Alabama women’s basketball trounced Murray State 90-63 in its annual Holiday Hoops game on Sunday, bouncing back from the loss to California in the ACC/SEC Challenge. The win brings the team to 10-1 on the season.
“I thought we did a much better job of not allowing a missed shot to affect the next shot, and that’s the growth from the Cal game to now,” Alabama head coach Kristy Curry said.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth struggle, as the lead changed between the Crimson Tide and the Racers 10 times.
Guards Sarah Ashlee Barker and Zaay Green scored 10 of the Crimson Tide’s 15 points in the opening period. Murray State guard Halli Poock matched them and scored 10 of the team’s 23 points in the first quarter, helping the Racers build an 8-point lead going into the second.
The Crimson Tide came out of the intermission shooting lights out from range. Guard Aaliyah Nye hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and guard Karly Weathers found a wide-open look from behind the arc and buried it through a foul.
Weathers missed the free throw, got the rebound and put the ball back in. This sparked an Alabama 13-4 run over the rest of the quarter, which helped the Crimson Tide reclaim the lead with four minutes left and go into halftime up by 5.
Murray State struggled to find open looks as Alabama picked up the intensity on defense. The Crimson Tide blocked nine shots in the first half, creating opportunities to score in transition.
Alabama outscored Murray State 22-9 in the second quarter and went into the locker room up 37-32.
Green said that she and her teammates stepped it up on transition defense after the first quarter.
“We’ve been working on our defense, and I feel like the main emphasis today was having high hands on the ball and just being in the passing lanes, so I think we did pretty good on that,” Green said.
The teams traded misses to start the second half, but Green found an open look from downtown off a pass from Barker and drilled it. The offensive onslaught from the Crimson Tide continued as Barker and Nye each made two layups.
Murray State’s offensive dry spell was ended by an inside basket from guard Destiny Thomas, but Alabama kept its foot on the gas. Nye, Weathers and Barker each sank a triple to give Alabama a 59-40 lead with three minutes left in the third quarter.
As the quarter ended, Barker took a hard fall, which caused the officials to stop the game. She was then sent back to the locker room for medical evaluation. After Alabama closed the third with a 21-point lead, Barker returned to the court at the beginning of the final quarter.
The Crimson Tide opened the fourth by converting four triples in a row. Green had the hot hand and drained three jumpers from behind the arc, and Nye found an open look in the corner to make her fourth 3-pointer of the game.
Alabama finished the game with a 45% shooting performance from behind the arc. Four starters finished in double figures, and the bench contributed 17 points.
“If we can have all five starters end up with double digits every single night, I think that it’s really hard to stop us,” Barker said. “We had great production from the bench too, so it is not just about us on the floor that starts.”
Barker and Green combined for 41 points, and Barker finished one rebound away from a double-double. This game is the 10th time that Barker has finished with 10 or more points, and it is Green’s third-straight 20-plus-point performance.
Curry said she was most pleased with the statline that Weathers finished with. She scored 8 points while dishing out four assists and hauling in seven rebounds.
Alabama and Murray State tied in the turnover battle, but the Crimson Tide scored 27 points off turnovers, 13 more than the Racers.
The Crimson Tide’s next event is the West Palm Beach Classic. Alabama’s first opponent will be Michigan State, and the game will be streamed on BallerTV Friday at 3:30 p.m. CT.
