Alabama falls in women’s basketball coaches poll after upset loss

Here’s where Alabama ranks in the new Coaches Poll after their 66-64 loss to Vanderbilt.

The Alabama Crimson Tide suffered a 66-64 loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores on Sunday at Coleman Coliseum.

Despite a season-high 36 points from senior Sarah Ashlee Barker, Alabama (17-4 overall, 4-3 SEC) suffered its second loss in three games after falling to Dawn Staley’s South Carolina Gamecocks 10 days earlier.

The Crimson Tide fell three spots to No. 22 in the new USA TODAY Sports women’s basketball coaches poll, released Tuesday. Kristy Curry’s team is ranked one spot below No. 21 Georgia Tech and one spot ahead of No. 23 Vanderbilt, which entered the top 25 this week.

Vanderbilt’s surge into the Top 25 gives the SEC a total of eight ranked teams. The Commodores join Alabama, No. 2 South Carolina (20-1), No. 5 LSU (21-1), No. 7 Texas (20-2), No. 12 Oklahoma (16-4), No. 13 Kentucky (17-2), and No. 19 Tennessee (15-5).

The UCLA Bruins (20-0) stayed atop the Coaches Poll for the ninth consecutive week. The top three teams remained the same. Notre Dame (17-2) was No. 3 while JuJu Watkins and USC (18-1) moved up one spot to No. 4, jumping LSU. Kim Mulkey’s Tigers (21-1) dropped to No. 5 after their 66-56 loss at South Carolina, LSU’s first of the season.

Alabama will travel to Lexington to face Kentucky Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on SEC Network.

USA TODAY Sports Women’s Basketball Coaches Poll Week 13

Rank Team Record Points
1 UCLA 20-0 774 (30)
2 South Carolina 20-1 742 (1)
3 Notre Dame 17-2 708
4 USC 18-1 678
5 LSU 21-1 631
6 UConn 19-2 624
7 Texas 20-2 614
8 Ohio State 19-1 543
9 TCU 20-2 481
10 Duke 17-4 475
11 Kansas State 19-2 474
12 Oklahoma 16-4 402
13 Kentucky 17-2 386
14 Maryland 16-4 372
15 North Carolina 18-4 329
16 North Carolina State 16-4 305
17 Michigan State 17-3 256
18 California 18-3 234
19 Tennessee 15-5 231
20 West Virginia 16-4 202
21 Georiga Tech 17-4 180
22 Alabama 17-4 115
23 Vanderbilt 17-4 68
24 Florida State 16-4 59
25 Oklahoma State 17-3 44

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