Alabama women’s basketball wasted no time making history under first-year head coach Pauline Love. In Wednesday’s 118-45 victory, the Crimson Tide accomplished four major milestones while also rewriting the Capstone’s history books.

The 118 points were the first time the Crimson Tide has scored over 100 points since the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2024, when they scored 109 to defeat Florida State 109-69. The 55 rebounds were their most since the 2026 SEC Tournament, and the 26 steals marked their most in a single game since 1993. The 73-point win marked the second-largest margin of victory in program history. The largest margin of victory in Alabama women's basketball history is 77 points, set on Nov. 21, 2021, with a 109–32 win over Charleston Southern.

The Crimson Tide improved to 2-0 on the season with the dominant 73-point victory. Beyond the lopsided score, the game highlighted the immense potential of this young squad on both ends of the floor. By capitalizing on 48 points off turnovers, the Tide established a high-tempo offense and utilized transition opportunities to set an aggressive tone for the entire night.


"We always talk about flow and how we need to be disruptive defensively and play fast," said Love in a postgame interview. "We still have to nudge them just a little bit. We always teach flow and spacing and then play with pace. I don't think I would've said this months ago; our defense needs to be really, really good to have offensive flow. This is the identity of our team now.”

Despite the huge accomplishment, the Tide still has to continue to build momentum and maintain toughness to get through an already physically demanding week in just a short amount of time. The Crimson Tide opened the season on Monday and has already played two of three games this week, with back-to-back games slated for Wednesday and Thursday.

“Toughness, that’s the word for the week; to get through this week, we’re going to have a little bit of toughness. Three games in four days, that’s hard on anybody. I feel like we’re prepping for the NCAA tournament now," said Love.

Toughness was definitely the word of the game on Wednesday, as the Tide completely dominated LSU New Orleans and the 118-point night spoke volumes about the team's offense moving forward. “We want to be able to function fast and play with a lot of pace in space. We always talk about evidence of excellence, and this was a true indication of that evidence tonight."

Alabama's energy remained high through all 40 minutes, particularly with the reserves who provided a massive spark and matched the same energy of the starting lineup. Alabama's bench scored 67 of the 118 points while contributing seven turnovers and 29 rebounds.

“I call that knuck if you buck group; that’s Alayna, Mikey, and Kylie right now," said Love when asked about how the bench was able to affect the game. "With them coming off the bench and being disruptive, it helps us a lot, especially with their adrenaline; they actually kind of like it. It can be a different starting lineup every game depending on who we’re playing, but Mikey and Alayna have really stepped up like, ‘I got this coach, no worries,’ no matter if they’re starting or coming off the bench.”

Alayna West entered the game and immediately took control, leading to a career performance as she led the team in points, rebounds, and assists, scoring 17 points, 14 rebounds, and nine assists, while Mykelle Richards wasn't far behind her with 16 points and seven rebounds. Having the bench immediately come in and make an impact can be very beneficial for the Tide moving forward, especially when taking on tougher opponents.

Love and the Crimson Tide still have much work to do in her inaugural season, but the Tide is definitely a younger team to look out for.

The Crimson Tide return to Coleman Coliseum on Thursday, Nov. 4, hosting Alabama A&M with tipoff scheduled for 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network+.