SOUTHEASTERN CONFERENCE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March 4, 2026

Kristy Curry

Ace Austin

Karly Weathers

Bon Secours Wellness Arena

Alabama Crimson Tide

Postgame Press Conference

Alabama-65, Missouri-48

THE MODERATOR: We have Alabama Head Coach Kristy Curry along with Ace Austin and Karly Weathers. Coach, a quick comment to get us started.

KRISTY CURRY: Just really proud of our team for finding a way to win and when it wasn't necessarily our best shooting night, but we had enough stops there down the stretch and impacted winning plays the moment that we needed to down the stretch there in the fourth.

Credit Ace for coming off the bench. Waiata Jennings and Alancia Ramsey, Joy, our bench really helped us a little bit. Karly just found ways to impact winning. But to have four in double figures, it took a team effort. A lot of little things that made a big difference for us tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Ace Austin, 14 points. The four three-pointers matches a career high. Karly Weathers, 16 rebounds, blew past her previous career high of 11. Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. First of all, for Ace, how are you feeling going into that fourth quarter, and obviously just what were you in the groove, like, giving all those three-pointers in for the Crimson Tide?

ACE AUSTIN: One, it felt good to see the ball go through the rim. But, I mean, mostly importantly, I just want to do this for my seniors. I went in there like -- they said keep shooting the ball. They're going to fall. I wasn't just doing this for myself. I was just going to make that ball go in for the seniors here.

Q. Karly, this is the first time that the team advances since 2022. What does that mean for the program, and what does that mean for you?

KARLY WEATHERS: Yeah, you know, I've played on a lot of special teams and have a lot of good memories with those teams. Obviously we've had some pretty good players come off those teams. To do it with this group is truly special, because a lot of people overlooked us, and we've been saying that kind of all year long, is just it matters what goes on inside our locker room and just to go out there and -- I mean, we had to weather adversity today. It wasn't easy for four quarters.

Just to see our team find a way today, that's truly special, and I wouldn't want to do it with any other group of girls.

THE MODERATOR: When you saw the big lead get away, what was going on in the huddle? Coach calls a timeout. You guys, what was going on in the huddle to get your wheels back on again, get the momentum in your favor again?

KARLY WEATHERS: Yeah, I mean, obviously they're coaching, right? They're trying to make adjustments. They're also trying to instill us with confidence.

I just kept hearing them say, Keep shooting the ball, keep shooting the ball, keep finding the open people. As long as we're playing defense, the ball is going to go in our favor.

Obviously they're going to coach us in those huddles, but they are also trying to instill us with confidence. So I don't think that they ever wavered. I think that they never lost confidence in us, and so that was the biggest thing. We just thought that we had to go out there and attack and do what they were asking us to do.

Q. Karly, just how much pride do you take in your personal rebounding and then team rebounding in a game like this?

KARLY WEATHERS: That's an area that we've been trying to work on this year. Obviously there's been quite a few games that we've gotten out-rebounded.

Obviously, I have always been taught that you have to impact the game in other ways. So if shots are not falling, go find ways to make plays, make winning plays to help your team win.

Obviously because that's something that we've been really harping on, really trying to work on, we just got to continue to see improvement.

So, yeah, the 16 rebounds are great, but we just want to continue to improve on that. Next game I want to have 17, because that means that we're improving. I want to see -- what did we finish with, 48? Let's finish with 49 next time.

Yeah, that's something that we're proud of, but it's something we want to continue to work on.

Q. You got a big-time win today, and we all know after a big W, we go get ice cream. What flavor of ice cream are you guys going to get today?

KARLY WEATHERS: Wait. Ain't there a Jeni's near us?

KRISTY CURRY: 10:47 on a weeknight. I'm not sure they're open. You'll make it up.

KARLY WEATHERS: Cookie dough if we could go. She'll make it up to us, though, right?

KRISTY CURRY: I will. We'll try to have some delivered. Door Dash, where are you?

ACE AUSTIN: A little mixture of three. Birthday cake, cookie dough, chocolate. I love me some ice cream.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, student-athletes. Questions for Coach.

Q. What a difference having Ace Austin makes for this basketball team, and how proud are you of the way she's worked her way to get back on the floor with the performance tonight?

KRISTY CURRY: You know, we never talk about excuses with injuries, but having her and Naomi out, having Essence out and some losses, it's really hurt us.

At the end of the day, it's great to have her back. I thought she's looked really, really good, shooting the ball. That was evident tonight. She's really working on her catch-and-shoot.

We're hoping to get Naomi back, too. I think it's really important as we head into the NCAA Tournament that we get as healthy as we possibly can, because it's the time of year where being short-handed, the margin for error really shrinks.

I know playing three, four, five, and ten the last four out of five games, we're in a situation we need to be full strength. I really credit Ace for finding a way to get back and using last week to her benefit to rest and recover.

THE MODERATOR: Thoughts on tomorrow night's opponent? You played them once.

KRISTY CURRY: Yeah, we're prepared to go as a staff. We've spent a lot of time the past couple of days on executing the scout and the game plan, along with the Missouri game plan.

One thing about that, based off Tennessee, when we played them the first time, you know, I think we're a little different, I think they're a little different. A lot of adversity for both of us lately with the level of opponent.

There's two things. I mean, you know, we've got to take care of the basketball. We know they're going to pressure. We know they're going to press. Then we have to do a really good job of attacking and being aggressive. Just got to make shots.

At the end of the day, too, we all know that not only taking care of the basketball, we've got to rebound and have a presence on the board. So I think our bench will be critical to our success, and we've just got to have a lot of people step up and be ready to go tomorrow night. It's a good opportunity, and, you know, one and done and the urgency we have to play with will be critical.

THE MODERATOR: Another good state tonight, 19 assists on 24.

KRISTY CURRY: Yeah, pretty special. I think, goodness gracious, we missed a lot of wide-open looks. We would have had more than that.

On a night even when Jess maybe didn't have her best offensive impact on point, she had four assists and one turnover. Just really did a nice job there.

19 assists on 24 baskets shows you have a team that's selfless and shares the basketball.