The Alabama women’s basketball team soundly defeated the West Alabama Panthers 73-31 in Foster Auditorium on Monday night in the Crimson Tide’s only exhibition of the season. It was first-year head coach Kristy Curry’s first win as coach at Alabama, but the win won’t count towards the Crimson Tide’s final regular season mark.

Senior Shafontaye Myers led the Crimson Tide in scoring and steals, tallying 19 points off 6-14 field goals and making five of six free throws while adding five steals. Junior Daisha Simmons earned the most time on the court with 30 minutes played.

Curry was satisfied after the game but recognized the work still to be done for the Crimson Tide.

“I was pleased overall,” Curry said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, and [there’s] a lot of little things that can make a big difference. [I was] pleased with our energy and effort, our heart’s in the right place, and that’s all you can ask.”

Alabama opened the game on a 27-6 run with 3:26 remaining in the first half, with sophomore Jada Williams scoring the first 6 points for the Panthers. It wasn’t until just before halftime the Panthers managed double digits against the Crimson Tide defense.

Sophomore Nikki Hegstedder grabbed four rebounds for Alabama, playing 29 minutes overall, second on the team behind Simmons.

“It was just a good foot-in-the-water for the rest of the season,” Hegstedder said.

For Simmons, it was a good measuring stick of everything Alabama has practiced since the first of October.

“We came together, we did everything we practiced,” Simmons said. “Everything just fell in line, and we learned to trust each other.”

Hegstedder finished with 12 points against the Panthers, while Simmons managed six points. Freshman Karyla Middlebrook made a mark of her own in her first collegiate action, scoring seven points, three rebounds and two steals.

The Panthers came out after halftime and contained the Crimson Tide early in the second half, including freshman Oceana Hamilton, who dominated the post early against the Panthers.

“It wasn’t so much what they did, it was more of what we didn’t do,” Hegstedder said.

Hamilton finished with four points and four rebounds on the night.

Alabama will begin regular-season action with two road games against the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga on Friday and Nebraska on Sunday.