The Alabama women’s basketball team, coming off a triple-overtime win against Providence in the Junkanoo Jam, played its trademark high-pressure defense, leading to a 80-31 blowout win over the Alabama State Lady Hornets.
The Crimson Tide methodically broke the will of the Lady Hornets with physical lane play and simply outran the Hornets at every opportunity. This included out-scoring the Hornets in the paint 22-8 in the first half alone. The first half also saw 15 Hornet turnovers, leading to 13 points for the Tide.
Taking a 21-point lead into halftime, the Tide showed no signs of letting up, opening the half with 12 straight points and continuing to dominate the Hornets to the final deficit of 49 points. Senior Tierney Jenkins had a major effect in her short second half, playing only seven minutes but still giving five points and seven rebounds.
The Tide’s relentless style of play had the Hornets’ beat from the opening tip-off, leading to 29 Hornet turnovers that led 25 points for the Tide. The Alabama bench also outscored the Alabama State bench 36-15.
Head coach Wendell Hudson was pleased with his team’s performance, especially in the second half.
“Having people that don’t normally get that many minutes play more and play well was a good sign for where our program needs to go,” Hudson said. “I thought we played great defense in the second half, and we kept applying pressure.”
Jenkins was once again the Tide’s biggest contributor, with 15 points and 16 rebounds, making for her eighth double-double of the year in as many games. She also added four assists, four steals and five blocks.
Jenkins moved up on the Alabama all-time career record list in several categories. Those five blocks put her 10th all time on Alabama’s career block list with 59. Her 172 career steals tied her with Carol Smith for seventh all time. Her 15 points on the night have her tied with Glenda Boss at 15th on the career points list at Alabama, with her career total of 1,168.
These sterling accomplishments are not on her mind, as she stays focused on the postseason.
“I didn’t even know I did that,” Jenkins said. “That’s really great and everything, but I don’t really think about that anymore. I thought it would be really cool to do these things when I was a freshman, but now it’s my last year and I want to go out with a bang. That bang would be the NCAA Tournament, and that’s what I’m focused on right now.”
Alongside Jenkins, freshman Shafontaye Myers and junior Tuscaloosa native Erika Russell scored 13 and 14, respectively. Myers was averaging seven points per game before last night’s game and had not seen action since the Tide’s game versus Central Arkansas on Nov. 14.
Freshman Kaneisha Horn, selected to the Junkanoo Jam All-Star with Jenkins, dominated Alabama State’s center Millicent Jones all game, holding Jones to a mere two points and three rebounds. Horn had seven points and seven rebounds, and forced two of Jones’ three turnovers defensively, while adding a block and a steal.
