The Alabama women’s basketball team returns to action this weekend as it competes in the Arizona State Classic. The Crimson Tide is coming off a three-game homestand, including a four-game win streak improving its record to (5-1).

Alabama’s latest win came against Stetson (0-6) on Tuesday night 59-47. In a game where the Crimson Tide knocked down 12 three-point attempts, it’s inconsistency showed finishing just 18-of-52 and 34 percent from the field, however, Alabama completed 73 percent of its free throw attempts. During the third quarter, Stetson cut into the Crimson Tide’s lead when Shaquera Wade showed her leadership accounting for three of the 12 three pointers by Alabama. Wade finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Moving forward, head coach Kristy Curry expressed concerns for the maturity, and how the team will respond to tight, and gritty games.

“We are fixing to walk into an environment that I think is a team that has a chance to compete for the Pac-12 title if we get fortunate enough to play them on their home floor, but first we have a Tulsa team that beat Stetson by one point,” Curry said. “This stretch right here is going to show our toughness and maturity, and I’m concerned about our maturity and our toughness, and how hard we are going to have to play every possession to be successful.”

With a young team like the Crimson Tide performances like the one by Wade shows how important leadership, maturity and toughness matter in a game dependent on possessions.

“I knew we were sharing the ball and passing around, so I just took the open shot, and I was feeling it, and so my teammates kept passing me the ball to me and I just, you know, took the open shot,” Wade said after the win against Stetson. “Coach always told us to shoot and have confidence in our shot, and I took advantage of it.”

On Saturday, the Crimson Tide will play Tulsa (4-3) who also defeated Stetson this season 55-54. In its previous game, the Golden Hurricane defeated Abilene Christian 75-63 and had four players in double figures. Saturday’s match-up will be the first time both teams will play in women’s basketball.

Alabama will play the winner of No. 19 Arizona State and Louisiana Tech on Sunday.

Tipoff with the Golden Hurricane is slated for Dec. 1 at 4:30 p.m. CT.