Bama Women's Basketball Drops Exhibition to Premier Players
11/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
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TUSCALOOSA - The University of Alabama women's basketball team ran into an experienced and hot-shooting Premier Players squad on Tuesday night dropping a 71-60 decision in their final exhibition game of the preseason.
"When you are playing a team as skilled offensively as they were you can't afford to fall behind," said UA head coach Rick Moody. "While it is disappointing to lose, I did see some positives. I thought we did a good job of rebounding the basketball."
Premier led 38-23 at intermission, spurred on by a 10-0 run to end the first half. Alabama did not score a point in the final 4:53 of the half.
After failing to connect on their six first half three point attempts, the Tide caught fire in the second half beyond the arc. Junior Katie Sipe drained 4 of her 6 three point tries, accounting for all of her 12 points. Sipe led the Tide in scoring.
Freshman guard Navonda Moore added 10 points of her own on 5 of 13 shooting, making her and Sipe the only two Bama players to score in double digits. Moore added 8 rebounds, tying freshman Tamisha Hamilton for the team lead.
As a team, Alabama finished 5-18 (27.8 percent) from three-point territory, while Premier Players connected on 10-26 (38.5 percent) of their three-point attempts. The Tide shot only 38.8 percent for the game, while Premier hit 41.4 percent of their shots. Bama won the battle on the boards, 51-29, including a 19-5 advantage on the offensive end.
Former University of Florida standouts Tonya Washington and Brandi McCain led the strong offensive attack for Premier Players with Washington scoring 20 points and McCain adding 13. The Premier Players finished their 12-game exhibition tour around the Southeast with a 6-6 record.
Next up for the Tide is a trip to Ann Arbor to face the Michigan Wolverines on Nov. 24. The contest is slated to tip-off at 5:00 p.m. (CDT). Alabama will open up the home portion of their 2003-04 slate on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. against Jacksonville State.
