Alabama
Kentucky
No. 22/22 Alabama Drops Road Contest to No. 12/13 Kentucky, 56-65
1/30/2025 8:44:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Crimson Tide will return home on Sunday to host Georgia
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The No. 22/22 Alabama women's basketball team dropped its road contest to No. 12/13 Kentucky on Thursday night.
Sarah Ashlee Barker led the Crimson Tide (17-5, 4-4 SEC) with 22 points, while also grabbing seven rebounds and blocking two shots. Zaay Green scored 14 points and dished out five assists to mark her 18th game of the season in double figures. Essence Cody led the way on defense recording a career-high five steals while adding eight points, six rebounds and one block.
Georgia Amoore and Clara Strack led Kentucky (18-2, 7-1 SEC) as Amoore scored 19 points and recorded nine assists. Strack recorded a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Wildcats.
Head Coach Kristy Curry Comments
"I definitely think that we learned a few things. I thought overall, we did a really good job on Georgia [Amoore], but where we did not do well is that we had too many people standing and watching. I know she was three-of-four at half. We watched all three clips and tried to teach. Georgia [Amoore] does such a great job of finding other people, but I also thought Karly [Weathers] did a great job. Georgia [Amoore] only had eight at the half and tried to keep her in front. We communicated. We met our switches, but it was everybody around. We've got to do a better job defensively in some other positions and make catches harder and to be more physical. We'll learn a lot from this and I think hopefully getting a chance in the SEC tournament we can correct some things."
Game Notes
- The contest featured six ties and six lead changes throughout
- Sarah Ashlee Barker's 22 points marked her sixth 20-plus point performance of the season
- Essence Cody surpassed 500 career points with her eight points on the night
- Alabama outscored Kentucky 34-22 in the pain but was outrebounded 35-33
- Alabama shot 41 percent from the floor (23-of-56), 31 percent from deep (5-of-16) and 63 percent from the line (5-of-8)
- In comparison, Kentucky shot 41 percent from the field (25-of-61), 38 percent from three-point range (9-of-24) and 67 percent from the charity stripe (6-of-9)
How It Happened
- Alabama controlled the opening tip, trading baskets with Kentucky through the first media timeout where the Wildcats held a 9-7 lead after five-plus minutes of action
- The Crimson Tide closed the quarter on a 12-6 run as Sarah Ashlee Barker scored 10 points after the media timeout to give UA its largest lead of the game at six points, 21-15
- The Wildcats answered back, going on a 19-9 run in the second quarter, forcing a nearly four-minute scoring drought from Alabama to take a four-point lead to the halftime locker room (34-30)
- Both squads picked up the defensive intensity to open the third quarter as Kentucky held the Crimson Tide to six points to push the Wildcats' lead to seven, 43-36
- A 6-0 run from Kentucky over the final two minutes of the third quarter extended the UK lead to 12 points at the end of the frame
- Alabama outscored the Wildcats 16-13 in the fourth quarter sparked by a 7-2 UA run, but Kentucky held on to claim a nine-point victory
Up Next
- Alabama returns home to host Georgia on Sunday in Coleman Coliseum
- Tipoff between the Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs is set for 2 p.m. CT on SEC Network+
