Nov. 19, 2009
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 
AUBURN - The Auburn women's basketball team (2-1) won its 15th consecutive home game Thursday evening as the Tigers routed the Alabama A&M Bulldogs, 83-56. Auburn junior Alli Smalley led the Auburn charge with 22, dropping 3-of-4 from behind the arc. As a team, Auburn tied the school record for blocked shots with 17 in the game.
In all, the Tigers shot 51.6 percent from the field with three players scoring in double digits. Alongside Smalley were freshman Nicolle Thomas with 15 and senior KeKe Carrier with 10.
"It was nice to have that kind of offensive production," said Auburn head coach Nell Fortner. "We really jumped on them early with our offense and we kept shooting it well. We shot it really well from 3-point range, which was nice to see but we still have some work to do, especially on our free throws, but I was really pleased with the way we executed tonight."
Auburn's bench contributed 28 points, led by freshman Blanche Alverson with nine. Sophomores Parrisha Simmons and Chantel Hilliard added eight each.
The Tigers' 17 blocks against the Bulldogs, tying the school record set Feb. 23, 1994 against South Alabama and Dec. 1, 1993 against Lamar. Freshman Pascale West led the team with seven while KeKe Carrier added five.
"We had a great effort defensively with the blocked shots and holding them to low percentage shots, especially in the first half," said Fortner. "It was nice to bounce back here with a big win and get everybody some playing time. I thought our bench played really well also, gave us some good minutes and contributed nicely."
Auburn junior Jordan Greenleaf recorded two blocks in the game including one at the 13:16 mark of the second half that moved her into the top-10 all-time at Auburn, tying her with Tara Williams at 91.
"Tonight I think we did very well coming back from the loss against Temple," said Greenleaf. "We came back a little more hungry trying to redeem ourselves. It's good anytime to get into the record books. I'm happy about that."
Auburn and Alabama A&M exchanged buckets in their first possessions, but the Tigers followed with a 15-0 run over the next five minutes to take a 17-2 lead. The Bulldogs closed the gap to seven with 10:38 left in the half, but Auburn finished out on a 20-2 run to go into the locker room up, 39-14.
Auburn maintained its lead throughout the second half, out-scoring Alabama A&M 44-42 in the period to hold on to the win.
Overall, the Tigers were 32-of-62 from the field, 8-of-13 from behind the arc and 11-of-23 from the line. Alabama A&M was held to 33 percent shooting in the game, 21-of-63, but hit 8-of-14 from 3-point land and 6-of-12 from the charity stripe.
Katrich Williams led the Bulldogs with 17 points and four rebounds. Chelsea Marshall (14) and Whiquitta Tobar (10) also scored in double digits for A&M.
"I thought we got off to our real slow start," said Alabama A&M head coach Altherias Warmley. "Auburn did a great job with their zone, and stopped the ball in spots when they needed to. We didn't make adjustments until the second half. I thought we did a much better job of reading what they were doing in the second half. We knocked down some open shots. We made them come out of their zone."
The Tigers return to action against No. 8 Texas A&M Sunday at 2 p.m. at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum. The team will drop its 2009 SEC Championship and NCAA banners prior to the game and the first 500 fans through the door will receive a replica SEC Championship trophy.
Season ticket individual packages are still on sale and are $50, while the family plan, which includes four tickets, is $150. Regular season-single game tickets are $5 and Auburn students are allowed in for free. Groups of 20 or more can purchase in advance for a discounted price of $2 per ticket.
For more information, please call the Athletic Department ticket office at 1-800-AUB-1957 or visit www.auburntigers.com.