Alabama edged Florida to take the evening session of the NCAA Women's Preliminaries.  Bama opened the meet with a huge 49.6 on beam and then battled back and forth with Florida all night long.  A 49.4 on bars was enough to pass Florida, who managed a 49.275 on floor after a few small stumbles.  The Gators tied or outscored Bama on every event but Beam.  But solid 49.4 scores on vault and bars to close out the meet was just enough to edge the Gators, and set up a battle for the title tomorrow night. 

Arkansas took third, fueled by the return of key gymnasts back from injury.  After encountering an early fall on their last event, their two stars Jaime Pisani and Katherine Grable hit for 9.95s to close out the event.  They were helped along by two counting falls on beam by UGA.  The GymDogs finished fifth, just behind Ohio State in fourth.  If not for the two falls, UGA would have challenged Bama and UF for the session win.  Ohio State came back with solid performances after opening on their weakest event, uneven bars.  Oregon State was just behind UGA with a 196.475, after a slow start caused by a few problems on floor. 

In the AA race, Florida frosh Kytra Hunter was unstoppable, posting a 39.725 for the win.  In second was senior Kat Ding of UGA (39.65), just ahead of Arkansas senior Jaime Pisani (39.625).

The results set up a Pac-12 vs. SEC showdown in the finals, with three squads from each conference battling it out. 

Link:  Results