The Alabama women’s basketball team came out on the winning end of a 51-44 game Sunday against the Houston Cougars in Foster Auditorium. The win was the Crimson Tide’s third in Foster Auditorium this season, as the team improved to 4-5 on the season.
Junior forward Briana Hutchen scored a career-high 12 points off the bench, coming in for freshman Ashley Williams, who was ineffective against the Cougars’ inside game. Eight of Hutchen’s 12 points came in the first half in a performance she said was a considerable improvement from UT-Martin game.
“It’s a turn for the better,” Hutchen said. “This week in practice we worked so hard in practice. We did different drills, different things we had to learn and grow from and I think it carried over to the game today.”
First-year coach Kristy Curry added that Hutchen has been a significant contributor as a reserve players.
“She practices so hard,” Curry said. “I think games are won and lost in practice, and she’s just one of those kids that’s been practicing really well. She’s been a great spark off the bench.”
Much of the scoring was attributed to Hutchen and the Crimson Tide’s two guards, Daisha Simmons and Shafontaye Myers. Simmons scored 10 points in the second half, while Myers led the team with 14 points to go along with six rebounds and two steals.
Though the Crimson Tide turned the ball over 19 times, Houston committed nearly as much with 17 turnovers. Curry attributed those totals to her team’s aggressive play.
“We wanted to come out and be the most aggressive team,” Curry said. “When you’re trying to be aggressive, sometimes you’re going to turn it over a few times, but at the same time we just have to continue to be stronger with the ball and come out and not be passive.”
Alabama is now 3-1 at home this season, a markedly different total than its road record, which stands at 1-4, including two games in California for the Hilton Concord Thanksgiving Classic. Hutchen said winning at home is a point of emphasis for the team this season.
“[Our mindset was to] definitely defend our floor. I know before the game everybody was talking about ‘we’re going to defend out floor today, we’re going to defend our floor, this is our home court, this is something we have to do,’ so it was very good for us.”
Only five players scored for the Crimson Tide, while seven contributed points for visiting Houston. No Cougar reached double digits, however. Te’onna Campbell, Marche’ Amerson and Yasmeen Thompson all scored nine.
Myers was lethal from three-point range, knocking down 4-of-8 from behind the arc. Khadijah Carter went 2-of-5 from downtown as the team scored 35 percent of its three-pointers. Sophomore Nikki Hegstetter was a force inside, grabbing 13 rebounds and blocking two Houston shots.
The Crimson Tide will have the week off for end-of-semester finals before taking on Jacksonville Dec. 17 and Troy Dec. 20.
