DULUTH, Ga. -- The NCAA women's gymnastics championship came down to the final routine, just as Alabama coach Sarah Patterson expected.
Patterson was confident because she had senior Ashley Priess set for that last routine.
Priess closed Alabama's decisive balance beam rotation with a 9.950 and the Crimson Tide edged No. 1 seed Florida to win its second straight championship on Saturday.
Alabama won its sixth title by posting a 197.850 to beat Florida's 197.775, giving the Southeastern Conference the top two spots in its Super Six showdown with the Pac-12.
Entering the final rotation, Florida led Alabama by only .025. The Gators scored a 49.40 on their final routine, the floor exercise, and Alabama won with its 49.50 on the beam.
"I realized our scores had matched up with theirs pretty well and it was going to come down to that last routine," Patterson said.
Florida closed its floor routine with a 9.925 from all-around champion Kytra Hunter.
UCLA was third at 197.750, followed by Stanford (197.500), Utah (197.375) and Arkansas (196.300). Only SEC and Pac-12 teams advanced to the Super Six from Friday's semifinals.
The Gators had their sixth top-five finish in the last seven years but again were denied their first title.
Florida coach Rhonda Faehn called the close loss "extremely painful and hard."
The individual championships will be decided today.
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