Alabama Falls in 78-74 Heartbreaker to Baylor in NCAA Tournament

STORRS, Conn. – In a game that came down to the final minute, the Alabama women’s basketball team’s season concluded Saturday in a heartbreaking, 78-74, loss in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament to the seventh-seed Baylor Bears.

Baylor took the lead with 3:32 left to play in the game, but the Crimson Tide put together a 6-0 run to move ahead by three points with less than a minute to play. Foul trouble over the final minute of action, however, sent the Bears to the free throw line where Baylor converted 7-of-8 shots from the stripe to take the win.

The 10^th-seeded Crimson Tide (20-11) was led by a 33-point performance from Brittany Daivs which tied the school’s NCAA Tournament scoring record set by Yolanda Watkins in 1995. Davis’ 33 points also tied a career-high as the UA senior additionally recorded a career high in three-point baskets with seven on the night. Jada Rice and Sarah Ashlee Barker both tallied 11 points and four boards in the game.

Baylor (20-12) was led by Ja’Mee Asberry, who tallied 26 points in the game. Caitlin Bickle had 14 points, seven boards and four assists while Sarah Andrews had 14 points, five assists and four blocks.

“First of all, I’m really proud of the kids in that locker room for the season that they’ve had. Obviously, we’re visibly upset. Any time that — I mean, you have a group of kids that have poured their heart and soul into the program for three straight postseasons. For a group of kids that came to Alabama and turned the program around and put it on a trajectory that’s really special, the legacy that they will leave is (that) they left it a whole lot better than they found it.

“So, I don’t want their body of work to take away from how disappointed they are today. I’m really proud to be their coach and love them a lot. We just had too many mistakes down the stretch. A silly foul, a travel, a missed box out there on the free throw. Basketball is a game of mistakes. I don’t want those three mistakes to define who they are and what they’ve done for the program. Baylor made some plays down the stretch, and we weren’t able to. At the end of the day, that’s the game.”

Game Stats

• Brittany Davis tied UA’s NCAA Tournament scoring record set by Yoland Watkins against Duke during the 1995 tournament
• The 33 points also tied a career-high for Davis, in addition to her seven three-points in the game tying a…