Alabama women’s basketball blew an 18-point lead to Baylor in Saturday’s first round of the NCAA tournament, losing its fifth consecutive game to end its season.

The No. 10-seeded Tide was making its second NCAA tournament appearance in the past three seasons after having none since 1999, and took a 22-4 lead after one quarter. But Alabama turned the ball over 13 times in the second half — including seven times in the fourth quarter — to let the game slip away to No. 7 seed Baylor, 78-74, in Connecticut’s Gampel Pavilion.

“I thought third and the fourth [quarters] we had too many mental mistakes,” coach Kristy Curry said. “I just thought we quit being aggressive. You can’t quit being aggressive this time of the year.”

According to ESPN, Baylor’s comeback win was tied as the third-largest in NCAA women’s basketball tournament history.

“I would say we got a little tired,” Alabama senior guard Brittany Davis said. “We got a little lazy.”

Responded Curry: “I think tired is a state of mind this time of year. We’ve had since March the 2nd, we’ve done a really good job with our recovery. Nobody has any excuses. Just credit Baylor, they made a couple of more plays than we did.”

Davis tied a career high with 33 points, which also matched an NCAA tournament record for Alabama. She scored 20 points in the game’s first 13 minutes, including 15 in the first quarter, but managed 11 in the second half as Baylor mounted its comeback. Davis finished 7-of-11 on three-pointers, including her final tying the game at 71 with 1:50 remaining.

Alabama later pulled ahead, 74-71, with 53 seconds remaining. But Baylor was fouled on its next two possessions and hit all four free throws to take a 75-74 lead, then Alabama guard Hannah Barber was called for a traveled on the next possession. Baylor made another free throw, rebounded a miss and made two more free throws before Alabama’s Sarah Ashlee Barker threw away an inbounds pass to seal the loss.

“Obviously we’ve been in those kind of situations all year. We’ve played in a lot of close games,” Barber said. “We played in a lot of close games. And we just didn’t execute. Obviously I ended up turning it over, and at the end of the day, that’s on me. We have to find a way to get a shot off in those kind of situations.”

Curry’s 10th season as Alabama’s coach ended with five consecutive losses, including three to end the regular season and an SEC tournament upset by No. 14 seed Kentucky. Alabama had entered the SEC tournament as a No. 6 seed and received top-25 votes in the Associated Press poll midseason.

“I’m really proud of the kids in that locker room for the season that they’ve had,” Curry said. “Obviously we’re visibly upset. Any time you have a group of kids that poured their heart and soul into the program, three straight postseasons, for a group of kids that came to Alabama to turn the program around and put it on a trajectory that’s really special — the legacy they will leave is that they left it a whole lot better than they found it.

“I don’t want their body of work to take away from how disappointed they are today. I’m really proud to be their coach, and love them a lot. We just had too many mistakes down the stretch. A silly foul, a travel, a missed box-out there on the free throw. Basketball is a game of mistakes. I don’t want those three mistakes to define who they are and what they’ve done for our program.”

Davis led Alabama in scoring each of the past two seasons after missing the 2020-21 season following the birth of her daughter. She was a first-team All-SEC pick this season.

“What she has meant to this program, her story, as a mom and her comeback from that — there’s nobody in college basketball that’s ever done what that child has done,” Curry said. “She is just a phenomenal human and I know her future is incredibly bright. She’s going to leave Alabama with two degrees. She’s a phenomenal mom.

“I can’t say enough about what she’s done for our program and she’s laid the foundation for more Brittany Davises to come to Alabama. We’re excited about the legacy that she will leave and how she has impacted in so many more important ways than just bouncing a ball. She’s pretty special.”

Alabama showed some of its potential Saturday, opening a 12-0 lead over Baylor to begin the game. But Baylor, which shot 0-for-7 on three-pointers in the first quarter, made 11 of its next 13 triples to take its first lead, 46-44, during the third quarter. Alabama made five three-pointers in a row to recover the lead, which it stretched back to eight points early in the fourth quarter. But Baylor regained the edge with 3:32 left and again in the final minute.

“Baylor made some plays down the stretch and we weren’t able to,” Curry said. “At the end of the day, that’s the game.”

Alabama finished the game with 19 turnovers, while Baylor had 15. The Tide shot 54 percent on three-pointers (14-of-26) while the Bears shot 50 percent (14-of-28).

Baylor advances to play No. 2 seed UConn on the Huskies’ home court Monday, with the winner advancing to the Sweet 16 next weekend in Seattle.

For Alabama, Curry cited signing five-star McDonald’s high school All-American recruit Essence Cody in reasons for optimism next season.

“We feel like we have moved the program forward with our early signing, in signing the No. 12 recruiting class in the country,” she said. “We just signed the second McDonald’s All-American, two four-stars and a five-star.”

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.