COLUMBIA, Mo. – The No. 14 Mizzou gymnastics team fell by the closest of margins on Friday night, suffering a 195.775-195.750 loss to No. 4 Alabama at the Hearnes Center. The Tigers improved a full 1.5 points from their season-opening score but it was not enough to take down the Crimson Tide.

Alabama led throughout most of the meet but Mizzou pulled within striking distance in the final rotation. Ultimately the Tigers went 49.075 on floor to close the night, which was 0.25 short of the Crimson Tide.

Junior Hannah McCrary (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) won the floor title with a career-high-tying 9.925 in Mizzou's final routine of the night.

KEY PERFORMANCES

The Tigers got the night started with a 48.925 on vault in the opening rotation. Freshman Jena Swanson (Glendive, Mont.) nearly stuck her Yurchenko 1.5 for a career-best 9.875 to lead the squad, while freshman Amaya Marshall (Kannapolis, N.C.) also went for a personal-high with a 9.825. Senior Gabrielle Gottula (Spring, Texas) went 9.775 and McCrary and sophomore Sienna Schreiber (Cumming, Ga.) each added 9.725s.

Three Tigers reached the 9.8 mark in the second rotation as Mizzou totaled a 48.925 on the apparatus. Schreiber and junior Alisa Sheremeta (Circleville, N.Y.) both had team-best 9.825s, while Marshall went 9.8 for the second meet in a row. Senior Chelsey Christensen (Rapid City, S.D.) posted a 9.750 and sophomore Adalayna Hufendiek (Columbia, Mo.) went 9.725.

Schreiber and Sheremeta each tallied 9.85s on beam, which tied a career-high for Sheremeta, to lead the way on beam. Freshman Sydney Schaffer (Andover, Kan.) added a 9.775 and Marshall went 9.7. Overall, the squad went 48.825 on the event.

Mizzou had four Tigers go at least 9.8 on floor to give the Tigers a 49.075 on the event to tighten the team race, but the team fell just shy of earning the win. McCrary's career-high-tying 9.925 anchored the lineup for her fourth career event title. Marshall and Swanson also impressed with career-best scores of 9.875 and 9.85, respectively. Sheremeta closed her strong night with a 9.8.

QUOTABLES

Mizzou Head Coach Shannon Welker
"I thought we improved quite a bit from last week, at least in regards to scores. We did better on three of the four events in comparison to our season opener. So that was the upside. I thought we did a good job of sticking with it and finishing it out on floor with some good routines. There were a lot of highlights.

One of the things we have to get better at is believing in ourselves as a team. We have to understand our ability and rise to that ability. We have a lot of talent on this team and it's time for them to believe in ourselves. Once we do that, we're going to be a really tough team. We had a great opportunity to get a win tonight, it could have come in so many different places. We had many opportunities to get that win and we just couldn't get it done. It will be a learning lesson. Sometimes those tough losses are what you need to get better."

UP NEXT

The Tigers host No. 8 Kentucky on Friday, Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. CT at the Hearnes Center. The meet will be televised live on SEC Network.   

EVENT WINNERS

Floor – Hannah McCrary (9.925)