Alabama women’s basketball started its week off with a win. The Crimson Tide defeated the Bethune-Cookman Lady Wildcats 89-45 on Nov. 28. Alabama is now 5-2 this season. 

Similar to its win over Charleston Southern, Alabama found itself in a quick hole. Bethune-Cookman guard Camary Harris sank a three pointer to give the Lady Wildcats an early 3-0 advantage. 

The Crimson Tide had an answer. Alabama guard Brittany Davis quickly tied up the game with an offensive rebound and 3-pointer. 

Bethune-Cookman responded with a layup by Imani Reid. The Lady Wildcats had a 5-3 advantage early in the first quarter. The game was shaping up to be yet another back-and-forth bout in the opening 10 minutes, but the opposite happened. 

The 5-3 score early in the first quarter was the last time the Lady Wildcats led Sunday afternoon. Alabama responded with an 8-0 run to break away to a 12-5 lead. The Crimson Tide maintained control for the rest of the first, holding a 23-10 after the first 10 minutes. 

The Crimson Tide exploded in the second quarter. Fueled by 11 bench points, Alabama outscored the Lady Wildcats, reaching 21-8 in the second quarter. 

Alabama forward Khyla Wade-Warren scored six of Alabama’s 11 bench points in the second quarter. Wade-Warren also notched one defensive rebound and one steal. That steal led to a layup by guard JaMya Mingo-Young. 

Wade-Warren finished the game with 16 points and nine rebounds in just 19 minutes of play. 

“I saw the opportunity to be on go mode,” Wade-Warren said. 

Five total players — Mingo-Young, Wade-Warren, Davis, and guards Nia Daniel and Taylor Sutton — all finished with 10 or more points. The effort from Wade-Warren, Daniel and Sutton led to 43 bench points Sunday afternoon. 

The 21-8 hill created by Alabama was too much for Bethune-Cookman to climb. The Crimson Tide quickly got on to an 11-4 scoring run to start the third quarter. Alabama mounted its lead, which grew to 50 late in the third. The Lady Wildcats kept pushing, but could not make a significant dent. 

Alabama head coach Kristy Curry said there are some things to improve on before Memphis comes to town on Tuesday. 

“We know it’s about to get really real here on Tuesday night against a really good 6-1 Memphis team, and we have our work cut out for us,” Curry said 

Alabama will host Memphis on Tuesday, Nov. 30, at Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is at 6 p.m. CT, and the game will be streamed on SEC Network+.