TUSCALOOSA | The sixth-ranked University of Alabama gymnastics team went through the first three-fourths of Friday night’s meet against rival Auburn on cruise control, but in the final rotation the Crimson Tide floored it.

Alabama didn’t need a big finish to beat rival Auburn for the 94th straight time, but closed out the regular season with a flourish on the floor exercise by posting five consecutive scores of 9.9 or better to defeat the 12th-ranked Tigers 197.1 to 195.9 in front of a crowd of more than 10,000 at Coleman Coliseum.

After Ashley O’Neal’s 9.85 in the leadoff spot, the Tide’s floor workers banged out one stirring floor routine after another. Senior Kaitlin White, in her final home performance, went 9.925 to start the surge, with sophomores Ricki Lebegern and Kassi Price matching her intensity to put up identical scores.

Freshman Kayla Hoffman kept the momentum going with a 9.9 to set the stage for sophomore Morgan Dennis, who fell just short of a perfect score with a 9.975 in the finale.

“I thought I had maybe got a 10 but I’m still happy with my performance,” Dennis said.

Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson has watched her team’s floor show grow throughout the season.

“There’s a huge change in our floor exercise from the beginning to now in difficulty and performance,” she said. “It started out early in the season with the capability to be our best event, but in competition it was not our best event.

“I think we’ve really tried to manage our floor exercise and tonight was the first time I think it’s really come together.”

Alabama scored better than 49 on three of the four events, culminating with the season-best floor tally of 49.65 that ranks as the second-highest score on the event of any team this season.

The Tide started out with solid, but far from spectacular, rotations on vault and uneven parallel bars, scoring 49.25 on each event. Dennis posted Alabama’s top vault score at 9.9, matched by Price on the bars.

Alabama made it through the balance beam without any falls that could give Auburn a chance at an upset, but the scores went down after Casey Overton’s 9.875 in the leadoff position.

“I think we started off really good on vault,” White said. “Bars we kept our energy up. Beam was OK, but we just kept our energy when we got to floor.”

Alabama will compete in the Southeastern Conference Championship next Saturday in Duluth, Ga.



Reach Tommy Deas at tommy.deas@tuscaloosanews.com or at 205-722-0224.