The University of Alabama women’s basketball team opened the season Friday night with a 86-34 blowout victory in an exhibition against West Alabama. The game marked the Crimson Tide’s first game back in Coleman Coliseum after playing in Foster Auditorium the last five seasons.
It didn’t take long for the Crimson Tide to adjust to its new home.
The Crimson Tide pounded the Tigers thanks to suffocating defense that generated 25 steals by Alabama and forced 32 turnovers by the Tigers.
Sloppy handling of the ball allowed Alabama to score 34 points off turnovers and put the Tigers in a 27-9 deficit to end the first quarter.
After the hot start the Crimson Tide never looked back. A poor shooting performance in the second quarter was enough to bring its field goal percentage down to 42 percent for the game, but the majority of Alabama’s points came from in close, scoring 48 points in the paint.
“We spend split time between Coleman Coliseum and Foster Auditorium,” freshman point guard Jordan Lewis said. “Even though we spend time at both places and still consider Foster Auditorium to be our home, I think we’ve practiced here equally as much and it has helped us with our depth perception.”
The new venue also came with a new face for Crimson Tide. Highly recruited point guard Lewis stole the show early in her first collegiate game intercepting passes and drawing fouls on the offensive end. She finished the game with 14 points and four steals.
“I think (Lewis) does a great job running our team,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said. “What I was most pleased with tonight was her ability to be a vocal leader for us. She got everybody to their spots.”
The solid return of junior forward Ashley Williams gave Alabama fans a little extra to be excited about this season as she poured in 16 points while shooting 71.4 percent from the field. Williams was the Crimson Tide’s leader scorer during the 2014 season, but sat out the 2015 season due to medical reasons.
Ariel Wilson led West Alabama with nine points and three rebounds.
Alabama will play its first regular season game at Coleman Coliseum next Friday, Nov. 11 against New Orleans.
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