The Alabama women’s basketball team dropped a 96-69 decision to ninth-ranked Tennessee on Sunday at Thompson-Boling Arena. With the loss, the Crimson Tide falls to 11-7 on the season and 1-4 in the Southeastern Conference while the Lady Volunteers improve to 15-3 overall and 6-0 in the league.

“When you play a team like Tennessee, you have to take advantage of every opportunity, especially scoring,” said Alabama head coach Wendell Hudson. “We did that early but then missed some shots, which allowed them to make a run. You have to give Tennessee credit. They stepped up and made their shots and played tough.”

Alabama was led in scoring by sophomore Daisha Simmons with 19 points. She was followed by redshirt sophomore Kaneisha Horn and junior Shafontaye Myers, who contributed 14 points and 12 points, respectively. Horn finished as the Tide’s top rebounder with 10 boards as well for the fourth double-double of her career.

Tennessee opened the game with a 6-2 edge, but back-to-back three-pointers, first from Myers then from Simmons, gave Alabama an 8-6 lead with 16:48 to go. Aside from three ties, the Tide remained in front until the 10:20 mark when the Lady Vols went ahead 20-18. Tennessee would then use a 15-7 run over the next five minutes for its first double-digit lead of the game. From there, Alabama scored five unanswered points to cut the Lady Vol advantage down to five, but Tennessee would use another big run to lead by 14, 49-35, at the half.

The Lady Vols continued to build on their lead, beginning the second half with a 15-5 run to go in front by 24 with 15:31 to play. Tennessee would lead by as many as 33 in the contest.

For the game, Alabama shot 34.6 percent (27-78) from the floor while Tennessee hit 54.3 percent (38-70) of its attempts. The Lady Vols out-rebounded the Tide, 50-38, and collected nine blocks. Tennessee also took advantage of its 23 trips to the free throw line, hitting 19 shots from the stripe.

Next up, Alabama hosts Auburn on Thursday, Jan. 24, at Foster Auditorium.

(Courtesy Alabama Media Relations).

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