“I think we had a lot of endurance, just having eight people out there,” sophomore Ashley Williams said. “We have to be conditioned. There’s going to be times when the coaches aren’t just going to play eight people. We just have to be ready for that. We just got to hope that the people who are out can come back and help produce.”
Alabama was losing to the Division II Lions after the first half. The teams went back and forth in the first half and the Crimson Tide jogged to the locker room trailing 31-30.
“I think it was more a matter of a few more butterflies and nerves and just being hesitant,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said. “You know we were a little bit paralyzed by the environment. Guys, we just need these kind of minutes to improve and to work through those moments that we looked like in the first half. That’s just going to come with time.”
Alabama took control in the second half and started with a 19-2 point run. Sophomore Ashley Williams added to her 11-point, eight-rebound first half and finished with a team-high 19 points and 12 rebounds. It was Williams’ sixth double-double of her career.
“I think she is playing with reckless abandon,” Curry said. “I think she has something to prove. Bottom line, she needs to be a double-double waiting to happen every night. If she can get her double-double we are going to be a better team, but she has to have some help.”
Along with Williams, senior Briana Hutchen was only one rebound from a double-double. Hutchen had 15 points on 7-9 shooting along with nine rebounds. Freshman Meoshonti Knight contributed as well in what was her first career start. She collected 13 points on 5-6 shooting. Knight was one of three freshmen to get their first game experience.
“I thought they did great,” Curry said. “You know, they settled down. It was good to see the improvement from the first half to the second half, and they really settled in and let the game come to them. Diamante Martinez has a chance, and Meoshonti and Hannah [Cook] as well, to be really good players in this program.”
