Tide Women Fall To Gamecocks

The Alabama women’s basketball team fell, 65-53, to 15th-ranked South Carolina Thursday night in Foster Auditorium. With the loss, the Crimson Tide dips to 12-11 on the season and 2-8 in the Southeastern Conference while the Gamecocks improve to 20-3 overall and 8-2 in the league.

“I’m really disappointed in our effort as a team,” said Alabama head coach Wendell Hudson. “Not necessarily in any individual, but as a team. We dug ourselves in some holes, and then we came out and didn’t have any energy in the second half. We played a really good basketball team, and you can’t come out and not be ready to play.”

Sophomore Daisha Simmons led all scorers in the game with 18 points while juniors Jasmine Robinson and Shafontaye Myers each contributed 11 points for Alabama. South Carolina had a pair finish with double-doubles as sophomore Aleighsa Welch recorded 16 points and 10 rebounds while senior Ashley Bruner added 15 points and 11 rebounds.

The Gamecocks jumped in front in the opening half and led by as many as 10 points until the Tide used an 11-4 lead to cut it to three with 10:13 to go in the first. South Carolina would head into the locker room with a four-point edge in large part thanks to senior Ashley Bruner’s 14-point effort.

The Gamecocks opened the second half on an 18-3 run and eventually led by as many as 20. Alabama cut it to 12 with just over one minute remaining but was unable to get any closer.

For the game, the Tide shot 38.2 percent (21-55) from the field while South Carolina was 40 percent (26-65). The Gamecocks capitalized in the paint scoring 42 inside to Alabama’s 22 and out-rebounded the Tide 53-24.

Alabama returns to Foster Auditorium on Sunday when it hosts the Arkansas Razorbacks. The game is slated to tip at 2 p.m. CST.