TUSCALOOSA, ALA. – The Coastal Carolina women's basketball team fell 88-46 to Alabama on Wednesday afternoon in Tuscaloosa, Ala. With the loss, the Chanticleers drop to 4-5 on the year, while the Crimson Tide improve 8-2 overall with the win.
Coastal's offense was led by
Deaja Richardson with 15 points to reach the 1,000 career points milestone. She was aided by
Makaila Cange and
Arin Freeman with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Cange finished with a game-high eight rebounds with
Dalanna Carter and
Riley Stack grabbing seven and six boards.
Alabama was paced by Sarah Ashlee Barker with 17 points. Barker got help from Aaliyah Nye (16), Loyal McQueen (11), Jessica Timmons (10), and Del'Janae Williams (10) as the Crimson Tide had six players in double digits in points. JeAnna Cunningham was the team's leading rebounder with six boards.
The Crimson Tide opened the first quarter with a 14-4 lead before the Chants' Freeman and Cange sandwiched an Alabama basket with layups to cut the lead to 16-8. After a pair of free throws by the Tide, CCU's Stack hit a jumper as the Chanticleers trailed by 18-10 only to see a second pair of Alabama free throws to trail 20-10 at the end of the first period.
However, Alabama opened the second period with a 7-2 run to take a 27-12 lead with 7:12 remaining until the halftime intermission. Coastal's
Alancia Ramsey and Richardson cut the lead to 28-16 after the Tide made 1-of-2 from the free throw line.
The Crimson Tide increased their lead to 33-16 with a 5-0 surge before CCU sandwiched a three-point jumper to trail 36-20 with 1:50 remaining in the first half. A second 5-0 burst by Alabama closed out the first half scoring with Coastal trailing 41-20 at the break.
The Chants forced the Tide to call an early timeout in the third quarter, as Coastal's Richardson hit a mid-range jump shot and a layup to cut the deficit to 20 points at 44-24. However, a 23-7 run increased the Alabama advantage to 69-31 with 10 minutes left in regulation.
The fourth period began with the two teams trading the first 18 points with the Crimson Tide leading 78-40 with just over five minutes left to play. After an Alabama layup, the Ladies in Teal scored four unanswered to trail 80-44 with 3:25 left in regulation. The Crimson Tide outscored the Chants 6-2 over the final 1:53 for the final margin of 88-46.
Coastal will return to the HTC Center on Sunday, Dec. 10, as the Chanticleers host UNC Pembroke with the tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m. ET.
For complete coverage of CCU women's basketball, follow the Chants on social media @CoastalWBB (Twitter), facebook.com/CCUChanticleers (Facebook), @GoCCUSports (Instagram), or visit the official home of Coastal Carolina Athletics at www.GoCCUsports.com.
