Coach Kristy Curry said she is tired of excuses and wants wins as the team shifts its focus to No. 1 South Carolina.
“Coach Curry says you have next game on your schedule and that is all you can worry about,” junior Nikki Hegstetter said. “So these next two days we are worrying about South Carolina, and we are going to go to South Carolina, and we are going to beat South Carolina.”
Alabama will travel to Columbia, South Carolina, for a 6 p.m. tipoff Thursday, which will air on SEC Network+. Alabama played South Carolina in Tuscaloosa earlier this month, a game in which the Gamecocks dominated 102-59. South Carolina is the only unbeaten women’s team in the country with a record of 18-0.
“I’m not sure there are any weaknesses,” Curry said. “I think the thing that impresses me most [is that] they just come at you in waves. Their first group is as good as a couple of kids that come off the bench to come in the game. Against South Carolina you have a very small margin for error, so you have to take care of the basketball and offensively knock shots down.”
Bad starts have plagued the Crimson Tide recently and Curry said the team needs to put together all 40 minutes in a game. In its last match-up against Vanderbilt, Alabama came out sluggish and was down 15-1 to the Commodores.
“I feel like as a team we are only as good as our mindset is,” Hegstetter said. “So you step out on South Carolina’s court and say my girl is not beating me. I’m scoring on her today and she is not scoring on me today, and if every girl has that mindset then we beat South Carolina.”
Alabama will head back to Tuscaloosa after its trip to Columbia to host the Arkansas Razorbacks in Foster Auditorium on Sunday for a 1 p.m. game.
