Alabama Women?s Basketball Wins Season-Opener Over Samford
11/10/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
TUSCALOOSA ?? The University of Alabama women’s basketball team kicked off the 2006-07 season, its second under head coach Stephany Smith, with a 62-53 victory over instate rival Samford in Coleman Coliseum on Friday night. The Tide won its season-opener for the ninth time in the last 10 tries, while Smith led her team to a victory in an opening game for the fifth time in the last six years.
“I am unbelievably pleased and proud to come out of this game with a win tonight,” Smith said. “Samford has a very veteran basketball team and shoot the ball extremely well. I am very pleased we had enough poise to win this game.”
The Tide utilized an efficient offensive attack in the first half to build a comfortable margin in the game. Alabama converted an even 50 percent of its field-goal attempts and knocked down 60 percent of its three-point attempts en route to a 12-point halftime lead.
Alabama’s defense was solid in the opening 20 minutes as well, as the Tide held the normally sharp-shooting Bulldogs to just 29.2 percent from the field and 25 percent from behind the three-point arc. The Alabama defensive pressure harried Samford into 14 first-half turnovers and forced 23 miscues in the game.
Those factors helped the tide build a 14-point advantage late in the game, but the scrappy Bulldogs made a run to pull within six in the final three minutes. The Tide took care of the basketball and made some key free throws down the stretch to ice the win.
Alabama finished with 16 turnovers on the night, with eight in each half. Just as importantly, the Tide shot 70.8 percent from the charity stripe, including making five of its last seven attempts. Alabama had struggled from the line in the preseason, having made just 51.4 percent as a team in two exhibition games.
“Free throws are a funny thing,” Smith said. “You don’t want to overcoach that and get people thinking about them too much. You just try to work on it in game-like situations in practice and get better.”
Leading the Alabama offensive attack was senior Navonda Moore, who picked up right where she left off as a junior. Moore, a second team All-Southeastern Conference selection last season, poured in a game-high 18 points and nabbed five steals on the defensive end.
Fellow co-captain Kate Mastin joined Moore as the only two Tide players in double figures in scoring, as the senior from Boaz drained a pair of three-pointers and all seven of her free-throw attempts en route to 15 points on the night.
“Composure is so important in a tight game,” Smith said. “We always had at least three freshmen on the floor tonight, so we had to rely on Kate Mastin and Navonda Moore to play the amount of minutes they did. We had to rely on their leadership and experience.”
Freshman Courtney Strauthers had six rebounds and six points, while classmate Talisha Chandler chipped in nine points and snagged four boards. Nikki Davis dished a game-high five assists from the point guard position for the Tide.
Alabama opens its road schedule on Monday, Nov. 13, when the Tide travels to Jonesboro, Ark., to take on the Arkansas State Indians. That game is slated to tip-off at 7:05 p.m. (CT) and can be heard on the Crimson Tide Radio Network.
