The Alabama women’s basketball team will head to Duluth, Ga., to take on the University of Georgia in the first round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament tonight.
The team is coming off a big road win this past weekend against the Florida Gators, sweeping them and earning their second road win. Overall, the Crimson Tide went 4-12 in the SEC.
Alabama’s win in Gainesville, Fla., was its first since 1999. The win also marked the first time the Tide has won multiple SEC road victories since 2002.
“The Florida win would tell us that we can go on the road and win,” said head coach Wendell Hudson. “Even though this is going to be a semi-neutral site, it’s not totally neutral because it’s about 45 minutes from Athens.”
The Tide goes into the tournament as the No. 11 seed, while Georgia is the No. 6 seed. Eight teams play in the first round, and all four of those games will be played on Thursday.
The seed each team was assigned was based on their conference record. Hudson said he was pleased with the team’s effort this season and the record they earned. He also said the team mostly played with the level of intensity that he was looking for.
“I think that the biggest key is mental preparation,” he said. “Coming out, understanding that every possession is going to be the most important possession. I think for the most part, the team has been pretty good at doing that.”
Freshman guard Celiscia Farmer said in most of the games, the Tide took itself out of it.
“Every time we go into practice, we think about what we did previously,” she said, “and we try to get better at that because as far as any team in the SEC [goes], all of them are beatable.”
The Tide has already faced Georgia twice in the regular season, losing both at home and in Athens. Should Alabama beat Georgia tonight, the Tide will snap a 17-game losing streak to the Bulldogs.
The loss at home to Georgia was a close game, with Alabama leading by as much as 11 in the first half. Then in the second half, the team let the win get away from them.
“The first half of the first time we played them, that proved that we can beat them if we play together and play hard for the whole 40 minutes,” said senior guard Dedrea Magee.
This year’s senior class has also never made it past the first round of the SEC Tournament. The last time Alabama made it past the first round was in 2005.
“I just think ‘keep winning, I don’t want it to be my last game,’” Magee said. “So hopefully we can get past the first game and look forward to the next one.”
Farmer said she’s excited for her first SEC tournament.
“It’s a new experience for me,” she said. “I’m excited right now, but I’m ready to play. When it’s all said and done, we just gotta go to work.”
Tonight’s game will be televised on Fox Sports South, with tipoff at 8 p.m.
