On a rainy afternoon in Tuscaloosa Alabama, the Alabama Women's Basketball team defeated the Samford Bulldogs 83-68 to begin the 2020-2021 season.

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Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics
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Alabama was led by junior forward Jasmine Walker in scoring with 22 points on 9 of 17 shooting and finishing 3 of 5 from 3-point range. Walker also led the Crimson Tide in rebounding with 7 and had 2 big blocks to round out her day. Senior Ariyah Copeland also had a big day for the Tide with 18 points and finished behind Walker in efficiency with 20.

Alabama performed well in the first half, taking a 47-33 lead into the half. However, Alabama would come out extremely flat in the 3rd quarter. The Crimson Tide shot a dismal 4 for 18 field goal percentage and 1 for 8 from 3-point range. Alabama would bounce back in the 4th quarter, however, shooting 63% from the field getting a total of 11 rebounds as a team. Alabama would close out the game strong in the 4th quarter shooting 62 percent on 10 of 16 shooting.

Crimson Tide head coach Kristy Curry spoke to the media after the game and addressed her team's performance as a whole in the season opener.

"I was very happy with how our team responded today," Curry said. "I feel like when Samford started to make a run, we countered it well. We obviously have to defend and rebound better. There's probably not a coach in the country that's not going to be feeling that way after game 1."

Coach Curry also spoke on adjustments that Samford made in the game and why it was such a tough 3rd quarter.

"I told our team after the game that we cannot come out and play flat to start the second half," Curry said. "I thought they did a really good job changing their defense, giving us a lot of different looks and it helped us to get better today.

Wednesday was the first time in 265 days that the Crimson Tide took the court due to the cancellation of the SEC Tournament back on March 19th due to Covid-19. Alabama will look to continue their winning ways on Sunday in Tuscaloosa as they welcome the Houston Cougars.

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