No. 23 Alabama women’s basketball returned to action this week to play in the Emerald Coast Classic in Niceville, Florida. The Crimson Tide won both games by a combined 84 points.
Monday vs. Alabama State
After a week of rest and practice, the Crimson Tide started fast against the Yellow Jackets.
Guards Sarah Ashlee Barker and Zaay Green found their shots in the first quarter. Barker made two quick layups before hitting a 3-pointer at the 6:30 mark.
Green stole the ball twice in the opening minutes, and both baskets led to a score on the other end. She was fouled once and made both free throw attempts, and she hit two shots to finish the quarter with 6 points.
Green achieved an impressive milestone in this game: She surpassed 400 career assists.
“I want her to shoot the ball a little bit more, but I do love her selflessness. I love her ability to find open people,” head coach Kristy Curry said. “She just does so much with the ball in her hands and can really command the floor, which is special. When she moves forward to the next level, that’s something that will set her apart.”
Alabama put 26 points on the board in the first quarter, half of which came from Alabama State turnovers. The Crimson Tide forced nine turnovers and dominated the glass early by collecting 12 rebounds.
Guard Aaliyah Nye caught fire on both ends of the floor, especially in the second quarter. She stole the ball twice in a row and finished the half with 10 total points.
Alabama held Alabama State to 20 points in the first half and continued to tighten up on defense. The Crimson Tide did not allow many open looks and held the Yellow Jackets to 21.4% from deep for the game.
Center JeAnna Cunningham made the most of her 13 minutes of play by scoring 7 points and picking up nine rebounds.
Guard Karly Weathers is known for making hustle plays, like collecting steals and playing tough defense, but she was the best 3-point shooter against the Yellow Jackets. Weathers sank four from downtown while robbing Alabama State ball handlers three times.
“She does all the little things for us and makes a big difference on both sides of the ball, but I think we want her to look for a shot like she did today,” Curry said. “It was really good to see it go through the net for her today.”
Alabama’s starting five cleaned up the free throw problems of previous games and knocked down 14/17 as a unit.
The Crimson Tide defeated the Yellow Jackets 83-33 to capture the seventh victory of the season.
Tuesday vs. Clemson
This game was Alabama’s first of two matchups against ACC teams this season, and a familiar face was competing against the Crimson Tide; guard Loyal McQueen transferred from Alabama to Clemson in the offseason, which added some more excitement to the game.
In the first quarter, baskets were hard to come by for either team. Clemson focused on Barker, but that strategy did not work well, because other Crimson Tide players found an easy path to the rim.
The score at the end of the first quarter was 15-8 Alabama, and the Crimson Tide came out in the second and identified a mismatch.
The Tigers struggled to match up with Crimson Tide forward Essence Cody throughout the game. Cody found her way to the basket at will, especially in the first half where she scored 9 points.
Cody exploited her height advantage to score 15 total points in this game and was one rebound away from a double-double. Whenever Clemson tried to use more defensive resources to key in on her, the basketball found its way into the hands of Green and Nye, who combined for 21 points in this game.
Although the Tigers kept Barker to 0 points in the first quarter, she kept battling and found 13 points across the other quarters.
Alabama owned almost every statistical category. The Crimson Tide collected nine more steals than the Tigers, outrebounded them by four, and shot 21% better than them from the field.
Alabama beat Clemson 73-39 to become champions of the Bay Bracket in the Emerald Coast Classic and extend the win streak to eight.
“I have a lot of confidence in our leadership group in Karly, Sarah Ashlee, Aaliyah and JeAnna,” Curry said. “We have a lot of players that are returning that understand what our culture is about, and then I think we’ve brought some great culture pieces into our program. I love our new faces, which are our transfer players and our three true freshmen.”
Green was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Emerald Coast Classic, while Green and Nye were named to the All-Tournament Team.
Alabama’s next game is at Coleman Coliseum against Georgia State on Monday. It will air on SEC Network+ at 11 a.m. CT.
