HOOVER, Ala. — Wendell Hudson likes the numbers dilemma he will face this season.
With six or seven “starters” to fill five spots on the floor, Hudson feels the 2011-12 University of Alabama women’s basketball team will be able to score more points and to play at a faster tempo than it did a year ago.
“I just think the biggest thing we have to do is be as consistent as we have been in practice,” said Hudson, whose team will play host to Auburn University-Montgomery at 2 p.m. today at Foster Auditorium in an exhibition game. “I think we will be that. It is not going to be a fast race. It is going to be a long race. We’re going to grow a little bit and make adjustments as far as who to play when and what combinations work the best.”
Hudson, who is in his fourth season as coach, helped get the program back on track last season. The Crimson Tide won five games in the Southeastern Conference (they won five in Hudson’s first two seasons) and advanced to the postseason for the first time since 2002. Alabama won two games in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament and finished 18-15.
The loss of sophomore forward Kaneisha Horn to a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury in the offseason put a damper on the optimism surrounding this season only for a moment. Hudson feels the team has an unknown factor in its additions that will help the Crimson Tide climb higher than 10th, which is where they were picked in the preseason poll.
“We’re going to miss Horn,” Hudson said. “She was playing really well toward the end of the season last year. Before she got hurt this summer she had really stepped up and was taking that leadership role. We’re going to miss playing with her. But it is not like it happened during the season, so we already know we’re not going to play with her and other people have stepped up.”
Junior college transfers Meghan Perkins, a 5-foot-11 guard, and Jessica Merritt, a 5-8 guard, from Pensacola State College, and Kyra Crosby, a 6-1 forward from Gulf Coast Community College, figure to see a lot of playing time and contend for spots in the starting lineup.
“Our basketball team is going to be a very interesting team,” Hudson said. “We signed three junior college All-Americans. Two of them were 32-1 and lost in the national championship game last year. The other one we signed won a national championship in junior college, so the winning experience they’re going to bring to our team is going to be real important.”
Hudson said the Crimson Tide will need that experience to replace All-SEC performer Tierney Jenkins, who led the team in scoring (15.5 points per game) and rebounding (10.6 per game). Hudson said Alabama won’t be able to replace Jenkins with one player, which is why the experience of the junior college transfers is vital.
Hudson said Perkins is a versatile and quiet player who will play three or four positions He said Merritt is one of the most athletic players the program has had in some time, while Crosby is a “tough, hard-nosed” player who will provide a quick, athletic presence in the post.
Those players will work with senior guard Ericka Russell, who was second on the team in scoring last season (11.4 ppg.). Russell had more than half (75) of Alabama’s 137 3-pointers last season.
“Ericka Russell has stepped up from a leadership role,” Hudson said. “She is the lone senior. She is the epitome of a student-athlete. She has already graduated and is working on her master’s degree. She has a plan for when she finishes college to go to work and do what she wants to do.”
Russell was a key ingredient in Alabama’s transition to a faster style of play. The Crimson Tide scored 70 or more points seven times in the first part of last season. They did it only three times after the start of SEC play, including both of their wins in the WNIT. Russell credits the coaches for their recruiting work and feels the newcomers will fit in nicely and help the Crimson Tide moving forward even faster.
“I know we lost Tierney, but we still have people who are going to step up and fill that void,” Russell said. “We are just excited to play. I just have to be a vocal leader and keep everybody confident and on the same page and confident and positive. Once you get everybody on the same page I think we will be fine.”
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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