Ladyjacks Put Up Valiant Effort But Fall Just Short Against Crimson Tide

Saturday, December 9

Tuscaloosa, AL

2:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

6-3,2-0WAC

University of Alabama

9-2,0-0SEC

SFA

Alabama

Ladyjacks Put Up Valiant Effort But Fall Just Short Against Crimson Tide

12/9/2023 5:23:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Peter Trainor, Student Assistant for Strategic Communications

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Stephen F. Austin women's basketball team (6-3, 2-0) hit the road to face-off with SEC opponent University of Alabama (9-2, 0-0) for a Saturday afternoon matchup and fell just short of an upset win by falling 74-69 in Tuscaloosa.

The Ladyjacks concluded their short two-game home stint with a nail-biting win over the Portland Pilots 76-71 and traveled to Alabama to face off against SEC Powerhouse University of Alabama. The Ladyjacks were looking to play spoiler at Alabama and send the Crimson Tide to their first home loss of the season while extending their win streak to six.

The first quarter saw Alabama strike first as Sarah Barker was able to draw an early foul and drain her free-throw to put 'Bama ahead 1-0. However, Tyler McCliment-Call had a quick response for SFA as she drained a triple off an assist from Destini Lombard to get SFA on the board. After an Essence Cody layup tied the game at 3 apiece, Trinity Moore hit the 'Jacks second three-pointer of the quarter to give SFA a 6-3 lead. SFA's strong shooting from downtown continued late in the first quarter as Kyla deck continued her scoring spree as she drained the Ladyjacks third shot from beyond the arc to give SFA an 11- 7 lead with three minutes left in the first. Trinity Moore continued her lights out first quarter as she scored four straight points and gave SFA their largest lead of the game at 15-9. Moore would finish the quarter with a team-leading seven points. However, Alabama would end the quarter with some confidence as they would score four points of their own in the final 30 seconds to find themselves only trailing 15-13 after one quarter of play.

The second quarter saw Alabama show off their quick strike scoring ability as they would fly out of the quarter with a 12-2 run and quickly found themselves with a 25-17 lead over SFA, the largest by either team at this point in the game. However, SFA would refuse to go down without a fight as they would slowly chip away at the Crimson Tide lead, which was sparked by Kurstyn Harden scoring six straight points for SFA to spark an 8-0 run and tie the game back up at 25. Alabama would find a groove of their own shortly after the 8-0 run, as they would go on a 6-0 run, which was highlighted by Aaliyah Nye making the Crimson Tide's first three-pointer of the game, to give Alabama a 31-25 lead. However, SFA would be the team to end the quarter on a strong note this time as Trinity Moore and Destini Lombard would help start a 6-2 scoring run by SFA to end the first half and SFA only found themselves down 33-31 going into the locker rooms.

Alabama came out of the halftime looking pull away from SFA on their homecourt as they went on a quick 4-0 run to stake themselves to an early 37-31 lead. After a Zoe Nelson layup got SFA their first points of the second half, Aaliyah Nye and Destini Lombard exchanged three-pointers to keep Alabama ahead 40-36. However, Mimi Gatewood made her presence felt immediately upon coming in off the bench for Tyler McCliment-Call as she made a three-pointer to cut the Crimson Tide lead back to one point. Aaliyah Nye had a response for Gatewood's three as she hit one of her own to keep 'Bama ahead 43-39. After a Trinity Moore layup cut the Alabama lead back to a single possession, Aaliyah Nye continued her torrent three-point shooting in the third as she hit her third triple of the quarter to keep the Crimson Tide up by five at 46-41. The Ladyjacks caught fire with four minutes left in the third as Kurstyn Harden hit back-to-back layups to spark an 11-0 scoring run, which was capped by a Destini Lombard three-pointer, by SFA to vault them ahead of Alabama at 52-46. Jessica Timmons would end the third on a strong note for Alabama as she scored the final three points of the quarter to keep the SFA lead at a single possession at 52-49 heading in the fourth.

Aaliyah Nye picked up in the fourth right where she left off in the third as she drained her fifth three-pointer of the game just 20 seconds into the fourth to knot the score up at 52. The fourth quarter offered much of the same tightly contested affair between these two schools as these teams exchanged buckets back-and-forth throughout the first three minutes. With the game tied at 56, Aaliyah Nye continued her reign of terror from beyond the arc as she would drain back-to-back three-pointers to give Alabama a 62-56 lead. Destini Lombard would bank home a layup to cut the lead back to four points at 62-58, however, Alabama would go on a 4-0 run and see their lead expand back to eight points at 66-58. With SFA trailing 70-63 with only 41 seconds left, the Ladyjacks refused to go away without a fight and kept Alabama on their toes as Destini Lombard would hit another three-pointer for SFA to cut the lead back down to four. After a pair of Karly Weathres free-throws for Alabama gave them a 72-66 lead, Trinity Moore muscled her way into the paint and drew an and-one play as she banked home the layup and completed the three-point play at the free-throw line to keep the Alabama lead at 72-69. However, SFA was unable to find the equalizer in this one as Aaliyah Nye would put the cherry on top of her unbelievable afternoon of shooting with a free-throw to seal a win for the Crimson Tide as they held on for a 74-69 win.

The Ladyjack offense formed a three-headed monster against Alabama today as Trinity Moore, Destini Lombard, and Kurstyn Harden all scored in double-digits for the 'Jacks. Moore was a monster today as she led the team with 21 points, which was a new career-high in points, had a team-leading nine rebounds falling one rebound short of a double-double, and led the defensive effort with three steals. Destini Lombard led the team with three three-pointers in route to a 19-point performance, where she also dished out three assists and pulled down three rebounds. Kurstyn Harden continues her strong start to the season as she had 14 points on the afternoon and has now recorded double-digit points in nine straight games to start the season for SFA. Kyla Deck led the team with five assists, while Tyler McCliment-Call finished second on the team in rebounds with seven.

Overall, SFA shot 43.8% from the field, but had a strong day shooting from downtown as they made seven triples in this one. The Ladyjacks also experienced a strong day from the charity stripe as they shot 75% on free shots, while also out-rebounding Alabama 39-36. The 'Jacks got production from their bench as they had a solid 24 points from the bench, while having another strong defensive game as they recorded double-digit steals with ten, which led to 21 points off turnovers. Stephen F. Austin finished with 40 points in the paint today, which marked their third straight game with 40+ points in the paint.

Stephen F. Austin will look to put this heart-breaking loss behind them as they will return home for over a week and will not play again until they hit the road to take on Middle Tennessee on Sunday, December 17th with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 p.m. CST.