The goal for the Alabama Women was to last as long as possible in Greeneville, but unfortunately, a nightmare first half Friday night against Texas ended the run after two wins with an 83-60 beatdown of the Crimson Tide.
We knew this team was going to have to play the best game of their season to knock off the Longhorns, especially after playing them so well less than a week ago in Tuscaloosa. Obviously, Vic Schaefer studied that tape, and they got after it early.
Alabama averages 15 turnovers a game, and the Texas defense turned that into 14 turnovers and a bunch of points on the other end. Honestly, the game was over before it started with Texas leading 52-19 at the half. This was the least amount of points put up by the Tide this season in the first half, and the biggest deficit in the SEC Tournament since 2000.
On the bright side, Kristy Curry's team has no quit in them, and they did outscore the Longhorns 20-15 in the third quarter and 21-16 in the fourth quarter. Obviously, the much better performance in the second half was too little too late, so you have to give kudos to the Texas defense, which did not allow any Alabama player to get into double digits. It may sound like beating a dead horse, but the first half domination by the Longhorns again shows the gap between the elite-level teams in the SEC and the middle of the pack, which Alabama has clearly moved into over the last couple of seasons.
Now Alabama will have a little over a week to get healthy before finding out their fate of who they will face and where they will be headed in the NCAA Tournament. As I've said before, getting away from SEC opponents may be the best thing for this team, as it is unlikely they will see a better team than they did at the end of the regular season and the Texas team they saw in the quarterfinals.
Interestingly enough, after the big win over Tennessee, Charlie Creen did move the Tide up to the five line, and it will be interesting if they stay there or move back down to the six line that they have been on for a while. Either way, this team will be ready to go and will be a tough out for anyone that they face in two weeks.