No. 3 Alabama Gymnastics Closes Regular Season on the Road at No. 4 LSU

The No. 3 ranked Alabama gymnastics team returns to the road this week to take on No. 4 LSU in the Crimson Tide’s regular-season finale Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

“As we close in on the championship season, it’s about handstands, it’s about landings and it’s about getting rid of any kind of execution that can take away from a great score,” UA head coach Dana Duckworth said. “As much as we can, we’re using this weekend as a dress rehearsal for the postseason.

The meet will be streamed live by the SEC Network (WatchESPN.com/WatchESPN App) and broadcast on a taped delay basis with Bart Conner, Kathy Johnson Clarke and Laura Rutledge calling the action.

The Tigers are Alabama’s seventh top-10 opponent and 11th top-25 challenger this season. The two teams last met in the evening session of the NCAA Championships Semifinals where Alabama posted a 197.100 to advance to its 21st NCAA Championships Super Six Team Final while LSU scored a 196.550 to finish fifth in the session.

Alabama comes into Friday’s meet after posting its fourth consecutive 197-plus score last Friday and its sixth overall. LSU is coming off its second 197-plus score in a row and third of the season.

While she is just in her second year as Alabama’s head coach, Duckworth is in her 21st season with the program after spending 19 years as a gymnast, volunteer coach and assistant coach, giving her a lot of insight into the level of SEC competition.

“The SEC is the best conference in the country and that means that every time we go out there against another conference school, it’s going to be a tough meet, but that’s what makes us great, we are tested week in and week out against the best and that’s what we’re looking forward to with LSU,” Duckworth said.

Duckworth and LSU’s D-D Breaux, the longest tenured head coach in SEC gymnastics history, currently in her 39th season in Baton Rouge, are the two coaches with the most experience in the league by a wide margin.