Alabama Women's Hoops Falls at Kentucky, 62-59
2/22/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
 |
|
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The University of Alabama women's basketball team overcame a 13-point deficit in the second half of their tilt at Kentucky, but poor free throw shooting prevented the Tide from picking up their first SEC road victory of the season, as they dropped another heartbreaker, 62-59.
With the loss, Alabama dropped to 12-13 overall and 4-8 in conference play. The Wildcats improve to 10-15 and 2-10 on the season, picking up their first SEC home victory on Senior Day at Memorial Coliseum.
In a series where seven of the last eight games between the two teams have been decided by fewer than four points, the Wildcats jumped out early on the Tide who shot a dismal 24 percent from the floor in the opening half. Kentucky grabbed a 13 point lead at the 6:30 mark in the first half, and withstood a late 'Bama charge to take a 37-28 lead into the halftime break.
The Tide's early second half numbers mirrored those of the first, as once again the Wildcats owned a 13 point advantage with 13:07 remaining in the game. But the Tide used a 16-3 run over the next seven minutes to trim away the Kentucky lead. Dee Merriweather's lay-up with 6:31 remaining tied the score at 53-53, and set the stage for another of the series' dramatic finishes.
Merriweather had a chance to put the Tide on top for the first time since early in the contest, but failed to connect on any of her two foul shots with 5:56 remaining. Merriweather stepped to the charity stripe once again minutes later with an opportunity to tie the game at 59 apiece, but missed the front end of a one-and-one.
"You could look at a lot of reasons why we lost this game today," Alabama head coach Rick Moody said. "But the bottom line is you have to put the little orange ball through the orange rim.
"We had 69 field goal attempts and 20 offensive rebounds, and a lot of them were easy opportunities that we missed. It is just frustrating for me and our team."
Katie Sipe led all scorers on the afternoon with 18 points. Sipe was 6 of 13 from the field and 4 of 9 from beyond the arc. Monique Bivins chipped in 15 points and 9 rebounds for the Tide. Tawana Freeman pulled down 11 boards to pace 'Bama on the glass.
The Wildcats finished with four players scoring in double-digits. Angela Phillips led Kentucky with 14 points, the majority of which came from the free throw line, where she converted 9 of her 10 attempts.
'Bama out-rebounded the Wildcats 50 to 45, including a 20-13 advantage on the offensive end. Each team finished with seven turnovers.
Alabama returns to the friendly confines of Coleman Coliseum for their final home game of the 2003-04 season. The Tide takes on in-state rival Auburn on Thursday, February 26 at 7 p.m.
