by NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Alabama women’s basketball team’s head coach Kristy Curry tallied her 500th career win Monday night in a 74-66 win over Vanderbilt inside Memorial Gymnasium.
Alabama (18-6, 5-4 SEC) trailed by as many as 12 points in the game and by eight to begin the fourth before the Crimson Tide opened the final stanza by scoring 14 consecutive points to take the lead for good.
Sarah Ashlee Barker exploded in the third quarter, scoring 15 of her game-high 24 points – marking the third consecutive game she has scored 20-or-more points – while adding team highs of nine rebounds and six assists. Aaliyah Nye, who led the comeback with an 11-point fourth quarter, added 23 points while Loyal McQueen finished with 16.
Vanderbilt (17-6, 4-5 SEC) was led by Sacha Washington posting a double-double, scoring 16 points and collecting 10 rebounds.
Head Coach Kristy Curry Postgame Comments
“Really proud of our team down the stretch. I thought we were a lot more intentional. We were talking at halftime about their (Vanderbilt) effort and energy, it was at a different level than ours. Anytime you can come back out and only have three turnovers in the second half, we’d only shot two free throws, we got to the line 25 times, and then we had three offensive boards and we outrebounded them, we were getting outrebounded at the half. So, all the statistical categories just show how intentional and, I thought we took our effort and energy to another level. I am really proud of our team in the way they won tonight.”
Game Stats
- The trio of Sarah Ashlee Barker, Aaliyah Nye and Loyal McQueen combined to score 63 of the team’s 74 total points
- Barker (19) and Nye (15) combined for 34 of the Tide’s 50 second-half points
- Nye tied her season-high with 23 points
- This marks the third consecutive game Barker has scored 20 or more points
- The Crimson Tide move to 17-0 when leading with five minutes left
- Vanderbilt had seven first-half three-pointers, however Alabama limited the Commodores to just two makes in the second half
- Alabama shot 43 percent (23-54) from the floor, 45 percent (9-20) from deep and 70 percent (19-27) from the charity stripe
- In comparison, Vanderbilt shot 39 percent (23-59) from the field, 38 percent (9-24) from range and 58 percent (11-19) from the line
