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Women’s Basketball Opens SEC Home Slate with No. 5/4 South Carolina on Monday - Alabama Athletics
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama women's basketball (8-0) welcomes the No. 5/4 South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1) to Tuscaloosa on Monday for the Crimson Tide's first ...
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama women's basketball (8-0) welcomes the No. 5/4 South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1) to Tuscaloosa on Monday for the Crimson Tide's first Southeastern Conference home matchup of the season. The game is scheduled to tip at 6 p.m. CT.
FOLLOW ALONG
Monday's game will air live on the SEC Network and can also be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network (WTBC-AM 1230 in Tuscaloosa) with Gray Robertson on the call.
OPENING TIP
- With a win last Thursday at Missouri, Alabama won its first eight games of the season for the first time since the 2000-01 season when it won nine consecutive contests.
- The Crimson Tide finished its non-conference schedule at 7-0. Albeit an abridged pre-SEC slate, this is the first season Alabama entered conference play undefeated.
- Monday's meeting between the Crimson Tide and Gamecocks marks the 42nd in the series that began in 1979.
- Alabama won 11 straight during the 90s and early 2000s, before South Carolina went on a streak of its own, winning the last 16 straight and 23 of the last 26.
- The last three matchups have been the closest during that stretch.
| Jan. 5, 2020 | L | 78-93 | Tuscaloosa, Ala. |
| Jan. 6, 2019 | L | 59-62 | Columbia, S.C. |
| Feb. 8, 2018 | L | 66-79 | Tuscaloosa, Ala. |
| Jan. 1, 2017 | L | 45-93 | Columbia, S.C. |
| Feb. 22, 2016 | L | 66-46 | Tuscaloosa, Ala. |
- The Gamecocks enter Monday's game with a 6-1 overall record and 1-0 mark in SEC play.
- South Carolina's lone loss of the season came at home to then-No. 8/6 NC State, 54-46.
- The Gamecocks opened SEC play with a 75-59 win over Florida last Thursday.
- This will be the second true road game of the season for South Carolina with the first being played at Iowa State in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, which the Gamecocks won, 83-65.
- South Carolina is led offensively by Preseason All-SEC selection Zia Cooke, who averages 18.9 points per game, while Preseason All-American Aliyah Boston averages a double-double of 13.9 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.
- As a team, the Gamecocks are averaging 83.7 points per game, 26.6 points more than their opponents, while shooting 44.9 percent from the floor.
- South Carolina is under the direction of Dawn Staley, who is in her 13th season with the Gamecocks and 21st overall as a head coach. Staley led South Carolina to the 2017 NCAA National Championship, five SEC regular-season championships and five conference tournament titles.
- Jordan Lewis and Ariyah Copeland combined for 52 points to lead Alabama offensively past Missouri in the Southeastern Conference opener, 74-59, in Mizzou Arena.
- Lewis finished with a career-high 27 points, while Copeland added 25, one shy of her career best.
- Joining Lewis and Copeland in double figures was Jasmine Walker, who added 14 points. Copeland and Walker also added eight boards apiece, however the game's leading rebounder was Megan Abrams, with a career-high nine.
- Hannah Barber dished out a game-best six assists, while Abrams also added a trio of steals to her stat line to lead that category.
- The score remained close over the opening five minutes of the game, however Missouri would end the quarter on a 9-4 run to hold the edge after the first.
- Much of the second went back and forth, knotting the score at 34-34 at the half.
- Alabama made its run midway through the third frame, using a 12-0 run over the span of three minutes to take a 56-45 lead.
- The Tigers chipped away and pulled within four early in the final quarter, but another big run by the Tide quickly pushed the lead back out to double digits.
- Alabama has had three different players record multiple 20-plus point games this season in Walker (6), Copeland (3) and Lewis (2). Barber has also added one game over 20 points to the mix.
- The Tide had another solid outing from the free throw line, connecting on 16 of 18 attempts. Lewis led the way with her 9-for-9 performance.
- UA has taken more than double the amount of free throws this season compared to its opponents (183-91).
- Alabama continued its streak of 74 or more in a game this season. The last time the Tide opened up with eight-straight was during the 1993-94 campaign when it went nine games with 74-plus points scored.
