It's On To SEC Men's Tournament Semifinals
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Crimson Tide Rolls In Big Win Over South Carolina
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
It was Bama freshman Braxton Key playing a key role in the Friday contest by pumping in 18 points on six-of-eight shooting from the field, as well as hauling down seven rebounds in the win. Junior Riley Norris scored 12 second half points for the Tide. Senior Bola Olaniyan pulled down a game-high 10 boards, his ninth double-digit rebounding performance of the season.
University of Alabama men's head basketball coach Avery Johnson said, "I'm really proud of our guys. We've had an up-and-down years in a lot of ways and haven't been able to put together complete games, especially in back-to-back games. But we did it tonight. I'm proud of our guys. They were hard-nosed, they fought and they were scrappy. And these two gentlemen that are up here now, Riley Norris and Braxton Key, are huge reasons why we're advancing in the SEC Tournament."
Both teams struggled offensively during big chunks of the game, yet came up with scoring spurts, especially the Tide. The two teams combined were a lowly 2-of-10 in shooting in just over 4 1/2 minutes of the start of the game. South Carolina was 4:39 at one point without scoring, but Bama was only a minute behind with a 3:32 scoring drought.
This contest between the top two defenses in the SEC held one another to just 45 points in the first half, with Alabama leading 23-22. The Tide shot just 36 percent from the field, yet South Carolina was slightly worse at 35 percent. A total of four ties and four lead changes occurred in the half, with Bama leading by as many as five points, yet never trailing by more than one.
The Alabama defense controlled the pace of the contest, holding the Gamecocks to a mere 38 percent shooting, while the Tide bounced back in the second half hitting 57.1 percent (12-of-21) from the field. Overall, UA was 44.9 percent (22-of-49) in the contest.
The Tide did a much better job on Friday than the previous outing in keeping Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell in check. The SEC Player of the Year scored 44 points and hauled down 21 rebounds against Bama in the quadruple overtime game earlier this season. In Friday's contest he put up 16 points while grabbing four boards.
It was Alabama owning the glass with a 42-27 advantage, and a 16-6 lead in second chance points. The Crimson Tide was also able to connect on 15-of-21 (71.4 percent) from the foul line.
Alabama will face the No. 1-seed Kentucky Wildcats today at noon CT in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. The contest will be broadcast on The SEC Network. The Wildcats defeated the Crimson Tide 67-58 in Tuscaloosa back on February 11th in the only game between the two teams this year.
| Game Stats | UA | SC |
|---|---|---|
| FG% | .449 | .367 |
| 3FG% | .333 | .235 |
| FT% | .714 | .565 |
| RB | 42 | 27 |
| TO | 13 | 9 |
| STL | 1 | 6 |
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| Alabama's Riley Norris for 2 of his 12 points Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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| The Tide's Braxton Key stuffing 2 of his 18 points Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
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Alabama-South Carolina Post-Game Press Briefing
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| Click HERE to watch post-game press conference |
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No. 6 Alabama Gymnastics Closes Regular Season With Win
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| UA Gymnastics Seniors Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – It was a night of memories, tears and a Senior Night to be remembered. The sixth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide gymnastics teams closed out its regular season with a 197.100-196.600 win
over Iowa State on Friday night in front of a crowd of 10,063 at Coleman Coliseum. The crowd came out for not only the gymnastics contest itself, but also to honor Bama's seniors.
The careers of UA gymnastics seniors Katie Bailey, Amanda Jetter, Keely McNeer, Mary Lillian Sanders, Aja Sims and Mackenzie Valentin were highlighted both before and after the last home meet of their respective careers. These six beautiful young ladies have done the Crimson Tide proud.
Alabama Scoring:
Vault: 49.500
Nickie Guerrero 9.95
Kiana Winston 9.9
Maddie Desch 9.9
Uneven Bars: 49.025
Shea Mahoney 9.9
Katie Bailey 9.9
Amanda Jetter 9.875
Balance Beam: 48.925
Kiana Winston 9.975
Nickie Guerrero 9.925
Aja Sims 9.9
Floor Exercise: 49.650
Aja Sims 9.975
Maddie Desch 9.950
Katie Bailey 9.925
Nickie Guerrero 9.9
Amanda Jetter 9.9
Following the meet, Desch commented, "It's an honor, being a part of an amazing group of girls – there's nothing like it. It's exciting to put it all together."
Concerning her balance beam performance, Guerrero said, "I go out there for my team. I don't try to focus on what I want to get done, but what I want to do for them. I trusted myself and after so much momentum, it felt good to finally get that full stick."
The Crimson Tide ladies overcame a shaky middle of the meet to finish on a high note. UA head gymnastics coach Dana Duckworth said, "Right after we finished beam, I brought the girls together and said, 'Okay, we've dug ourselves a hole, but we are an amazing floor team.' 'We need to go out there, and we need to stay focused, do your job, and have a lot of fun,' and you know, they had a lot of fun."
Of her floor exercise, Sim said, "It was bittersweet. I just wanted to give it my all out there the best I could. Being in front of our amazing fans, the best in the whole nation . I just wanted to give it all to my team and bring it out there one last time."
Alabama will now move onto the postseason, starting with the Southeastern Conference Championships on Saturday, March 18th in Jacksonville, Florida.
The careers of UA gymnastics seniors Katie Bailey, Amanda Jetter, Keely McNeer, Mary Lillian Sanders, Aja Sims and Mackenzie Valentin were highlighted both before and after the last home meet of their respective careers. These six beautiful young ladies have done the Crimson Tide proud.
Alabama Scoring:
Vault: 49.500
Nickie Guerrero 9.95
Kiana Winston 9.9
Maddie Desch 9.9
Uneven Bars: 49.025
Shea Mahoney 9.9
Katie Bailey 9.9
Amanda Jetter 9.875
Balance Beam: 48.925
Kiana Winston 9.975
Nickie Guerrero 9.925
Aja Sims 9.9
Floor Exercise: 49.650
Aja Sims 9.975
Maddie Desch 9.950
Katie Bailey 9.925
Nickie Guerrero 9.9
Amanda Jetter 9.9
Following the meet, Desch commented, "It's an honor, being a part of an amazing group of girls – there's nothing like it. It's exciting to put it all together."
Concerning her balance beam performance, Guerrero said, "I go out there for my team. I don't try to focus on what I want to get done, but what I want to do for them. I trusted myself and after so much momentum, it felt good to finally get that full stick."
The Crimson Tide ladies overcame a shaky middle of the meet to finish on a high note. UA head gymnastics coach Dana Duckworth said, "Right after we finished beam, I brought the girls together and said, 'Okay, we've dug ourselves a hole, but we are an amazing floor team.' 'We need to go out there, and we need to stay focused, do your job, and have a lot of fun,' and you know, they had a lot of fun."
Of her floor exercise, Sim said, "It was bittersweet. I just wanted to give it my all out there the best I could. Being in front of our amazing fans, the best in the whole nation . I just wanted to give it all to my team and bring it out there one last time."
Alabama will now move onto the postseason, starting with the Southeastern Conference Championships on Saturday, March 18th in Jacksonville, Florida.
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Alabama Gymnastics Senior Night Photo Highlights
*All Gymnastics Senior Night photos courtesy UA Athletics
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Bama Baseball Beats Arkansas-Pine Bluff
Second Time In Four-Game Series
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – The Alabama baseball team has now extended its
winning streak to five games after defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff for the second time in two days in a huge 14-1 victory on Friday night. The win advances the Crimson Tide to an 8-5 overall record on the season.
University of Alabama head baseball coach Greg Goff said, "I told our guys tonight that we had to come out and finish 27 outs. I felt like our guys did a really good job of getting out to a lead early and then letting Jake (Walters) settle in. Tonight, we had an opportunity to relax a little bit. This is the first game we had where we kind of extended a lead, so it's good to have an opportunity to see some other guys get to play."
Bama banged out 13 hits and a season-high 10 walks to put 14 runners across home plate, the most in a single contest during the season thus far. Three Bama batter had three-hit efforts on the night. Chandler Avant was three-for-five with a pair of doubles and two runs scored, Cobie Vance finished three-for-four with a double, a team-high tying three RBI and one run scored and then there was Tanner DeVinny putting a three-RBI night. DeVinny picked up his second home run in as many starts and finished one-for-two with two runs scored and a walk.
Jake Walters (3-1) stepped up as the starting pitcher for the Tide, striking out five batters in 6.0 innings of work for his third win of the season. The junior limited the Golden Lions' offense to only five hits, a walk and one earned run. It was Zac Rogers, Tyler McMurray and Tyler Adams coming in to pitch the final three scoreless innings, with each reliever throwing an inning apiece. It was the first appearance of the young season for McMurray and Adams.
The two teams will face off again this afternoon at 2 p.m. CT at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Fans can catch all the action on SEC Network+.
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – The 46th-ranked University of Alabama women's tennis team fell to below the .500 mark this season suffering a loss to the No. 13 Georgia Bulldogs 6-1 in its
Southeastern Conference home opener at the Alabama Tennis Stadium on Friday. The Crimson Tide now drops to 6-7 overall, 0-3 SEC, while the Dogs improve to 8-3 overall on the season and
2-1 against SEC opponents.
RESULTS
Doubles
1. No. 25 Routliffe/Pothoff (UA) defeated Perez/Brinson (UGA) 6-2
2. No. 58 Christofi/Shaffer (UGA) defeated Spielmann/Hinton (UA) 6-3
3. Gonzalez/Gould (UGA) defeated Daniell/Savva (UA) 6-2
Singles
1. No. 59 Erin Routliffe (UA) defeated No. 55 Ellen Perez (UGA) 7-5, 2-6, 7-5
2. No. 18 Elena Christofi (UGA) defeated No. 124 Andie Daniell (UA) 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(6)
3. No. 63 Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) defeated Danielle Spielmann (UA) 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-1
4. No. 86 Caroline Brinson (UGA) defeated Smith Hinton (UA) 6-2, 6-1
5. Marta Gonzalez (UGA) defeated Maddi Pothoff (UA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. Mariana Gould (UGA) defeated Juliana Valero (UA) 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1
University of Alabama head baseball coach Greg Goff said, "I told our guys tonight that we had to come out and finish 27 outs. I felt like our guys did a really good job of getting out to a lead early and then letting Jake (Walters) settle in. Tonight, we had an opportunity to relax a little bit. This is the first game we had where we kind of extended a lead, so it's good to have an opportunity to see some other guys get to play."
Bama banged out 13 hits and a season-high 10 walks to put 14 runners across home plate, the most in a single contest during the season thus far. Three Bama batter had three-hit efforts on the night. Chandler Avant was three-for-five with a pair of doubles and two runs scored, Cobie Vance finished three-for-four with a double, a team-high tying three RBI and one run scored and then there was Tanner DeVinny putting a three-RBI night. DeVinny picked up his second home run in as many starts and finished one-for-two with two runs scored and a walk.
Jake Walters (3-1) stepped up as the starting pitcher for the Tide, striking out five batters in 6.0 innings of work for his third win of the season. The junior limited the Golden Lions' offense to only five hits, a walk and one earned run. It was Zac Rogers, Tyler McMurray and Tyler Adams coming in to pitch the final three scoreless innings, with each reliever throwing an inning apiece. It was the first appearance of the young season for McMurray and Adams.
The two teams will face off again this afternoon at 2 p.m. CT at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Fans can catch all the action on SEC Network+.
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Tide Women's Tennis Humbled By Georgia Dogs
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| Photo Credit: UA Athletics |
RESULTS
Doubles
1. No. 25 Routliffe/Pothoff (UA) defeated Perez/Brinson (UGA) 6-2
2. No. 58 Christofi/Shaffer (UGA) defeated Spielmann/Hinton (UA) 6-3
3. Gonzalez/Gould (UGA) defeated Daniell/Savva (UA) 6-2
Singles
1. No. 59 Erin Routliffe (UA) defeated No. 55 Ellen Perez (UGA) 7-5, 2-6, 7-5
2. No. 18 Elena Christofi (UGA) defeated No. 124 Andie Daniell (UA) 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(6)
3. No. 63 Kennedy Shaffer (UGA) defeated Danielle Spielmann (UA) 6-7(4), 7-5, 6-1
4. No. 86 Caroline Brinson (UGA) defeated Smith Hinton (UA) 6-2, 6-1
5. Marta Gonzalez (UGA) defeated Maddi Pothoff (UA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. Mariana Gould (UGA) defeated Juliana Valero (UA) 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-1
