Nov. 17, 2009
PHILADELPHIA - The Auburn women's basketball team suffered its first setback of the season Tuesday as the Tigers fell 66-52 to Temple at McGonigle Hall in Philadelphia. Down 19 at halftime, the Tigers rallied to cut the lead to nine at one point, but it was not enough as Temple held on for the win.
The Tigers struggled from the field in the first half, shooting 7-of-27 for 25.9 percent, but bounced back in the second half to shoot 16-of-28 to finish the game at 41.8 percent. Free throw shooting was also a concern for Auburn as the team connected on only three of its 13 attempts.
"The free throws are something we have to get control of," said head coach Nell Fortner. "If we hit our free throws then we are in this game late and have a shot at it."
Taking a young team on the road for the first time this season, Fortner said it can sometimes take them a while to get comfortable.
"The challenge of having a young team is they have to find themselves and they did not do that in the first half, but they did in the second half and did some good things," said Fortner. "I thought we came back and fought hard in the second half. We are young, there is nothing you can do about that, but I thought they got some very valuable minutes tonight."
Alli Smalley led Auburn in the game with 19 points and four assists. Freshman point guard Morgan Toles tallied nine points and eight assists while also leading the team in rebounding with six.
One of the keys to the game in the second half was senior KeKe Carrier, who came off the bench for 12 points, eight in the second half, two blocks and two steals.
"Because of her size, KeKe is hard for a lot of teams to control," said Fortner. "When she is playing under control and with confidence, she can do some really good things and she did tonight."
The Owls jumped out to a quick lead to start the game, holding a seven-point advantage 6:29 into the game. Temple extended the lead to double digits with 8:20 left in the opening period before closing out the half with the 34-15 advantage.
Temple took its largest lead of the night at the 19:21 mark of the second half, taking a 21-point, 36-15 lead after a Kristen McCarthy layup. But, Auburn responded with a 9-2 run to cut the lead to 14 at the 16:44 mark. Toles accounted for five of the nine points in the run.
The Tigers continued to chip at the lead and cut it to single digits at the 8:54 mark with Temple holding a nine-point, 53-44 lead. That would be as close as Auburn would get as Temple pulled out the 14-point win.
Auburn out-scored Temple in the second half, 37-22, after trailing by 19 at the half. The Owls won the rebounding battle, 45-31, and forced 23 Auburn turnovers by way of 12 steals. For the game, Temple shot 28-of-61 from the field for 45.9 percent.
Auburn returns to action Thursday as the Tigers host in-state rival Alabama A&M. Tipoff is slated for 6 p.m. from Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.