After a loss Sunday to No. 9 Tennessee, the Crimson Tide women’s basketball team will face Auburn Thursday at 8 p.m. The Tide, currently 11-7, hopes that motivated practices will lead them to victory over the Tigers.
Alabama, 1-6 in the SEC, has left the past conference games behind, knowing that the only way to win is through playing Alabama basketball and not worrying about the past. Coach Wendell Hudson said he feels confident that the conference losses won’t affect his team when playing Auburn.
“Well I think the big thing about this team is what we are doing,” Hudson said. “Watching practice, our practices have been intense. We work hard, and that’s all we can ask a team to do. Continue to work hard and get better as a basketball team, and we’re doing that, and we know that it is going to pay off against this league.”
Though the Tide has faced a rough patch when playing conference teams, senior guard Meghan Perkins said she knows that the competitive nature her team has will help them out in the long run.
“Everybody’s working hard, and when everybody’s working hard and trying to make each other better, it’s competitive.” Perkins said. “We’re a competitive team and able to have that energy now generated in practice. It’s going to make us better on the court.”
Playing at home again and facing a rival as big as Auburn should give the Tide the advantage it needs to come out on top. Perkins described the excitement her team has to play Auburn as a battle and that there is always an edge over Auburn.
“My teammates are excited,” Perkins said. “No one likes Auburn, so we’re all excited about the game, and we’re hoping for the best outcome right now, but I know we can get it cause we’ve been working hard at practice.”
Hudson, however, said he knows that work still needs to be done for the Tide to win more conference games. By working more on Alabama’s guards, Hudson hopes that this improvement will help Alabama out for the whole season. He is confident that where the Tide is right now is going to ensure a win against Auburn.
“We’re going to play the way we play,” Hudson said. “And they’re going to play the way they play. We want the ball to go up and down the floor and shoot it a little quicker, but the biggest thing we’ve tried to make sure of is that we have to become a better defensive rebound team. And that really means that the point guards have to rebound the basketball also, and that’s probably what we’re working on the most because our guards are what we’re having a problem with now.”
Perkins said she realizes that they need another conference win but believes that Alabama basketball will help the Tide reach its goal.
“[We have] to play Alabama basketball,” Perkins said. “That’s what coach always tells us before the game. We’ll watch film and everything, but at the end of the day, it’s about Alabama basketball, doing what we want to do on the court and that’s basically what we have to do.”
