After knocking off high-ranking Kentucky and falling to South Carolina to end its home season, the women’s basketball team will take on rival Auburn at 8 p.m. tonight.
“We have to continue to keep playing the way we’ve been able to play here recently,” head coach Wendell Hudson said. “Part of that is that we have been able to make shots, and we have been able to get the ball where we need to get the ball. This team has to take one game at a time, and we talk about one possession at a time.”
Hudson said the team has been playing well over the past seven games, and the players feel good heading into Auburn.
“Any court is home,” junior guard Jessica Merritt said. “We have to go out and play with the same intensity that we’ve been practicing, and hopefully it’ll favor our way.”
“We’ve played pretty well on the road,” Hudson said. “It’s one of those things where, sometimes, getting away from home and being together as a team is a good thing.”
The two teams faced each other early in the Southeastern Conference season on Jan. 5. The Tigers beat the Tide at Foster Auditorium 65-55. Sophomore guard Shafontaye Myers was Alabama’s leading scorer, with 13 points, and led the team in four assists and four steals. Auburn sophomore Tyrese Tanner led the Tigers with 20 points.
“We want to keep the game at our tempo,” Myers said. “We don’t want to allow them to get into their flow of the game. We have to keep playing fast…they don’t like to play fast. We have to push the ball, pressure on defense and just be prepared for whatever they have coming at us.”
“I feel confident,” Merritt said. “The first time we played them at the beginning of the season, we played a little sluggish just coming into conference. I believe we’ve made improvements over the time, and I believe they’ve made improvements, so this should be a pretty good game.”
Auburn is currently on a five-game losing streak. Nell Fortner, who has coached Auburn the past eight seasons, announced her resignation after this season earlier this week. Hudson said it’s important that his team stays focused on Alabama.
“We can’t let what’s going on at Auburn affect us,” he said. “That’s the big key. I think we have to stay focused on our game and what we need to do.”
With this game being a big-time rivalry, it’s sure to bring out the best of both benches.
“I feel like [the rivalry is] motivation to me because we’re both in the state,” Myers said. “May the best team win. I feel like we think it’s a big motivation to us.”
