The Alabama women’s basketball team will travel to Athens, Ga., to play No. 13 Georgia on Thursday. Following a loss to Vanderbilt on Sunday, Alabama hopes that this next conference game will work in the Tide’s favor.

Currently 2-5 in conference, coach Wendell Hudson feels confident the Vanderbilt game taught the team some important lessons to focus on when competing against Georgia.

“We have [to] focus on the things we have control over like converting more turnovers, hitting free throws and not being too emotionally involved in how the game might be being called,” Hudson said. “If we had taken care of those areas against Vanderbilt, we would have had a great chance at winning that game.”

Because Georgia is ranked nationally, there are always concerns the Bulldogs may have an advantage over Alabama. However, Hudson and his team don’t feel that the Bulldogs have anything the Crimson Tide doesn’t have.

“There are no concerns, nor do they have an advantage over us just because they are ranked,” Hudson said. “That is why we play the games.”

This is the second time this season that the Bulldogs will face the Tide. Last time the two met, UGA won 95-83.

At that point in the season, the Tide had a free-throw shooting average of 57.1 percent against the Bulldogs. As of now, Alabama has a 40 percent free-throw shooting average. Because of this decrease, Hudson has been focusing on shooting from the line in practice as well as zone work.

“We have worked on 1-2-2 zone because we think we will be able to utilize that more,” Hudson said. “We also continued to work on the areas we have control over, such as free throws.”

With only eight more conference games in the season after Georgia, Alabama could be feeling the pressure to win every game to make it into the post-season. Instead, the Tide isn’t placing any more pressure on any one game than normal in hopes that technique and form will help them win.

“There is no more pressure on this game than any of the past games,” Hudson said. “We take the schedule one game at a time. Every game counts as one game.”

Georgia may be ranked nationally, but what it comes down to is practice. After a long week of working on shooting and footing, Alabama is prepared for the game ahead of them. UGA may be the one of the best teams in the SEC and in the country, but the Tide is more than ready to face them once more and hopefully win.

Also in today’s Crimson White:

Wins during 1st weekend supply motivation for women’s tennis team

Men’s tennis team to head to N.Y. to play double-header

Justin Thomas and Bobby Wyatt added to Ben Hogan Award watch list