Alabama Gymnastics Drops Third Straight Meet, Posts Best Score Since Opener

For the second straight meet, Alabama only had one routine score 9.9 or higher, and the Crimson Tide once again struggled on the balance beam on the road Friday in the loss at Georgia.

Chloe LaCoursiere on the uneven bars at Georgia / Alabama Athletics

Alabama gymnastics coach Ashley Johnston wanted to see a strong response from her team Friday night at Georgia after struggling in the previous two meets. The No. 14 Crimson Tide did improve on its overall score, but it wasn't enough on the road against the No. 12 Bulldogs, who won 196.975-196.575.

"They continued to chip away and try to do everything in their power to come away with a win," Johnston said after the meet. "Unfortunately it didn't go that way, but I do feel like we learned a ton from this meet. I think this team turned up the intensity this week in training, and they're continuing to jsut dig in. And they're hungry to keep getting better."

It was a close meet all night between Alabama and Georgia with the home team holding a tenth lead heading into the final rotation. As the road team, the Tide had to finish on the balance beam, and Alabama had its worst rotation of the night and third-worst of the season. No gymnasts fell, but several had big balance checks that led to sizable deductions and an overall score of 49.025 on the apparatus.

For the second week in a row, Alabama's only routine that scored 9.9 or higher was Gabby Gladieux's floor routine in the anchor spot. Only scoring one 9.9 is not going to win many meets in the SEC as the Crimson Tide has now dropped its third straight conference meet.

Alabama actually held a slight lead at the halfway point of the meet after a solid, but not great, start on the uneven bars and vault. The Tide didn't have any major mistakes until the final rotation, but it struggled to find stuck landings throughout the meet on each rotation.

Georgia pulled ahead after the third rotation with a strong 49.425 on the balance beam. Alabama had its best rotation of the night in the third rotation as well with a 49.275 on the floor exercise, its highest score on floor since the season opener. Chloe LaCoursiere made her debut in the floor lineup and the all-around and scored a 9.85 on floor. Gladieux (9.9) led the charge with her fourth straight score of 9.9 or higher on the floor this season.

"This was a big breakthrough for Chloe," Johnston said. "She has been wanting to jump into all-around for a year-and-a-half now, and it was really about helping her develop the confidence and self belief to be prepared to be ready for those moments."

Overall, the 196.575 was Alabama's highest score since the 197.025 in the season opener, but Johnston will still want more out of her team. The Crimson Tide hasn't come anywhere close to yet reaching its ceiling or potential.

With Oklahoma joining the SEC this season, one of the conference's nine gymnastics teams will get left out of the SEC championship meet in Birmingham. It will not be determined by league standings, but by National Qualifying Score (NQS.) Right now, Alabama is last either way and will need to start scoring higher in future meets if it wants to avoid being in the danger zone of missing out on the conference championship meet.

"Overall, I think we accomplished a lot tonight," Johnston said. "To lose by just a couple tenths where we gave quite a few away, especially right there at the end, I think that gives them a chip on their shoulder and something to really work towards as we go into another tough matchup agianst LSU this week."

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