Bama Women's Hoops Defeats Jacksonville State, 81-52
12/2/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala - Freshman guard Navonda Moore scored 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting as the Alabama women's basketball team outscored Jacksonville State 35-6 in the game's final 13:00 minutes, to earn a hard-fought, 81-52 victory.
The win improves the Tide's record to 3-1, while Jacksonville State dropped to 2-2. It was Alabama's 52nd consecutive non-SEC home victory and improved UA's record to 24-6 in home openers.
"I tried to tell everybody that this was a good team with some good players," Alabama head coach Rick Moody said. "If we don't get some of their players in foul trouble it could very possibly have gone down to the end of the game and still been a struggle."
Both teams shot the ball well in the first half, with Bama connecting on 48.1 percent of their shots while the Gamecocks were successful on 37.5 percent of their attempts. The Tide took a 35-31 lead into the locker room.
Alabama started strong in the second half, expanding their lead to nine points at 44-35. But Jacksonville State would continue to fight back, and after an 11-2 run midway through the half, the game was tied, 46-46.
That is when the Tide finally got rolling, led by the freshmen trio of center Tamisha Hamilton, forward Lauren Hill, and guard Kate Mastin. Over the next seven minutes, Bama reeled off 23 unanswered points, and the Gamecocks would never recover.
JSU guard Cobie Carlisle and forward Shanika Freeman, who each scored 11 points, led the Gamecocks in scoring. Freeman, however, shot only 2 of 12 from the floor, but hit 7 of 8 free throws. She also led Jacksonville State in total rebounds with seven.
Hamilton, Mastin, and Monique Bivins each scored 11 points for the Tide. Hamilton and Lauren Hill each pulled down eight boards.
