Alabama
Southeastern Louisiana
Women's Basketball Defeats Southeastern Louisiana, 69-56
12/2/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2011
Alabama 69, Southeastern Louisiana 56 [Box Score]
Jessica Merritt had 12 points, three rebounds, one steal and one assist in her first game back from injury
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama women's basketball team improved to 6-2 on the season with a 69-56 victory over the Southeastern Louisiana Lions at Foster Auditorium on Friday night.
Five Alabama players registered double figures in a balanced Crimson Tide attack, including junior guard/forward Erin Hoguewho notched her first career double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
"Erin is just outworking people," said Alabama head coach Wendell Hudson. "You look at her stat line, and we'll take 11 rebounds and 10 points every night. Erin is playing with a lot of energy, and she is getting better and better."
Sophomore guard Jasmine Robinson led Alabama with 13 points, while junior guard Jessica Merritt totaled a career-high 12 points. Senior guard Ericka Russell and freshman forward Aneesah Danielsscored 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Tide.
Alabama led by as many as 20 points and never trailed throughout the contest. After holding a 33-26 halftime lead, the Tide used an 11-0 run early in the second half to grab a 54-34 lead and take control of the game. The Lions never got any closer than 15 until the final margin.
Alabama scored 21 points off 17 Southeastern Louisiana turnovers, while allowing just four points off 10 turnovers. Furthermore, the Lions were able to connect on just 2-of-20 from beyond the arc.
"We'll definitely take the win, but we didn't play as hard as we needed to play and didn't do some things that we needed to do on the court, and that is a bit of a concern," added Hudson. "When you're trying to build a program, it goes beyond just winning the game, and the way you play. I thought we kind of played hard, but I really didn't feel like we played very smart."
After building a 14-10 advantage midway through the first half, the Tide went on an 11-4 run spanning 4:37 to take a 25-14 lead at the 7:11 juncture. Six different Alabama players contributed to the scoring run. From there, Southeastern Louisiana cut the lead to four at 28-24 before the Tide upped the lead to 33-26 at the half.
A pair of back-to-back three-pointers by Robinson gave Alabama a quick 39-26 lead less than two minutes into the second half before the Lions were able to cut into the margin, and pull within nine points, 43-34, at the 15:04 mark of the half.
From there, though, the Tide took over, embarking on the game-deciding 11-0 run to take an insurmountable 20-point lead midway through the half before closing it out.
Brandi Simmons led Southeastern Louisiana (3-4) with 15 points while Aja Gibson added 12.
Alabama will host the Kansas Jayhawks at Foster Auditorium on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. CT.
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