Jan. 21, 2010
Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery 
AUBURN - Down by eight with 2:25 left in the game, Auburn (11-8, 2-4 SEC) scored seven unanswered points, but could not convert on its final possession as the Tigers fell to No. 21/20 Vanderbilt, 61-60. Junior Alli Smalley scored a game-high 19 points against the Commodores (14-5, 3-3 SEC), including a 3-pointer with 45 seconds remaining that cut the lead to one.
"It is a really disappointing loss, I feel bad for the kids," said Auburn head coach Nell Fortner. "They played their hearts out. It is an awful way to lose a game, I can tell you that. It leaves such a bad feeling in me that we could not get a shot and I will not sleep for a long time over that one. We just have to bounce back and come to play on Sunday."
Aside from the loss, it was a big night for Smalley as she became just the 25th Auburn player ever to score 1,000 career points. Jordan Greenleaf found her under the basket for a layup at the 18:21 mark in the second half, giving Smalley her 12th point of the game and 1,000th of her career.
The Arab, Ala., native finished the game with 1,007 career points, ranking 25th all-time at Auburn.
Auburn jumped out of the gate and led by as many as 10 points in the first half, taking a 24-14 advantage with 9:25 left in the opening period. Vanderbilt rallied by and cut it to two before the half was over, but Greenleaf and freshman Blanche Alverson connected on a pair of buckets in the final 1:38 to take a 36-29 lead into the locker room.
Auburn had to change its game plan early as senior KeKe Carrier went down with a hamstring injury less than three minutes into the game.
"Losing KeKe, you have to change midstream with what you are doing and what you want to do," said Fortner. "I give the kids a lot of credit for playing hard and making things work. I thought Parrisha Simmons did a nice job tonight."
Simmons came off the bench for Carrier and nearly finished the game with a double-double as she tallied nine points and a game-high eight rebounds.
The Tigers took their lead to nine early in the second half, but a 3-pointer by Vanderbilt's Merideth Marsh and field goals from Elan Brown and Jence Rhoads cut the lead to two with 15:26 to play.
"The thing I thought that hurt us was we gave up threes. In the second half, all we were talking about was not giving up the three and then they would have a wide open three," said Fortner. "That hurt. We cannot have those defensive breakdowns against teams that can shoot that well like Vanderbilt."
The Commodores finished the game 8-of-18 from beyond the arc, led by Marsh with her 5-of8 shooting performance.
Auburn would lead again by as many as six, but a layup by Marsh with 6:33 left to play and a 3-pointer from Lauren Lueders at the 5:44 mark gave the Commodores their first lead of the game.
Lueders struck again with 2:25 remaining with another 3-pointer to extend the lead to eight.
Smalley bounced back on the next possession with a field goal to cut the lead to six. Simmons connected on a pair of free throws with 1:09 remaining to cut it to five and a steal by point guard Morgan Toles on the ensuing possession gave Auburn a chance to cut into the lead more.
Following a timeout, Smalley connected on a deep 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to cut the Vanderbilt lead to one and give Auburn a shot.
Vanderbilt's Tiffany Clarke missed a layup, giving Auburn once more chance at the win. Following an Auburn timeout, the Tigers were able to get the ball, but the smothering Vanderbilt defense prevented a good shot at the basket as the Commodores held on for the win.
Auburn shot 41.0 percent from the field, compared to 49.1 percent from Vanderbilt. The Commodores also connected on 44.4 percent of their 3-point attempts , while Auburn hit just three of its 13 attempts.
The Tigers out-rebounded Vanderbilt 37-26, including 16 offensive boards that resulted on nine second-chance points. Auburn also banked on its forced turnovers, turning 13 Vanderbilt turnovers into 16 points.
Auburn will return to action at 1 p.m., Sunday as the Tigers travel to Lexington, Ky., for a matchup with 25th-ranked Kentucky (15-3, 3-2 SEC) in Memorial Gymnasium. The game will be broadcast live on the SEC Network.