Dec. 16, 2006
WASHINGTON D.C. - No. 20 George Washington (9-2) survived a second-half comeback from the Tigers to take a 62-51 victory over Auburn (9-3) Saturday in Washington, D.C. Trevesha Jackson led Auburn with 11 points, and DeWanna Bonner scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the loss, which snapped a six-game win streak for the Tigers.
"The one encouraging thing was how the players fought and got themselves back in the ballgame," Auburn head coach Nell Fortner said. "But you can't miss layups and you can't turn the ball over like we did in the second half."
Auburn cut a halftime deficit of 13 to just one point, but could never tie or take the lead in the second half. The Tigers opened the period on a 21-9 run to pull within one point with 9:05 to play. After Jackson scored to cut the lead to 45-44, the Colonials scored on two of their next three possessions to make the score 50-44.
Three minutes later,Bonner converted a layup to make the score 50-49, but George Washington again answered with a three from Kenan Cole to keep Auburn at bay. Over the final six minutes, Auburn made only one field goal and committed six turnovers as the game slipped away.
The Tigers opened the game shooting poorly and quickly found themselves trailing by 17 at 22-5. Briefly finding offensive rhythm, Auburn rallied to within seven at 24-17 midway through the period. But after making only two of its final 13 shots in the half, Auburn trailed 36-23 going to the locker room.
The Tigers shot only 24 percent (8 of 33) in the first half and 32 percent (19 of 60) in the game. Auburn turned the ball over 18 times, with 12 of those miscues coming in the second period.
Cole led four Colonials in double figures with 15 points while contributing eight rebounds and five assists.
The Auburn women remain on the east coast until Dec. 19th, when they take on Maryland Eastern Shore at 6 p.m. CT. The Tigers return home on Dec. 21st for a 1 p.m. CT contest with Oakland.