Thursday Night Women’s Basketball is Back, Alabama Travels to No. 7/9 Tennessee

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Alabama women's basketball team opens Southeastern Conference action this week, squaring off against No. 7/9 Tennessee in Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., Thursday, Dec. 30 at 5:32 p.m. CT. The contest will be broadcast on SEC Network Plus, with Andy Brock and Kamera Harris on the call.

The border battle will mark the first time the Crimson Tide has opened conference action against an Associated Press Top 25 team since hosting then-No. 16 Missouri in 2017-18, while it will mark the first time the Tide will commence the league schedule against an AP Top 10 team since battling at then-No. 6 South Carolina in 2016-17.

The Crimson Tide concluded the nonconference portion of the schedule 9-2 (.818), capping the campaign on a seven-game win streak. It's the program's best nonconference record since going 13-1 (.929) in 2016-17, when playing at least 10 nonconference games.

The Tide put an exclamation point on its first half of the schedule, earning the 800th program win in its last contest against Sam Houston on Dec. 13, defeating the Bearkats, 84-50. UA rolls into UT with its most consistent shooting all season, with five straight games of shooting 45 percent or better from the field. Alabama leads the conference and ranks fifth nationally in scoring margin, defeating its nonconference foes 25.0 points per game.

About Alabama

Alabama will begin Southeastern Conference action against No. 7 Tennessee on Thursday, Dec. 30 at 5:32 p.m. CT inside Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Crimson Tide is 9-2 this season, including 1-0 in true road games.
- The Tide is on a seven-game win streak, with its last loss occurring on Nov. 21 against Duke, 74-71 (each of Alabama's losses this season have come by way of just three points).
- The Tide's conference opener will mark its first game in 17 days, when it defeated Sam Houston, 84-50, Dec. 13 in Coleman Coliseum, with the cancelation of two games scheduled in that time (at Little Rock on Dec. 16 and Winthrop on Dec. 20). The Crimson Tide's win over the Bearkats marked its 800th program win.
The Crimson Tide is shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 33.2 percent from long range, while it is averaging 78.6 points per game.
- The Tide is holding its opponents to 34.8 percent shooting from the field and 26.2 percent from long range, while keeping them to 53.6 points per game.
Three players are averaging double-figure scoring through the first 11 contests in Brittany Davis (15.8), Megan Abrams (14.5) and JaMya Mingo-Young (11.1).
- Davis is also leading the team with 7.0 rebounds per game, followed by Mingo-Young with 6.4 rebounds per game.
Alabama has used the same starting combination all season, including guards Megan Abrams, Hannah Barber, Brittany Davis and JaMya Mingo-Young and center Jada Rice.

About No. 7/9 Tennessee

Tennessee is 11-1 to start the season, including 7-1 inside Thompson-Boling Arena.
- The Lady Volunteers' lone loss was to then-No. 3 Stanford, 74-63, Dec. 18 in Thompson-Boling Arena.
- The Lady Volunteers have won two straight games.
- The Lady Volunteers are coming off a 91-41 triumph against Chattanooga at home on Dec. 27.
Tennessee is shooting 42.4 percent from the field and 28.4 percent from long range, averaging 72.7 points per game.
- The Lady Volunteers are holding its opponents to 30.8 percent shooting from the field and 28.4 percent shooting from long range, while keeping them to 55.1 points per game.
Four Lady Volunteers are averaging double-figure scoring this season, including Jordan Horston (15.1), Rae Burrell (12.0), Alexus Dye (10.3) and Tamari Key (10.2).
- Horston is also leading Tennessee in rebounds (9.4), followed closely by Key (9.3).

Inside the Series

Tennessee leads the all-time meetings with Alabama, 51-7, in a series that began in 1977.
The Crimson Tide has won five of the last seven games against the Lady Volunteers, including five straight from 2016-19.
Alabama's last triumph in that five-game win streak (Jan. 17, 2019) helped it become the first program in Southeastern Conference history to defeat Tennessee five straight times and just the eighth program in NCAA history to accomplish that streak.
The Lady Volunteers have won the last two meetings, including earning an 82-56 win in their last meeting on Jan. 17, 2021 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Last Time Out

The University of Alabama women's basketball program earned its 800th win in a spirited morning matchup, as more than 1,700 students and teachers from around the Tuscaloosa, Ala., community gathered to watch the celebration in Coleman Coliseum Dec. 13.
Alabama defeated Sam Houston, 84-50, to win its seventh straight game. The Crimson Tide improved to 9-2 in 2021, while the Bearkats dropped to 4-5.
Megan Abrams led Alabama in scoring, recording 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including knocking down a pair of 3-pointers, and 5-of-8 from the line. It marked the graduate's fourth game of scoring more than 20 points this season.
Five players scored in double figures for the third time this season, as JaMya Mingo-Young (15), Brittany Davis (14), Hannah Barber (11) and Taylor Sutton (11) rounded out the fivesome. Mingo-Young put together back-to-back double-double games, adding 11 rebounds, two steals and two assists to her stat line against Sam Houston, and in just 22 minutes of action.
The Crimson Tide held the Bearkats to 15 points or less in all four quarters, including outscoring the Bearkats, 27-9, in the second quarter to take control of the game after a back-and-forth start. Alabama had its fifth straight game of shooting 45 percent or better on 50.0 percent from the field against Sam Houston (30-of-60). The Crimson and White also continued its streak of nine straight games outrebounding its opponents, as the Crimson Tide grabbed 40 off the glass, compared to the Bearkats' 37.

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