A crowd of 2,536 gathered SUnday, Feb. 13, 2011 for the first women's basketball game in Foster Auditorium since Dec. 3, 1981. Alabama came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat Florida 64-59. (UA photo)TUSCALOOSA - Forget about the 1-10 Southeastern Conference record. Never mind the 10-point halftime deficit.
You didn't really think the Alabama women's basketball team was going to lose its first game in Foster Auditorium in nearly 30 years?
"We just had to win," freshman forward Kaneisha Horn said. "That was everybody's goal. We just had to win."
Mission accomplished. The Crimson Tide opened a new era in an old building Sunday by rallying to defeat Florida 64-59.
"Homecourt advantage," Alabama coach Wendell Hudson said.
A crowd of 2,536 watched Tierney Jenkins compile 18 points, nine steals and eight rebounds. Horn and Ericka Russell each add 12 for the Crimson Tide (13-12, 2-10 in the Southeastern Conference), which forced 28 turnovers (17 in the second half).
In its first game in the 71-year-old building since Dec. 3, 1981, Alabama trailed 34-24 at halftime but opened the second half with a 22-5 run, holding the Gators (14-13, 4-9) to one field goal in the first 8:58.
"The fans really helped us in the second half," Jenkins said. "Them cheering us on was like a sixth defender."
This was the atmosphere Hudson had in mind a few years ago when he advocated renovating the building that was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2005. The 3,800-seat arena made famous by the June 11, 1963 "stand in the schoolhouse door" - Alabama Gov. George Wallace's failed attempt to keep the university from integrating - was restored at a cost of $16 million.
"Once we started making that run and got the crowd into the game, we got that positive energy that came from that," Hudson said. "You hear coaches talk about that all the time. I thought you saw it here today. If you take this same crowd and put it in Coleman Coliseum, that energy level is not that high. ...
"I would think it affected their players when we were making that run, because you don't normally play in front of a crowd that's right on top of you like that."
Would Alabama's record be better if the building had re-opened a month sooner?
"You know, in my mind that would be true," Hudson said. "You can tell by the atmosphere in here. I don't think Florida wants to come back in here. I don't want anyone to enjoy coming in here. It's not a friendship game where you want people to feel good playing in your arena."
Alabama didn't give the crowd much reason to cheer in the first half, but when the Tide started to roll, the building started to rock.
"Our players just fed off it," Hudson said. "We got that thing out to a 10-point lead and kept playing. We made some of the same mistakes in the second half that we made before, but you could just look in their eyes and it was like, 'OK, hey, we've got this thing here. This is our game.' ...
"We've got to help people over here know how to do this. Don't just sit back. It's OK to keep up the noise. It's not a symphony concert of anything. ... In this building, you get the band playing and just a few people cheering, it's amazing the atmosphere and the tone you can have."
The victory capped an emotional, memorable day for Hudson.
"I don't know if I can put it into words," he said. "I was sitting in my office before the game, and I was watching people come in. I was getting choked up watching people go out to the plaza. It was all kinds of people - races - walking around out there. I did sit there for a minute and take in that moment. I thought, 'Man, this is all right. This is what it should be about. This is OK, the University of Alabama and what we've done here. ...'
"It was a moment in time that, you only have a certain amount of these moments. I was glad to be a part of this one."