Monday, December 19
Niceville, Fla.
7 p.m. CT
Alabama
vs
McNeese State University
Alabama Women’s Basketball set to take part in Inaugural Patrick Harrington Classic
12/18/2016 4:50:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Crimson Tide to face McNeese State and UTEP at Northwest Florida State’s Raider Arena
NICEVILLE, Fla. – The Alabama women's basketball team (9-1) will play a pair of games, its final two contests before breaking for the holidays, in the Inaugural Patrick Harrington Classic, which is taking place at Northwest Florida State's Raider Arena. The Crimson Tide is slated to face McNeese State (5-4) on Monday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. CT and UTEP (2-7) on Tuesday, Dec. 20 at 7 p.m. CT.
THE BROADCAST
- Both games can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network on 100.1 FM locally, with Roger Hoover and Tyler Williams calling all the action.
- Fans will be able to follow along with live scoring on RollTide.com and game updates will be available on Twitter at @AlabamaWBB.
- Live video and scoring will not be available for the tournament.
OPENING TIP
- Alabama will play its third and fourth games in a six-day span, and final two games before breaking for the holidays, at the inaugural Patrick Harrington Classic, which is being held at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Fla. Harrington was the women's basketball coach at Northwest Florida and was about to start his fifth season with the program before passing away tragically in a car accident on Oct. 9, 2014. During his tenure, he led the Raiders to a 100-25 record and back-to-back quarterfinal appearances in the NJCAA Division I Tournament.
- Prior to passing, Harrington had figured out all logistics needed to put on a Division I women's basketball showcase. A little more than two years after his death his wife, Lori, has put the plan into play. All procced from the tournament will benefit the Harrington Championship Fund, assisting any sport at Northwest Florida that qualifies for the national tournament.
- Alabama will be facing McNeese State for the fourth time in the series. The Crimson Tide has won all prior matchups, with the last coming on Nov. 23, 2010 in Tuscaloosa by a score of 69-53.
- Alabama and UTEP are meeting for the first time in program history. The Miners will face off with Pitt on Monday before taking on the Tide on Tuesday.
WILLIAMS CLOSING IN ON 1,000
- Junior Ashley Williams is 123 points away from becoming Alabama's 25th 1,000 point scorer in program history.
- Should she reach that number this season, she would be only the 13th Crimson Tide student-athlete to reach the milestone in three years or less.
WILLIAMS EARNS UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE
- Junior Ashley Williams completed her undergraduate degree in criminal justice in December and will begin work on her master's degree in January. Her jersey now has an SEC Graduate patch to signify her accomplishment.
LIMITING POINTS
- Alabama has held its opponents to 15 points or fewer in 27 of 41 periods played this season.
- Even more impressive is that in 14 of those 41 quarters, the Tide opposition has put up 10 points or fewer and in four quarters five points or fewer.
FIRST HALF DOMINATION
- Alabama has scored 375 points in the first half of games this season, while its opponents have put up only 227.
- That averages out to 37.5 points at the half for the Tide compared to 22.7 for the opposition, a difference of 14.8 points.
BALANCED OFFENSE
- One of Coach Curry's team goals for the season is to have at least four in double-figure points each outing.
- The Crimson Tide reached that goal in six of its 10 games this season as five recorded 10 or more points three times and five did so on one occasion.
- Alabama was just shy in its games against Georgia Southern, as three finished in double figures and one had eight, and Alcorn State, where three had double figures and two had nine points.
ALABAMA DOMINATING POINTS IN THE PAINT
- Through 10 games, Alabama has outscored its opponents 394-204 in points in the paint.
- That averages out to 19.0 more points in the paint (39.4-20.4) for the Crimson Tide per game than the opposition.
ABOUT THE OPPOSITION
- McNeese State enters Monday's contest at 5-4 overall. The Cowgirls opened the season winning four of their first five games but have lost three of their last four since.
- As a team, McNeese State is scoring 77.0 points per game, 12.0 more than its opponents, and outrebounding teams 47.3-37.3.
- The Cowgirls are balanced in scoring with five student-athletes averaging 8.2-10.5 points per game, led by senior Victoria Rachal. Junior Frederica Haywood leads the team with 9.1 rebounds per game, while freshman Caitlin Davis dishes out a team-best 3.7 assists per contest.
- McNeese is under the direction of first-year head coach Kacie Cryer, who took over for current Alabama assistant coach Brooks Williams.
- UTEP is 2-7 heading into the tournament with both wins coming at home.
- As a team, the Miners average 61.3 points per game while giving up 66.8. UTEP collects 43.1 rebounds per game, which is 4.0 more (39.1) than its opponents.
- The Miners are led in scoring by senior Sparkle Taylor's 13.9 points per game. Redshirt junior Tamara Seda is the team's leader in rebounds at 9.1 per contest, while junior Lulu McKinney leads in assists with 4.6 per game.
- UTEP is under the direction of Keitha Adams, who is in her 16th season at the helm and 21st overall as a head coach.
Players Mentioned
Forward
/ Women's BasketballAlabama A&M Preview: Coach Curry
Thursday, November 13
Alcorn State Postgame: Coach Curry, Essence Cody & Jessica Timmons
Monday, November 10
McNeese Postgame: Coach Curry, Essence Cody & Karly Weathers
Thursday, November 06
Stetson Postgame: Coach Curry, Karly Weathers & Alancia Ramsey
Monday, November 03
