BATON ROUGE, LA - The No. 4 Alabama Gymnastics team used a strong performance over the second half of Friday's meet against LSU Tigers to win 196.425-195.850 here in the Peter Maravich Assembly Center.

Alabama posted its second highest floor exercise and balance beam scores of the season to take advantage of LSU's two falls on the balance beam. Alabama goes to 12-1-0, and 4-1 in Southeastern Conference competition while LSU falls to 9-6 overall and 2-3 in the SEC.

"I think this meet is indicative of the competition within the Southeastern Conference and certainly among the nation's top-12," Alabama head coach Sarah Patterson said. "At this level of competition, you can't afford to count a fall and tonight was no exception."

It was Alabama's first road meet since February 3 at Kentucky. It was also the Tide's first meet back after having last weekend off from competition.

"We struggled in practice this week and I think a lot of it was due to fatigue and the stress the ladies were under academically with mid-terms," Patterson said. "Usually you perform like you practice but in this instance I though were able to do a little bit better. Certainly I was concerned coming into tonight's competition."

It is Alabama's best road score of the season and its third best overall. The meet will be televised on a taped-delay basis by Fox Sports Net South on March 11.

"We need to continue to work on stuck landings," Patterson said. "But that being said, there were some definite highlights from tonight, the obvious one being Terin Humphrey's performance in the all-around. It was also a big step forward for us getting Cassie Martin out there on vault in exhibition. She did a brand new vault, one that is going to give us more depth and more options."

Sophomore Terin Humphrey won the all-around with a season best 39.475. She also won the floor exercise, scoring a 9.925 to tie with LSU's April Burkholder. There was a three-way tie for first on the balance beam with Humphrey, Alabama freshman Brittany Magee and Burkholder all scoring a 9.875. Freshman Melanie Banville won the uneven bars with a 9.875 while LSU's Emily Ellis took top honors on the vault with a 9.95.

"I thought for the most part our floor exercise execution was good and I thought that the first three balance beam routines in our rotation were certainly at a championship level. Another highlight was getting Ashley Miles out there on the uneven bars and having her hit her routine."

"Brittany Magee continues to be a rock on three events for us," Patterson said.

Magee got the Tide off to a strong start on the balance beam, its final event of the night, posting a 9.875 and tying her career best. Freshman Ashley O'Neal followed Magee with a career best 9.825, a score junior Erin Rightley matched a routine later. Humphrey then closed out the Tide's meet with a 9.875 of her own, pushing Alabama to a 49.050, its second best beam score of the season. LSU, having to count a fall in its total, scored a 48.475 on the balance beam.

Alabama got the night started with a 49.025 on the uneven bars, led by a 9.875 from Banville and a 9.85 by Humphrey. Miles chipped in a 9.825, tying her season best. LSU posted a 49.075 on the uneven bars.

Led by a 9.875 from senior Dana Filetti, a 9.85 from Miles and a 9.825 from Humphrey, Alabama scored a 49.05 on the vault. Filetti's mark matched her season high and was just off her career best of 9.9. LSU scored a 49.075 on the vault.

The Tide got a spark early in its floor exercise lineup when Humphrey, up second, scored a season best 9.925, leading Alabama to a 49.300 team score. In the fourth spot, freshman Brittany Magee came up with a 9.9 which tied her career best mark. Miles closed out the floor for the Tide with a 9.875. The Tigers posted a 49.2225 on the floor.

Alabama returns home for the final two meets of the regular season, competing against Stanford next Friday and closing out the regular season March 17 against Auburn. Tickets can be purchased online at www.rolltide.com or at the Alabama Ticket Office (205.348.2262) located in the lobby of Coleman Coliseum.

"We are up against an extremely talented Stanford team next weekend," Patterson said. "The fans are going see a meet that is going to come down to the wire. It's going to come down to who hits the final two routines of the meet. It will definitely be a sit on the edge of your seat type of meet and an awesome display of gymnastics."

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