Alabama Women’s Basketball Falls at Georgia in Overtime, 71-65

Alabama women’s basketball overcame a 13-point deficit to send the game into overtime but came up short in the bonus period, falling, 71-65, to Georgia in Stegeman Coliseum on Thursday night. With the loss, the Crimson Tide moves to 17-11 overall and 5-10 in Southeastern Conference play, while the win lifts the Lady Bulldogs to 15-13 on the season and 7-8 against league opponents.

The deciding factor in the game came at the foul line where Georgia hit 21 of its 28 attempts, while Alabama went 18-for-33 from the charity stripe.

“We showed some great toughness getting ourselves back in it with some critical stops,” said Alabama head coach Kristy Curry. “The bottom line is you can’t miss 15 free throws and win on the road in the SEC.”

The Tide was led in scoring by juniors Meoshonti Knight and Quanetria Bolton, who had 14 points and 10 points, respectively. Fellow junior Hannah Cook finished with a team-high eight rebounds, while freshman Jordan Lewis chipped in nine points, three rebounds, three assists and one steal. The Lady Bulldogs were led by senior Pachis Roberts and junior Mackenzie Engram, who combined for 35 points, 18 rebounds and six assists.

Georgia opened the game on a 5-0 run and led by as many as six early on before a 7-2 run for Alabama, where all seven points were scored by Lewis, made it a one-point game with 3:25 to go in the quarter. The Lady Bulldogs ended the first with five unanswered and continued the run in the next period, taking a 25-12 lead at the 6:43 mark of the second. The Tide outscored Georgia, 15-8, to end the half and cut its deficit to six heading into the locker room with the Lady Bulldogs leading, 33-27.

Georgia scored four unanswered to start the third and push its lead back out to double digits with nearly two minutes played in the frame. Alabama answered with the next seven to chip it down to three, 37-34. The Lady Bulldogs would go on to score 15 of the next 17 to lead by 10 again, but the Tide responded by outscoring Georgia, 7-1, setting the score at 50-46 in favor of the Lady Bulldogs at quarter’s end.

Junior Ashley Williams scored the first four points of the fourth to even the game with 9:08 remaining. Georgia then put up the next four consecutive points and led for the duration of the quarter until Alabama’s 7-0 run over the final 1:34 tied the game at 61.

In the overtime period, the Lady Bulldogs outscored the Tide, 10-4, with six of those points coming from the free throw line.

“I thought, for whatever reason, we had too many mental errors down the stretch,” added Curry. “At the end of the day, again, you can’t miss 15 free throws in the SEC on the road and win. We got outrebounded by 11 in the second half, and I thought that really hurt. We need to learn how to sustain longer periods of great effort and great decision making.”

Next up, Alabama hosts Missouri in the final game of the regular season. Tip is slated for 2 p.m. CT on SEC Network +.