If the Crimson Tide’s 73-31 rout of West Alabama in the season’s only exhibition game is any indication, the 2013-14 women’s basketball team is ushering in a new era under first-year head coach Kristy Curry.
Alabama will need all that momentum and more with tough road trips ahead at Tennessee-Chattanooga on Nov. 8 and Nebraska on Nov. 11. The team will officially begin its regular season on Friday.
Sophomore forward Nikki Hegstedder, who scored 12 points against West Alabama and was third on the team in minutes played, emphasized the need for improvement before commencing the regular season.
“We have a lot of stuff to improve on; free-throw percentage and assists were low [from the last game],” Hegstedder said. “Obviously we have stuff to work on in practice coming into Chattanooga and Nebraska.”
The Tennessee-Chattanooga Moccasins squeaked by Lee University 46-44 in their only exhibition on Nov. 4, but Curry knows what her team is up against.
“I’ve seen Chattanooga ranked as high as [No.] 16 in the preseason polls,” Curry said. “They’ve got a brand new coach in Jim Foster, who I had the chance to coach against in the Big 10. He’s a phenomenal guy that does a great job, and obviously I think they return four starters, so we’re excited about the challenge.”
Chattanooga isn’t currently ranked in the latest Associated Press Poll but received 41 votes. The Crimson Tide succumbed to the Mocs last year in Tuscaloosa 72-58, and first-year Chattanooga coach Foster was recently inducted into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
“They’re very fundamentally sound,” Curry said. “I’ve enjoyed watching them on films from a year ago.”
The Nebraska Cornhuskers, however, are ranked No. 17 in the latest AP Poll after their 75-34 dismemberment of Nebraska-Kearney in their exhibition game. The Big 10 team is anchored by senior forward Jordan Hooper, who was named as an honorable mention All-American the past two seasons and is on the watch list for the John Wooden Award. Hooper averaged nearly 18 points and nine rebounds in the 2012-13 season.
Nebraska advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen last season before losing to Duke, 53-45. The Cornhuskers’ first-round victim was Chattanooga.
Despite the relatively difficult early season schedule, Hegstedder’s message to her teammates was to simply stay the course.
After visits to Chattanooga and Lincoln, Alabama will take on No. 2 Duke in Durham, N.C., on Nov. 17 before coming back to Tuscaloosa for a matchup against Wisconsin.
