By outreach@cw.ua.edu (Cody Estremera)
With two minutes and seven seconds gone in the second half Meo Knight drove in and was fouled hard. She would stroll up to the free throw line and bury the shot, scoring her sixth point of the night after a scoreless first half.
The Crimson Tide had its worst first half of the young season against Georgia Southern. The team only scored 24 points and shot only 24 percent from the field. This caused the team to trail entering the second half for the first time all season.
“I just tore up the stat sheet [at half],” coach Kristy Curry said. “We just said we need to restart. I told them they need to go play with confidence and that they need to shoot the ball with confidence. I thought Meo, single handedly in the third quarter, just willed us a little bit.”
The team responded to Curry’s halftime talk by outscoring the Golden Eagles 42-23. The team increased its shooting percentage up to 47 percent and finished off the game by scoring 13 of the last 15 points, led by Ashley Williams.
Williams played her season-high in minutes tonight with 33. With the extra playing time she notched her first double-double of the season, and the 10th of her career. She led the team in scoring (19) and in rebounds (14) coming up just one shy of her career-high.
“I had a rocky start in the first half, missing some shots in the paint I should have made,” Williams said. “My teammates were there for me, so if it wasn’t there in the post I just passed it out to them. I give it all to my teammates.”
Tonight also marks the first time this year the team did not have four or more players score in double digits. Hannah Cook (17), Williams and Knight (14) were the only three to break 10 points tonight. Curry feels the rough game was good for the team because it experienced adversity for the first time this year.
Patrice Butler led the Eagles in scoring with 17 points, while Sierra Butler led them in rebounds with nine. Alabama takes on Alabama A&M for its next game on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Source:: The Crimson White Sports
