Shafontaye Myers was 9 years old the last time the Crimson Tide avoided a losing conference record, when Alabama went 7-7 in the league during the 2001-02 season.
Now, as the only senior on coach Kristy Curry’s first team in Tuscaloosa, Myers is looking to duplicate that .500 mark in the SEC. If the Crimson Tide (13-14, 6-8) wins out Thursday at Auburn and Saturday against LSU, Alabama will achieve that goal.
To be in this position would have seemed unlikely after the first meeting against Auburn. Alabama fell 61-39 to the Tigers, a season-low point total for the Crimson Tide.
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“We’ve really grown a lot as a team – coming together, buying into what the coaches really want us to do, like coming in and getting the extra shots,” Myers said. “We’re just doing it all to try to better ourselves, so I feel pretty comfortable about our team coming into Thursday’s, as well as Sunday’s, game.”
On Sunday at Memorial Coliseum, Alabama earned its first-ever road win against Vanderbilt. The victory also broke a losing streak to the Commodores that dated back to 2004.
The Crimson Tide posted additional road wins at Missouri and Kentucky, already surpassing the total conference road wins from the past two seasons. Assistant coach Skereka Wright said the new direction Curry has instituted has improved the program, but it hasn’t been easy.
“I think it’s very difficult for any individual to adjust to a new coaching staff and the things we’ve asked of her,” Wright said. “I think she’s responded. By any means, has it been easy? No, because change is not easy for anybody, but for her, it’s been really, really good. Her success, as you all have seen, has been huge for us.”
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Myers is the team leader in points per game at 14.2 and currently sits at No. 24 in the nation with 2.9 three-pointers per game.
Coming from Sunshine High School in Newbern, Ala., an hour south of Tuscaloosa, Myers said that her family’s support has been instrumental in her career with the Crimson Tide.
“Oh, they come to every single game here,” Myers said. “They’ve been a big support. I got family that stays here. It’s a huge, huge advantage for me, because I love my family’s support, so it helps me, and it gives me the extra will and boost to go on.”
With an opportunity for a first-round bye in the SEC tournament, Myers and the rest of the team have another motivating factor going into the final two regular season games.
“We just want our kids to have fun, and they’ve been doing that,” Wright said. “They’ve been playing with emotion, and they’ve enjoyed playing with each other. And that’s the biggest thing you could ask of this team right now, and just continue to build and not be content.”
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