Three games in a seven-day period all without Essence Cody has been quite the test, and Alabama lost its second straight game Sunday afternoon to Tennessee. The Tide got out to a quick 13-3 start before the Vols settled in and gained control for the remainder of the game. The effort was there, but shots weren't falling, and there were too many runs by Kim Caldwell's team.
Alabama was led by Jessica Timmons, who put up 22 points, followed by Carly Weathers, who was the only other player on the team in double digits, but also had 11 boards playing out of position with Cody out.
In games like Sundays, you really see the difference in the overall team talent and the amount of NIL and attention given to certain programs. Obviously, women's basketball is getting more attention at the Capstone, but you can definitely see how much catching up there is to do when teams like Tennessee come to town. The Vols are able to make hockey-like line changes, switching out all five players at times without much being lost in production. The positive of this for Kristy Curry's team is that they kept it close throughout and even regained the lead in the fourth quarter. Kudos as well to Naomi Jones, who played tough against the Tennessee bigs, grabbing 11 boards, though if she were more of a scorer could have been the difference on Sunday.
Now Alabama gets a week off, which hopefully allows Essence Cody to get healthy enough to return to the court next Sunday at home against Mississippi State. After that, business really picks up with a road trip to Athens to face Georgia, which really took it to Ole Miss, and then a trip to Baton Rouge, which is always a challenge. The SEC schedule has slowed down this team a tad, but they are still in a good spot with an opportunity to contend for home games to start the NCAA Tourament with.