TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Hannah Cook didn’t know how to describe her fancy footwork.
Was it a juke step? Did she know how much time she had to get the shot off?
The junior guard knew she had only seconds remaining in regulation to launch a 3-pointer from the top of the key, so she calmly executed a step back move to free herself from Kansas’ Kylee Kopatich.
“We ran our play called Bama,” Cook said. “I want to thank my teammates for believing in me. I started to get down on myself because I was not shooting the ball well, but they just kept saying, ‘We’re feeding you. We believe in you.’ ”
Alabama’s confidence in Cook paid off, as she drained the 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. The Crimson Tide responded in the extra session by hitting 10 of 12 free throws to earn a 71-65 victory in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge before a crowd of 1,176 at Coleman Coliseum.
The victory helped Alabama improve to 7-0 for the first time since the 2000-01 season, while the loss dropped Kansas to 3-4.
Cook hit all four free throws in OT to help cap a 10-point effort. Even though Cook was 2 of 14 from the field (2 of 10 from 3-point range), Alabama still survived thanks to solid efforts from NeNe Bolton, who matched a season high with 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Meoshonti Knight (17 points). Those performances offset a 30.7-percent shooting
effort and 14 turnovers.
“This was a good experience for us, one that was much needed,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said. “We really had some things we didn’t do well there in the first half and got in some foul trouble. We came back out the second half and just kind of stayed the course. We didn’t shoot the ball well and, on a day when you don’t shoot the ball well, you just keep shooting it. We kept telling them we had a lot of confidence in them, and the free throws and threes we missed earlier in the game, I guess you can say we made them when they counted the most, so that’s what’s important.”
Alabama had two possessions down the stretch to take the lead. The Crimson Tide missed two shots on the first trip before Knight slipped on a drive and lost the ball on the right block. McKenzie Calvert capitalized by hitting two free throws to give Kansas a 56-53 lead with 9.4 seconds to go.
Alabama worked the ball from Jordan Lewis to Knight to Cook at the top of the key on the final sequence of regulation. Cook didn’t have much space between Kopatich when she received the ball from the right wing, but she used her dribble to create space and moved back to free herself.
“I knocked it don and we went into overtime. It was a great feeling,” Cook said. “It was all a blur. I think it was a step back, a little Steph Curry (a la the standout with th NBA’s Golden State Warriors).”
Alabama trailed 26-25 at halftime and 41-40 after three quarters. The Jayhawks led by as many as five points in the final 10 minutes. In OT, Alabama score 13 of the final 18 points to close out a season-opening seven-game homestand.
“I loved the poise,” Curry said. “You could tell that our kids never believed that they wouldn’t win, and I thought that their maturity down the stretch and some of the things we work on daily for special situations really paid off.”
The victory helped the Southeastern Conference finish with a 6-4 record against the Big 12 Conference in the annual event. The matchup was Alabama’s first against a team from a Power 5 conference. It entered the game 13th in Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) out of the 14 teams in the SEC. While the victory won’t result in a huge lift in that category for Alabama because Kansas entered the game at 273 in Real Time RPI.com’s rankings, it allowed Alabama to maintain Alabama to build momentum in Curry’s fourth season as head coach at the school. The Crimson Tide started 6-0 last season en route to a 15-16 finish that saw the team lose in the first round of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament. The finish was Alabama’s closest to .500 in Curry’s tenure. Alabama has had only one winning campaign in the last 14 seasons, so Curry knows any win, especially one as clutch as Sunday’s, can bolster the confidence and fortunes of a program looking to change its ways.
“The leadership is playing a big part in the progress we’re making,” Bolton said. “We returned our core group we had last year, so it is really paying off to know and to have experience when we step on the court.”
Cook added the younger players — like Lewis, a freshman point guard — are stepping in and playing key roles.
Curry said the Crimson Tide aren’t worrying about what has happened in the past and are focused on having the best day they can have that day. She admitted Sunday was far from it, even going as far to call the result “ugly,” but she has won enough games at Purdue and at Texas Tech to know you take all wins and try to build on them.
“It takes time and patience and perseverance, and this group has really had to learn through a lot of adversity,” Curry said. “I think they’re drawing from those experience and situations like today. We’re going to have some moments where maybe things don’t go our way. Maybe they do. Whatever that brings, we just handle it with each day and be all we can be that day.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino in Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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