The Alabama women’s basketball team will host the seventh-ranked Kentucky Wildcats tonight in one of its two final home games of the 2011 season. In the teams’ first meeting, the Crimson Tide fought back from a 25-point halftime deficit to lose 82-68 in Lexington. Junior guard Meghan Perkins said the team is ready for the rematch. “This is a second chance for us to do everything right that we did wrong last time,” Perkins said. “The coaches have been watching film, and we’ve been working on things we need to work on.” The Tide’s 1-11 conference record makes the game even more important in turning around a less-than-average season. Head coach Wendell Hudson said a win over a top-10 team would be huge for both morale and momentum going into next season. “These last four games are extremely important in transitioning into next season and the outcome of this season,” Hudson said. Neither team has a significant size advantage over one another, and the game may come down to guard play. The Tide is led by guards Perkins and Jasmine Robinson. Perkins and Robinson have averaged 9.4 and 11.1 points per game this season, respectively. Hudson said the key to winning for the Tide will be keeping its star guards out of foul trouble. “With the limited amount of players that we have, we can’t afford to get into foul trouble,” Hudson said. With the loss of Ericka Russell due to injuries and the overall lack of depth on the roster, it will be largely up to the starting five to play smart basketball. “We’re capable of beating them, we just need to stay out of foul trouble,” Perkins said on the key to victory. On top of focusing on this game, the Tide is thinking about the future and ending the season on a positive note. A win against Kentucky would be seen as another step closer to the Tide gaining momentum for the rest of the season and into next year. As long as the starters can stay out of foul trouble, the Crimson Tide can finish the season on a strong note. For Hudson, the season hinged on Alabama’s shooting ability. “We just had a missed layup here and a missed shot there,” Hudson said. “And we’re not too far away from winning and finishing a couple more games.”