📡 No. 9 Alabama Gymnastics Falls to No. 5 LSU, 197.450-196.850

[Tidesports!]

Steady improvement for Alabama gymnastics TideSports.com

No. 5 LSU at No. 9 Alabama
When: Friday at 8 p.m.
Where: Coleman Coliseum
Records: Alabama 6-1, 1-0 SEC; LSU 1-2, 0-2 SEC
TV: SEC Network

All eight Southeastern Conference gymnastics teams are ranked nationally in the top 25. Half of them are in the top 10, including the Crimson Tide.

No. 9 Alabama just opened its conference schedule last week with a win against Georgia. It was close. The Crimson Tide’s season-high 196.9 was just 0.025 higher than the Bulldogs’ score.

“As a team, you have to learn how to win,” UA coach Dana Duckworth said. “You have to learn how to want it and snag it.
“But this is going to sound weird: You’re not going after the win, you’re going out there to perform at your very best because if you do that, the winning will take care of itself.”

Rankings are based on score averages anyway.

The Crimson Tide has actually made leaps and bounds considering it started the season with a 194.75, its lowest score since 2006. The most recent mark is 2.15 points better.

“We did need it because I think we were down after the first two (meets); for sure the first one,” Alabama freshman Emily Gaskins said. “Even though we won, the scores just took us by surprise, and we were hungry to get out there and give the judges nothing.

Like you’re not going to take anything off this routine, watch me.”

The Crimson Tide posted season highs on every event last week. It’s now fifth on vault (49.175), eighth on the floor exercise (49.15), 10th on the uneven bars (49.092) and 37th on the balance beam (48.525).

“Ultimately, we’re all striving to be perfect and you want be perfect at the end of the day, but you also can’t beat yourself up about it if you don’t get the 10.0,” UA senior Ariana Guerra said. “You can only be as good as you can be in that moment in time.”

That’s the mentality Alabama brought to Georgia and will carry into this Friday’s home meet against No. 5 LSU, the second highest-ranked SEC team. The Tigers have a 196.825 average with a 197.425 season high. They are third on bars (49.408), fifth on both beam (49.125) and floor (49.217), and then eighth on vault (49.075).

Overall, LSU is 1-2 and both of its losses were to fellow SEC teams: Auburn and Florida. Alabama is 6-1 — two of its three meets were quad meets — and won its only conference meet so far.

“It’s the SEC by golly,” Duckworth said. “Actually, right now, if you’re competing against anybody in the top 20, you better be ready because everybody’s getting good.”


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[BamaFan334]

Love our girls, but gonna take a flawless performance to beat LSU. The Tigahs have been on absolute fire the last few years. Best of luck gals.

 

[BAMAneck]

Love our girls, but gonna take a flawless performance to beat LSU. The Tigahs have been on absolute fire the last few years. Best of luck gals.

Agreed , I watched Florida / LSU and them corn dogs were sticking every landing ..... while BAMA beat Georgia at Georgia they were having trouble sticking the landings .

 

[BamaFisher]

I’ll be there. My daughter has a meet in Tuscaloosa this weekend and all the girls on her team got tickets. Looking forward to it!

 

[UA Press Release]

The Crimson Tide posted season best scores of 49.250 on the balance beam and 49.225 on the uneven bars


TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 9 Alabama gymnastics team fell to No. 5 LSU Friday night, 197.450-196.850.

The meet came in front of 13,823 boisterous Crimson Tide fans in Coleman Coliseum and was the largest gymnastics crowd in the nation this season and Alabama's largest single-meet total since 2017.

Junior Wynter Childers, stepping in on three events for sophomore Lexi Graber who was held out of the meet after a lower-leg injury in warmups, posted a 39.350 in the all-around. It was Childers' first all-around appearance since last year's Georgia meet in early January.

"Tonight was a total team effort," UA head coach Dana Duckworth said. "We had some adversity at the very beginning when Lexi had to come out and people had to shift around, but there was so much confidence from the coaches' perspective because we had prepared and planned that if something like this happened, the next person steps up."

Childers' performance was highlighted by a 9.925 balance beam routine that tied her career best and paced the Tide to a season-best 49.250, while freshman Emily Gaskins chipped in a 9.875.

Junior Shea Mahoney posted the Tide's highest score of the night with a 9.950 on the uneven bars, pushing Alabama to a season-best 49.225. Alabama also got matching 9.850s from Childers and senior Ariana Guerra on bars.

Freshman Shallon Olsen led the way to a 49.175 on the vault with a 9.900, while senior Abby Armbrecht's 9.925 boosted Alabama to a 49.200 on the floor exercise.

After three home meets in the first month of the season, the Tide hits the road for the next two weeks, traveling to Missouri next Friday and Arkansas the week after. Alabama's next home meet comes on Friday, Feb. 15 when Florida comes to town for the Tide's annual Power of Pink meet. Tickets are available through the Alabama Ticket Office (205.348.2262), located in the lobby of Coleman Coliseum, and online at RollTide.com.

No. 9 Alabama Gymnastics Falls to No. 5 LSU, 197.450-196.850 - University of Alabama Athletics