Women's Basketball Falls to No. 25 Kansas State
12/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - A sluggish second half proved costly for the University of Alabama women's basketball team in their 71-52 loss to No. 25 Kansas State on Saturday afternoon in the Triple Crown Sports Classic.
With the loss, the Tide falls to 6-2 on the year while K-State improves to 6-2 with the victory. UA and KSU are now tied 1-1 in their all-time series.
"I'm disappointed in the outcome today," said UA head coach Rick Moody. "I would not have expected for us to struggle so much on the offensive end with all the weapons we have on this team. Give Kansas State credit because they just out-played us in all aspects of the game and we got we deserved. I do feel that final exams may have taken a toll on our team though. We have to bounce back and realize that me missed out on a great opportunity against a terrific team."
Kansas State outscored the Tide 15-6 over the first eight minutes of the second half to break open a tightly contested opening half. It took Alabama over 13 minutes in the second stanza to reach double digit points as KSU pushed in front by as much as 22 points in the frame. Alabama shot just 27 percent (8 of 29) in the closing period and were outscored 41-23.
The first half was a hard fought period of play with both teams able to find spurts of offense. The two teams also each struggled at times on the offensive end. The Tide connected on just nine buckets in the first period but shot a solid 45 percent from the floor. The Wildcats made 11 field goals in the stanza but were held to a 35.5 percent shooting performance including just 2-of-13 (.154) from behind the three-point arc.
Alabama held an early lead only to see Kansas State race back to go in front by six at 22-16 with eight minutes left in the half. The Tide kept battling and eventually closed the gap to a single point, 30-29, at the break. Eight different UA players scored in the half while the bulk of KSU's points came from the duo of Megan Mahoney (13) and Claire Coggins (10).
Marverly Nettles led the Tide offense with 17 points including 10 in the second half. Natasha Gamble finished with 12 as the only other Bama player in double digits. Nettles also led Bama on the boards finishing with a team high seven.
Mahoney, an All-American candidate, led all scorers with 22 points for K-State followed by 14 from Coggins. Laurie Koehn and Twiggy McIntyre both scored 10 points in the second half to spark the Wildcat offense down the stretch. KSU also outrebounded the Tide, 40-33, and hit on 11 of 12 free throw attempts in the contest.
The Crimson Tide host in-state foe Alabama A&M on Tuesday in the squad's last game before taking a break for the Christmas Holidays. Bama and A&M meet at 7 p.m. in Coleman Coliseum on Tuesday.
