Bama women beat Tigers

TUSCALOOSA | As the 2007-08 season tipped off for the University of Alabama women’s basketball team Wednesday night the theme of the Tide’s season unveiled itself.

Youth will be served.

In its first exhibition game of the season, Alabama took down West Alabama 80-53 and displayed signs of improvement and revealed areas of concern for third-year coach Stephany Smith.

Smith will tell you she isn’t big on “themes” or the other trappings that go along with season mottos, but when the Tide took the court with four underclassmen, including three freshmen to start the game, Smith couldn’t ignore the obvious.

“I think we knew that two years ago when we came to Alabama,” Smith said. “We knew that it was going to be a process.

“We’ve had two signing classes. So for the most part we’re all freshmen and sophomores.”

Freshmen forwards Caitlin Hollifield and Tierney Jenkins and guard Daleisha Carn earned the starting nod in their first game in a Crimson Tide jersey. Jenkins, an athletic forward with a 6 foot frame, turned in a stellar first game netting a game-high 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting and pulling down nine rebounds.

The Tide also got strong scoring performances from a couple of sophomores, point guard Dedrea Magee and center Talisha Chandler. Chandler put up a double-double matching Jenkins’ 18 points to go with 16 rebounds. Magee added 14 points, 10 rebounds and four steals.

Chandler said that most of her rebounds came from her missed layups.

“I couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean,” she said.

Similar to last season’s exhibition game with the Tigers, which the Tide won 80-51, Alabama used its edge in talent to wear down West Alabama. The Tide outscored the Tigers 42-26 in the second half thanks in part to West Alabama turnovers converted into easy transition buckets for the Tide.

The Tide opened the second half on an 11-2 run with Magee scoring eight of the 11 points on a pair of layups and a 3-pointer.

Alabama out rebounded West Alabama 52-34 but turned the ball over 25 times compared to the Tigers 23.

Smith said the turnovers were a combination of players not getting open on the wings and post players not helping the guards get open.

“Sometimes it’s just being smarter in the way we attack in transition,” she said. “Sometimes we push things that don’t really exist.”

In her second season, Smith said Magee has shown flashes of providing the Tide with a much-needed ball stopper but will need to become more consistent for the Tide to make the strides necessary defensively.

“She can really set the tempo for us,” she said. “She has such explosiveness and quickness it’s really hard to get past her.”

Magee said Smith has made putting pressure on the ball a focus for her.

“During halftime I got a little talk from coach and she said the ball pressure did not exist,” Magee said. “I’ve got to get more pressure on the ball and stop them from getting long passes up the court.”

Smith said the team will review film before preparing for the next game.

The Tide will host Mississippi College on Sunday at 4 p.m. The regular season tips off on Nov. 10 against Tulane.