As Alex McMurtry mounted the beam, the Alabama crowd erupted.
But the excitement wasn’t for her routine.
It was for junior Kiana Winston, who had just scored her first career 10 on the floor, after a nearly flawless all-around performance on the night.
Her perfect score sealed No. 6 Alabama’s 197.825-197.425 win over No. 3 Florida (4-1, 2-1 Southeastern Conference), handing the Gators their first loss of the season before the final two routines of the night were even performed.
“A solid night was not quite enough,” Florida coach Jenny Rowland said in a release. “It’s our first SEC road meet of the season and I thought this team did a phenomenal job on the road.”
Though the Tide (3-3, 3-2 SEC) took home the win, the nation's top dual meet of the weekend lived up to its hype.
In a hostile road meet environment with a crowd of more than 12,000 watching, Florida scored at least a 9.8 in 22 of their 24 routines, which didn’t include freshman Sierra Alexander’s 9.725 on vault in her collegiate debut, Florida’s lowest score of the night.
Even with a few deductions on bars and vault, Florida trailed by just .10 at the halfway mark of the meet and closed the gap even further to just .05 after a solid rotation on beam.
Freshman Amelia Hundley’s 9.90 was the team-high score on the apparatus, equaling her collegiate best.
“We started off with solid routines on bars,” Rowland said. “We stuck our dismounts, which is something we have been a little wishy-washing with over the past few meets. But really started off on a great note and finished on a really solid note on beam as well. The team fought for every tenth, every landing”
Kennedy Baker, who scored a 10 of her own of floor in last Friday’s meet against Auburn, contributed another solid floor performance, scoring a 9.950.
She finished just behind Winston for the all-around title matching her season-best of 39.575, while the Tide swept all the individual titles with the exception of vault.
Rachel Slocum took a share of the title home with a 9.925.
Florida has now scored above a 197.10 in each of the first five meets for the first time in school history.
‘This was a great experience – in front of a big crowd on the road, tight meet all the way through – and the team will gain from this experience,” Rowland said.
Contact Lauren Staff at lstaff@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @lstaff27.
Kennedy Baker performs her floor routine during Florida's win over Kentucky on Jan. 13, 2016, at the O'Connell Center.
