Women's Basketball Falls at Auburn
1/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Thursday, January 26, 2006
BOX SCORE
AUBURN, Ala. -- Turnovers and a late first half run by Auburn hurt the Crimson Tide women's basketball team Thursday night in a 65-56 loss to the Tigers to clinch a split of the season-series.
The loss drops Alabama to 8-11 overall, 2-4 in the SEC.
For most of the game, Alabama matched Auburn stride-for-stride. The difference, however, came in the closing minutes of the first half where Auburn stretched their led to14 points. With the score tied at 17-17 with 7:58 to play in the first half, Auburn closed the half on an 18-4 run. Alabama was never able to recover from the deficit.
"We played hard tonight," Alabama head coach Stephany Smith said. "I can't fault our kids' effort, but we just weren't able to get baskets when we needed them to draw any closer."
Alabama played well for the rest of the game. The Tide shot 44 percent from the field as a team and was 60 percent from behind the 3-point arc, but could never draw any closer than nine points.
Lauren Hill, who missed the first meeting with Auburn, returned to lead the Tide and all scorers with 22 points, a season-high. Hill was 9-of-13 in shooting and knocked down four of 3-point baskets. Marverly Nettles also poured in 11 points and four rebounds while Dee Merriweather collected five boards and five steals.
NCAA blocks leader, Auburn's Marita Payne controlled the inside much of the night. Payne blocked nine shots on the evening, scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
One of Alabama's biggest problems Thursday night was it free-throw shooting. The Tide was just 5-of-13 while Auburn was 18-of-24.
Late in the second half, Alabama's Navonda Moore went down with a knee injury. She'll be evaluated Friday. Kate Mastin also missed Thursday night's game with and injury and will miss the next two weeks of action.
Alabama will head to Knoxville, Tenn. this Sunday to battle the Tennessee Lady Vols at Noon. The Tide's next home game will be a week from Thursday against Vanderbilt.
