Alabama
15-10, 3-9SEC
University of Florida
13-12, 4-8SEC
Crimson Tide Women’s Basketball Drops 66-56 Decision to Gators
2/12/2017 3:31:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Three finish in double figures for Alabama, led by Quanetria Bolton with 14
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama women's basketball team fell, 66-56, to Florida on Sunday at Coleman Coliseum in the Crimson Tide's annual Power of Pink/Play4Kay game. With the loss, UA moved to 15-10 overall and 3-9 in Southeastern Conference play, while the win lifted the Gators to 13-12 on the season and 4-8 against league opponents.
"The emphasis all week has been on just making sure that we do a great job of rebounding, boxing out and [being] fundamentally sound," said Alabama head coach Kristy Curry. "We weren't able to do that. I think that any time in this league where you get out-rebounded by 20 and have 17 turnovers, you're going to have a hard time winning. So, we just continue to keep working at it."
Alabama was led in scoring by junior Quanetria Bolton, who had 14 points. She was followed by fellow junior Meoshonti Knight and freshman Jordan Lewis, who chipped in 11 apiece. Junior Ashley Williams was the Tide's top rebounder with seven boards. Florida had two finish with double-doubles as senior Ronni Williams collected 19 points and 11 rebounds and freshman Delicia Washington had 12 points and 11 boards.
Alabama led for the majority of the first, however six unanswered points for Florida to end the quarter evened the game at 12-12.
Williams knocked down a jumper on the Gators' opening possession of the second, but the Tide responded by scoring 12 of the next 14 points to take an eight-point lead, 24-16, with 5:01 remaining in the frame. Florida cut its deficit to one, but Bolton put up the final four points before halftime to give Alabama the 31-26 edge.
Florida took the lead back at the 7:58 mark of the third after scoring the first seven points of the quarter. The Gators went on to lead by as many 13 after scoring the first 18 points of the period. The Tide then put up 10 straight points, which came in a 90 second span, to cut its deficit to three, 44-41, with 2:55 to go. Florida outscored Alabama 8-2 to close out the third with a 52-43 lead.
The Tide used a 7-1 run at the beginning of the fourth to cut it to three, 53-50, with 7:22 to go, but that was as close Alabama would get down the stretch.
For the game, the Tide shot 40.3 percent (25-62), while the Gators hit 32.8 percent (20-61) of their attempts. Alabama connected on 12 of its 13 free throws and had 31 points from its bench. On the boards, Florida collected 50 rebounds compared to UA's 30.
Next up, the Tide hosts Tennessee on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. CT.
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