Women's Basketball Holds First Official Practice of 2019-20 Season on Wednesday
9/25/2019 4:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Crimson Tide held its first full team practice of the year this afternoon
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama women's basketball held its first official practice of the 2019-20 season on Wednesday afternoon inside Foster Auditorium. Practices will continue in preparation for the Crimson Tide's season opener against Hampton on Wednesday, Nov. 6 inside Coleman Coliseum.
"Today was the first day of practice, but it's a different pace for us because we've had such a great start with our summer experiences," said head coach Kristy Curry, who is entering her seventh season at Alabama. "We return a lot of experience and we are a hard-working team. We talk a lot about grit and gratitude and this team is one of the grittiest bunches I've been around in a long time."
A year ago, Alabama was the 11th-youngest team in the country with its active roster entering the 2018-19 season. This season, Alabama returns 11 players from last year's roster which is tied for first (Kentucky) among the Southeastern Conference teams. The Tide returns 84.4 percent of its scoring, four out of five starters, along with its top three scorers and nine of 10 top scorers from a season ago.
The Crimson Tide had three players redshirt last season including Jordan Lewis (played eight games), Amber Richardson (sat out), & Shelby Gibson (transfer rules). Lewis averaged 13.5 points per game, which was second on the team in her eight games before suffering a season-ending wrist injury in December of 2018.
Cierra Johnson returns for her senior season after scoring 457 points in her first year with the program, which is the most points scored by an Alabama player since 2010-11. She is one of two players to score 450-plus points in a season since 1999-00. The Mobile native, led the team with 14.7 points, 3.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game last season after transferring from Shelton State Community College. Junior Jasmine Walker returns after putting up 12.4 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game. She also had a team-high six double-doubles.
The Tide's 2019-20 schedule is a challenging one, with 16 of its 29 games coming against 2019 NCAA Tournament teams. Alabama plays six non-conference games versus tournament teams. In conference play, the three SEC opponents that UA plays twice this season are Texas A&M, Kentucky & Auburn, who all made the tournament last year. The Crimson Tide is also set to play against South Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi State and Missouri, who were all in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
The first chance to see the 2019-20 squad will be at the fifth annual SupeStore Tide Tipoff event, which will be held on Friday, Oct. 18. Doors open at 6 p.m. for autographs, and the event will follow at 7 p.m. The Crimson Tide will also play an exhibition game against Auburn-Montgomery on Sunday, Oct. 27 at 2:30 p.m. CT before opening its regular season slate.
Season tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased here or by calling 1-877-TIDETIX (843-3849). Fans can also purchase tickets in advance at the Alabama Ticket Office, located in the lobby of Coleman Coliseum. Single game tickets will go on sale Monday, Oct. 21.
For all the latest information on the team, follow AlabamaWBB on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.
