Alabama Women's Basketball Overmatched in Second Round Loss to No. 2 Seed Maryland
Trailing by 29 at halftime against one of the best teams in the country, Alabama had the choice give in or fight until the last whistle.
Senior Jasmine Walker showed some fight in likely her last game in an Alabama uniform, finishing with 23 points and 7 rebounds as the Crimson Tide dropped 100-64 to second-seeded Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Wednesday afternoon.
"I don't want this one day to take away from the entire journey that they've been on all season," Alabama coach Kristy Curry said. "To get our program back to where it deserves to be and that's consistently in the NCAA Tournament."
Walker, a projected top-10 WNBA draft prospect, has been outstanding for the Crimson Tide all year long and potentially ended her Alabama career with another double-digit scoring performance.
"I'm proud of my team," Walker said. "We did stuff people weren't able to do in 20 plus years. I'm proud of this group of girls that I got to experience this journey with. I can always say that my senior year we made history, so that's what I'm most proud about."
With the loss, Alabama finishes the historic season with a 17-10 record.
The Terapins came out shooting hot in the first quarter, making four of their first six three-point attempts and shot over 70% from the floor overall in the quarter. Combined with five Alabama turnovers which led directly to nine Maryland points, the Crimson Tide found themselves in a big hole early.
Ultimately the first quarter struggles proved too much for Alabama to make a game out of it.
Maryland proved why they are a two seed and showed relentlessness on both sides of the ball. Offensively, the Terps had five players finish in double figures led by Angel Reese with 19.
"They're just really hard to guard," Curry said. "They're so good offensively, and we just didn't have an answer."
On the defensive side, Maryland forced 19 Alabama turnovers, including 13 steals which led to 33 points off of turnovers.
Coming off a career-high 32 points in the first round, Jordan Lewis was kept in check by the Maryland defense throughout the first half. However, she did finish with eight points.
"The physicality and the size really affected not just Jordan, but all of us," Curry said. "That's just a really good basketball team that's done this to a lot of people and will do it to a few more."
The third member of the "big three", Ariyah Copeland, was harassed down low all game and had trouble getting clean looks, but continued to show toughness and grit throughout the game.
Curry got emotional after the game talking about what this senior class has meant to her and the program.
"It's just been a joy to go to work every day and to see their faces," Curry said. "To see their eagerness, to do something that hasn't been done, and each one of them's journey is so different."
While this is certainly not the performance Alabama was hoping for, this team and senior class were able to bring the program to a place it hadn't been this century, the NCAA tournament. And that is certainly something to be proud of.
For Walker, the decision to return to her home state and represent her home team was worth it, especially getting to represent it in the NCAA tournament.
"I feel like the best choice in my life was to come back home and play in front of all my friends and family," Walker said.
