Heading into Thursday’s home contest against No. 2 South Carolina, No. 19 Alabama women’s basketball has not lost a game at Coleman Coliseum in more than a year.
The Crimson Tide’s last loss at home came on Jan. 18, 2024 to the-then No. 10/9 ranked LSU, 78-58. Since then, Alabama has won 14-straight at home, winning its final five home games of the 2023-24 season and starting the 2024-25 season 9-0 at home.
Alabama currently sits at 16-2 over halfway through the regular season. It is 3-1 in Southeastern Conference play, its sole conference loss coming to No. 5 Texas, 84-40, on Jan. 9.
“February’s are defined by you defending your home court, and it starts in January,” head coach Kristy Curry said last week. “So defending your home court is really important. We’ve been fortunate to do that.
“We are very proud of what we’re doing at home. And I think at any time to have success, you go to prepare and to make the NCAA tournament, you got to take care of home first. So now that we’ve done that.”
The Crimson Tide is without star guard Sarah Ashlee Barker. Barker suffered a lower leg injury in the Crimson Tide’s 79-69 win over Florida on Jan. 2 to open SEC play, with Curry calling her day-to-day last week. Prior to sustaining the injury, Barker started in each of the Crimson Tide’s 15 contests, averaging 15.6 points and 5.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. She posted a season-high 25 points vs. ULM on Nov. 17.
Zaay Green leads Alabama with 16.7 points per game followed by Aaliyah Nye with 14.8. Nye posted a career-high 32-points in Alabama’s 84-78 road win at Ole Miss on Jan. 12, its first conference win on the road. She also made seven threes in the win over the Rebels, her third time doing so this season. She ranks No. 16 in the country in that category, shooting 44.8% from three-point range.
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When speaking to the media last week, Nye emphasized the importance of winning at home along with winning on the road.
“I think it’s important defending the home court, but also I think it’s important to win every game, whether it’s home or away,” Nye said. “So it’s important to just defend our court, but obviously every game we go into, whether it’s home or away, we want to win.”
Alabama is set to tip-off against South Carolina at 6 p.m. CT Thursday. The game will be shown on SECN+. The Gamecocks will be the second ranked opponent the Crimson Tide has faced within the last week. South Carolina sits at 16-1 on the season and 4-0 in conference play.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama women’s basketball looks to stay perfect at home vs. South Carolina
