No. 4 Alabama Gymnastics Ties Season-Best Road Score in Loss at No. 1 Oklahoma

Freshman Azaraya Ra-Akbar highlighted the night with two 9.95s as the Crimson Tide continued its strong performance on floor.

Alabama gymnast Jamison Sears compete on floor exercise at Oklahoma | UA Athletics

Alabama gymnastics once again proved why it has one of the best floor lineups in the country and showed some resiliency to end on the balance beam in Friday night's meet at Oklahoma.

The No. 3 Crimson Tide lost to the No. 1 Sooners, 198.200-197.475. It is Alabama's second-highest score of the year and ties the highest road score of the season from Week 1 at Clemson.

"This competition tonight felt like an Elite Eight competition," Alabama head coach Ashley Johnston said after the meet. "It felt big, the pressure was high. This team really wanted to be great, and they did a lot of great things, and we just have to continue to dig in and get better in certain areas. This team wants that, they’re willing to do the work, they’re eager to do the work. So we’re going to continue to put our head down, work and be undeniable.”

Heading into the final rotation on balance beam, Alabama was in a strong position to post its highest overall total of the season. Senior Gabby Gladieux had a fall in the five spot, putting a lot of pressure on junior Ryan Fuller in the anchor position to maintain a strong overall road score for the Crimson Tide. Fuller came through with a 9.8 as Alabama scored a 49.225 on beam.

Freshman Azaraya Ra-Akbar came up huge with a 9.95 on the vault and floor exercise against the Sooners. Alabama had its second-best vault rotation of the year with a 49.350 highlighted by Ra-Akbar's stuck landing on the Yurchenko 1.5, setting a new career high.

"So cool to see Aza have that breakout moment on vault," Johnston said. "She actually does that all the time— like at least three times during a week. She knows how to nail that vault, and I was excited to have a quick moment with her before she vaulted, and she was like, ‘I need to stop trying to stick and just let myself absorb it.’ And it turns out that when you stay process focused, that really sets you up to do your best in the right moments.”

Career-high 9.950 for Aza!! 🔥

📺 @SECNetwork#RollTide pic.twitter.com/efCl4DvrVA

— Alabama Gymnastics (@BamaGymnastics) February 7, 2026

Along with Jamison Sears' fifth straight floor score 9.9 or better, Alabama put up a 49.525 for its best event score of the night. Rachel Rybicki also scored a 9.9 on floor.

Alabama came into the meet as the No. 2 team in the country on both the uneven bars and floor exercise. While the floor rotation delivered, the Crimson Tide had its worst bars rotation of the season with a 49.375. Nothing went disastrously wrong, and there were no falls, but there was only one true stick from Chloe LaCoursiere. She scored a 9.925 on the apparatus, marking the fifth straight meet to start the year with at least a 9.925 on the bars.

LaCoursiere finished second in the all-around with a 39.425, trailing only Oklahoma's Addison Fatta who finished with a 39.725.

Facing the No. 1 team in the country on the road, it was always going to be an uphill battle. Alabama needed to come out strong on the uneven bars if it wanted a chance, but the Tide trailed after each rotation. The Sooners scored a 49.500+ on all four rotations.

"I think we’re in this really critical time period where we’ve been consistently mid-197 score, which is a great place to be," Johnston said. "But to be excellent, to be the best in the country, we’ve got to find two more tenths, three more tenths on every event. Everybody’s going to be looking in the mirror and figuring out, how can I contribute to that? What do I need to? And I know this team’s going to come in and be relentless at how they get after that.”

Next up for the Crimson Tide is one of the biggest home meets of the year: Power of Pink meet. Alabama will take on Arkansas on Feb. 13 at 6:30 p.m. CT.