TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Lipscomb women’s basketball (0-3) team continued its road woes to open the year as the Lady Bisons fell to Alabama (3-0) on the road 82-35.

Lipscomb outscored Alabama 17-15 in the third quarter, but the Crimson Tide first half lead was too much to overcome.

A cold first half once again befell the Purple and Gold as Lipscomb shot 1-29 in the first half before coming out in the second half and shooting 13-33 from the field.

Junior Laure Assena paced Lipscomb with eight points and three rebounds. Senior Alex Banks added six points and three boards.

Junior Loren Cagle filled out the stat sheet with three points, three rebounds, a team-high five assists, one block, and one steal.

Freshman Kaylee Cotton led the Purple and Gold in both rebounds with five and steals with two.

WHAT HEAD COACH GREG BROWN HAD TO SAY:

"Well, I think we executed better against Ole Miss in the second half. It's just the simple things we were trying to emphasize that we didn't do. We need to screen better and do simple things like that.

"I did see some guys who did some things well in the second half. We saw some lineups that we felt were good. We look forward to getting those groups back in there together. We're starting to see some things after three games that we hope we can take advantage of and develop and practice over the next couple of days before we take on Anderson.

"Obviously, 13 is not a reasonable rotation, but that's part of the thing about being young and being new that we knew we had to figure out. And I think we are getting very close to figuring out a good rotation that we can go with. This is a tough run of teams right here, but we'll take these lessons and get ready for the rest of the schedule.

"Alabama is long. They pressured us very hard, and made it very difficult for us to enter the ball at times. They took away our rhythmn." 

QUICK HITS:

• Junior Hannah Cook paced Alabama with 13 points, eight rebounds, and four assists. Four other Crimson Tide players scored in double figures: Jordan Lewis (12), Meoshonti Stennis (12), Coco Knight (11), and Shaquera Wade (10). 
• The Lady Bisons were out-rebounded 54-34.
• Lipscomb kept the turnover margin close, forcing Alabama to 16 turnovers compared to 11 for Lipscomb.
• Lipscomb is now 1-18 against SEC schools in the Division I era, including 0-2 against Alabama.
• 13 Lady Bisons suited up in the loss, including 11 with 10 or more minutes played. Cagle stayed on the court the longest at 34 minutes.

UP NEXT: The Lady Bisons will head back to Nashville for their regular season home opener as they take on Anderson on Sunday at 2 p.m.