Alabama Gymnastics Puts Up Third Lowest Score of Season in Loss to Missouri

Luisa Blanco scored a perfect 10 on beam for the second week in a row, but two falls on floor were costly for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama Athletics

The Crimson Tide falls short two weeks in a row after being defeated by Missouri on the road Friday night.

Alabama scored a 196.750, while Missouri scored a 197.075. Alabama’s Mati Waligora and Shania Adams fell on floor on the same tumbling pass which is very unusual. Since there were two falls, one of the scores had to contribute to the team score.

It snapped a five-meet streak of scoring in the 197-range. 

Even at the very beginning of the meet, the team had a rocky start on bars and vault on technique and landings. Sometimes going for sticks can be challenging, but head coach Ashley Johnson trusts the gymnasts' training and wants them to go big.

“It would’ve been really easy for them to fall flat and just get through the last event but instead they dug in and chose to really come together and go big and fight for every single thing they could do,” Johnston said. “I’m proud of them for doing that and we’re going to move forward and learn from this and get stronger through it.”

Although the team struggled towards the beginning and during the floor rotation, the team was able to finish strong as Luisa Blanco scored her third 10.0 of the season. In fact, this is her second week in a row scoring a perfect 10.0

Blanco only competed on floor and beam at this meet. She had been feeling sore and has competed in the all-around at every meet so far this season. Johnston thought it would be best to let her rest before they will need her talents again in the postseason.

While she rested tonight, Shania Adams seemed to take her place and was able to step in on vault, bars, and floor, and did an exhibition routine on beam. Johnston said that each week, they are trying to find the top six girls that can maximize the team all-around score. This top six varies and changes from week to week, but the girls have to train hard to earn their spot to compete.

“Shania Adams has continued to get more consistent and has continued to up her average and so she earned that spot in the lineup tonight and every week we’ll continue to reevaluate who is the best fit for that particular night,” Johnston said.

She added that the lineups include those who step up and are ready to go big in certain moments. Lilly Hudson was one to step up tonight as she won the overall all-around.

Next week, Alabama competes against Boise State at their last home meet of the season which is also their senior night. The meet will be aired at 7:00 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.

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Final score: Missouri 197.075, Alabama 196.750

Rotation 4: Alabama balance beam (196.750), Missouri floor (197.075)

Alabama balance beam lineup

1. Ella Burgess- One armed back handspring layout stepout and side ariel with very tiny balance check. Finished with a stuck gainer pike dismount. 9.875

2. Rachel Rybicki- Back handspring layout stepout. Slight bobble on split full jump. Stuck her roundoff 1.5 dismount. 9.725

3. Mati Waligora- She had a slight bobble on her back handspring layout stepout but a solid side aerial. Finished her routine with a stuck roundoff 1.5 dismount. 9.8

4. Gabby Gladieux- Back handspring two-foot layout stepout with a beautiful front aerial. Changed her regular double back dismount to a roundoff double full and executed it well. 9.875

5. Lilly Hudson- Front aerial connected to a back handspring back layout and had a slight bobble. She did a very solid aerial and finished her routine with a stuck roundoff back 1.5 dismount. 9.9

6. Luisa Blanco- Beautiful front aerial and back handspring back layout step to another back layout step out. Very solid routine as she finished with a stuck roundoff back 1.5 dismount. 10.0

7. Shania Adams (expedition routine)- Beautiful wolf turns and solid back handspring layout stepout. Finished with back handspring back 1.5 dismount. 

Alabama balance beam total: 49.450

- Gabby Gladieux was able to tie her season-best.

- Lilly Hudson's 9.9 beam score secured her all-around win.

- Third 10.0 for Lusia Blanco this season on beam, and now she's gotten two 10.0 scores back-to-back from last week. After a rocky start to the meet, the team finished strong with her perfect score.

- Although Shania was an expedition routine for beam, she competed all four events tonight.

Missouri floor lineup:

1. Sienna Schreiber- 9.875

2. Alonna Kratzer- 9.875

3. Hannah McCrary- 9.9

4. Alisa Sheremeta- 9.925

5. Jocelyn Moore- 9.875

6. Amari Celestine- 9.9

7. Sydney (expedition routine)

Missouri floor total: 49.475

Rotation 3: Alabama floor (147.300,) Missouri balance beam (147.600)

Alabama floor lineup

1. Mati Waligora- Fell on her front layout front Rudi but finished strong with a back 1.5 twist to front layout. 9.075

2. Makarri Doggette- Opened with a beautiful full-in followed by a back 1.5 twist to front layout. 9.875

3. Shania Adams- Very clean double pike with solid wolf turns. She fell on her last pass which was a 1.5 twist to front layout. 9.15

4. Gabby Gladieux- Opened with big full-in with slight hop. Her leaps and jumps are sky-high. Finished with solid front layout to Rudi. 9.875

5. Lilly Hudson- Solid front layout to front double full and 2.5 back twist. Finished with huge double back. 9.9

6. Luisa Blanco- Opened with a sky-high back double pike and went right into a solid double back. Finished with an amazing front full to front layout. 9.95

7. Cam Machado (expedition routine) - Opened with a big double pike and a great 1.5 to front layout. 

Alabama floor total: 48.750

- Very unusual for the team to not just one fall, but two falls on the same tumbling pass by Mati Waligora and Shania Adams.

- After Gabby Gladieux performed, it seemed that the team flipped the switch and finished strong with Luisa Blanco's 9.95.

Missouri balance beam lineup:

1. Anna McCrary- 9.65

2. Addison Lawrence- 9.85

3. Grace Anne Davis- 9.6

4. Alisa Sheremeta- 9.9

5. Helen Hu- 9.95

6. Sienna Schreiber- 9.75

7. Casey Poddig (expedition routine)

Missouri balance beam total: 49.100

Rotation 2: Alabama vault (98.550,) Missouri uneven bars (98.500)

Alabama vault lineup

1. Gabby Gladieux- Beautiful Yurchenko full and a slight hop. 9.875

2. Makarri Doggette- Yurchenko 1.5 with a step forward. 9.75

3. Lilly Hudson- Big Yurchenko 1.5 with a very small hop. 9.875

4. Shania Adams- Her Yurchenko full was a little short with a step forward. 9.675

5. Jordyn Paradise- Huge 1.5 Yurchenko with a hop on the landing. 9.8

6. Shallon Olsen- Beautiful double Yurchenko full with a very small hop. 9.9

7. Corrine Bunagan (expedition routine)- Yurchenko full with a slight hop forward. 9.75

Alabama vault total: 49.175

- Not the best scores the team has had. Almost all of their landings seemed a little bit hard for them to stick.

- Shania Adams stepped into the vault lineup, but her score will be dropped.

Missouri uneven bars lineup:

1. Amari Celestine- 9.825

2. Sienna Schreiber- 9.85

3. Alisa Sheremeta- 9.825

4. Jocelyn Moore- 9.925

5. Helen Hu- 9.875

6. Kyra Burns- 9.875

7. Addison Lawrence (expedition routine)

Missouri uneven vault total: 49.350

Rotation 1: Alabama uneven bars (49.375,) Missouri vault (49.150)

Alabama uneven bars lineup

1. Lilly Hudson- Had to fight on her bail to not fall over and a slight hop on her double back dismount. 9.775

2. Karis German- Huge Tkachev but struggled a little on her pirouette. She had a tiny hop on double layout dismount. 9.825

3. Mati Waligora- Strong Yaegar to bail with slight leg separation and a solid full out double layout dismount. 9.85

4. Shania Adams- Hit every handstand as well as all of her releases with only a step on double back dismount. 9.85

5. Cameron Machado- Very solid Pac Salto and blind full to stuck double back dismount. 9.9

6. Makarri Doggette- Beautiful Tkachev to Pac Salto with a stuck double layout dismount. 9.95

7. Corinne Bunagan- Very solid routine with a good bail. She finished with a small step on her double layout dismount.

Alabama uneven bars total: 49.375

- Not the stongest start for the team, but they were able to finish strong with Makarri Doggette's 9.5.

- Luisa Blanco is usually in the lineup, but it seems to be Shania Adams took her usual spot.

- Corrine Bunagan was put in as an alternate and this was her first bar routine of the season.

Missouri vault lineup

1. Addison Lawrence- 9.75

2. Hannah McCrary- 9.8

3. Sienna Schreiber- 9.85

4. Amari Celestine- 9.875

5. Jocelyn Moore- 9.825

6. Grace Anne Davis- 9.8

Missouri vault total: 49.150