Loyal McQueen Has Best Game in Alabama Uniform Against Norfolk State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In Alabama's 92-30 victory over Norfolk State on Sunday afternoon, the Crimson Tide got contributions from nearly everyone on the team.

All but one of Alabama's players scored in the game, and six of the Crimson Tide's 12 players that played in the game scored at least eight points in the win.

To no one's surprise, Alabama's leading scorer was once again Brittany Davis, who scored 22 in the game on 7-for-9 shooting from the field. Next to Davis though was a newer face for those who follow Alabama — junior guard Loyal McQueen.

McQueen scored 20 points in the game, her highest point total in a game since arriving in Tuscaloosa, while shooting a perfect 4-for-4 from beyond the arc in the game.

McQueen came into the game averaging just 6.9 points per game in 20 minutes, just one more minute than her season average. Aside from being a sniper from distance for the length of the game she routinely sliced through Norfolk State's 3-2 zone and drew foul after foul, leading to a stellar 8-for-9 performance from the charity stripe by the end of the game.

"[McQueen] gets to the free throw line nine times in the first half. Any good team is going to talk about keeping her in front of them," Alabama head coach Kristy Curry said. "Then she comes back and hits threes. It's what you take away. I've loved our team's ability to counter with that next option, and I think they've all gotten in the gym and worked on their development and that counter."

Prior to Sunday's game, McQueen had only broken double-figure scoring in an Alabama uniform twice — scoring 13 against Gardner-Webb and 15 against Utah in the Bahamas.

This is technically McQueen's second season on Alabama's team — she transferred to Tuscaloosa in January of 2021 after leaving Georgia Tech, and was able to participate in practice for the latter half of last season. During her freshman season at Georgia Tech she averaged over eight points per game and started 21 out of 25 games.

"I've grown a lot just in my development with Coach Kelly [Curry] and coach Roman [Turner]," McQueen said. "I think the biggest thing for me was the confidence because I have been putting in the work. Just getting in the games and trusting that I have been putting in that work, just going from there and knowing that my teammates and coaches have so much confidence in me. I've just got to take it from there and take what the defense gives me."

All offseason, Curry raved about the depth of this season's Alabama team and McQueen's emergence signifies those ravings to be true. As Alabama moves towards the end of nonconference play and into difficult SEC action, McQueen will be sure to provide essential depth to Alabama's backcourt with more stout competition on the horizon.

"Our rotations are starting to get where we want," Curry said. "When we step within the lines of 94 feet it's all-out effort and energy and discipline about who we need to be. Our kids continue to buy in and get better. One of the biggest weaknesses this team had a year ago, as much as we talk about other options offensively, was the defensive end. Our depth and rotations really allow us to be better defensively."

McQueen will be back in action again with Alabama on Tuesday, as the Crimson Tide takes on Southeastern Louisiana in Coleman Coliseum at 2 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network+.

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