over. Delaware seemed to play with more authority when we slipped into our funk and that was probably the difference."
The Tide grabbed a 14-2 lead to start the game limiting Delaware to just a single bucket over the first 10 minutes of action. From that point, UA slipped into a six-minute drought that saw the Blue Hens come racing back. Delaware held a brief lead before Bama closed with a pair of baskets to take a 25-24 lead into the break.
Delaware scored the first seven points of the second period and pushed in front by nearly 20 points, 48-31, as Alabama struggled offensively with turnovers and cold shooting. The Crimson Tide made a late charge but it was too little, too late as the Blue Hens made enough free throws down the stretch to earn the victory.
Alabama scored just two fewer baskets in the game and even made seven more three-point shots (11-4) but lost the battle at the charity stripe where UD outscored the Tide 19-8. A trio of Tide players fouled out of the game on Wednesday as UA was whistled for 28 fouls (just three in the final two minutes) to just 15 for the Blue Hens.
The Crimson Tide concludes play at the Christmas City Classic on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. against Yale. Lehigh, the host team, will play at 7:30 p.m.
