FORT WORTH, Texas -- Alabama gymnastics coach Dana Duckworth knew the Super Six was going to come down to the wire -- a .025 meet, as she predicted on Friday.

The Crimson Tide gave Oklahoma and LSU a run before falling behind both schools on Saturday night in the NCAA gymnastics championships on Saturday. Oklahoma won the national title with a 197.6750 score. LSU (197.4500) narrowly edged Alabama (197.4375) for second place.

Duckworth found several positives in Alabama’s third-place finish.

“That was a very tough competition,” Duckworth said. “We knew it was going to be a tough competition and I think what we were really most proud of is that the girls just trusted themselves.”

After a bye in the first rotation, Alabama got off to a strong start in the floor routine with a score of 49.37500. Kiana Winston and Lauren Beers led the way with 9.9 performances.

The Tide carried that momentum into the vault, with Beers (9.9) and Nickie Guerrero (9.875) turning in solid scores.

Through the halfway point of the meet, the Tide led all teams at 98.7. But Alabama couldn’t quite carry it over to the uneven bars, finishing the event with a 49.2875 score despite 9.8875 scores from Winston and Mackenzie Brannan.

“We came out on floor on fire,” Duckworth said. “We did an amazing job on vault, could have stuck a couple of more landings, really went for all of our hand stands and everything on bars, again a couple of things short.”

But Duckworth was most proud of how Alabama closed the event on beam. In the most pressure packed event, Alabama had no falls. Guerrero scored a 9.95, with Brannan and Aja Sims both posting 9.9 scores. Alabama finished the event with a 49.45 to lock up third place ahead of Florida.

“That kind of fight, that kind of drive, last event on beam, I could not be more proud of the grit that these ladies showed,” Duckworth said.

Coming off the third place finish, Duckworth envisions a bright future for the program. Alabama has won six national titles in school history, with its last coming in 2012.

“We lose two seniors that have graduated but we have three amazing athletes that are coming next year,” Duckworth said. “So I believe the firepower behind the future of Alabama gymnastics is so bright and we will learn from this experience.”

Team scores

1. Oklahoma;197.6750

2 LSU;197.450

3 Alabama;197.4375

4 Florida;197.350

5 UCLA;196.825

6 Georgia;196.8125