Jan. 23, 2011
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AUBURN - Senior Alli Smalley and sophomore Morgan Toles led the Auburn women's basketball team with 13 points each as the Tigers (12-8, 5-2 SEC) fell to fifth-ranked Tennessee Sunday afternoon in the Auburn Arena. A season-high crowd of 7,536 came out for the game, marking the third-largest crowd, men or women, in the new Arena.
With the loss, Auburn (5-2) remains in third place in the Southeastern Conference, trailing Tennessee (7-0) and Georgia (6-0). The Tigers have a half-game lead on Kentucky (4-2).
The Lady Vols led by 20 early in the second half, but Auburn was able to chip away at the lead and cut it to 10 after a Blanche Alverson 3-pointer with 10:25 left in the game. Tennessee was able to hold off the Tiger run and went on to lead by as many as 25 late in the game before Auburn cut it back to 20 for the final, 73-53.
The Tigers were unable to find any offensive rhythm in the first half, shooting 30 percent from the field and connecting on just 1-of-9 from outside the arc.
"We just couldn't find the basket," said Auburn head coach Nell Fortner. "They are big. It's hard to see over them and around. It's also hard to play against a switching man defense. It made it very difficult for us to find our shots."
Tennessee, on the other hand, shot 42 percent in the opening period, led by Shekinna Stricklen and Glory Johnson with 12 and 10 points, respectively.
"We went inside and that was key for us," said Tennessee head coach Pat Summit. "I felt we have such a size advantage that it would be a good part of our scheme."
The Tigers were able to keep the Lady Vol advantage at no more than 10 for the opening 17 minutes of the first half. However, a Johnson-led 7-0 Tennessee run to close the half sent the Tigers into the break trailing, 34-19.
The Lady Vols opened the second half on a 12-7 run, building their lead to 20 by the 16:55 mark. It was then the Tigers began to claw their way back into the game.
Led by strong play from Greenleaf, Auburn went on a six-minute, 12-4, run capped by Alverson's 3-pointer. The long-range effort brought the Tigers back to within 10 with 10:25 left on the clock.
"We started knocking down shots," said Fortner. "When you play against Tennessee, you've got to make them pay for their defensive mistakes. The run was nice, but when we cut it to 10, we didn't show a lot of poise to make it a ball game."
A series of Auburn turnovers slowed down the Tigers' momentum, opening the door for Tennessee to rebuild their lead and leave Auburn with the victory.
Four of Auburn's five freshmen saw considerable time in the game. Camille Glymph played seven minutes while Jassany Williams (17), Tyrese Tanner (16) and Peyton Davis (13) reached double figures. Tanner scored four points with three rebounds while Williams pulled down four boards with two points.
"You can always learn a lot when you play Tennessee," said Smalley. "It's hard to be thrown in against them as a freshman. I think one of the things we struggled with today was keeping that poise. That is one of the things freshmen have to learn. That is tough, but I feel they are only going to learn from that experience."
Senior Jordan Greenleaf led Auburn in rebounding with nine boards. She also scored 10 points in the game. Toles dished out a game-high seven assists along with her 13 points.
The Tigers shot 34.3 percent (23-of-67) from the field and just 21.1 percent (4-of-19) from 3-point range. Auburn also lost the rebounding battle, 49-34, but was able to score 13 points off Tennessee's 19 turnovers.
Shekinna Stricklen scored a game-high 18 points, leading Tennessee to the win. Glory Johnson grabbed a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds while Kelley Cain added nine points with 12 boards.
The Lady Vols shot 43.1 percent (28-of-65) from the field and 37.5 percent (6-of-16) from 3-point range. Tennessee also made it to the free throw line 14 times, as compared to five for Auburn, knocking down 11 of the 14 attempts.
Auburn will get some rest this week as the Tigers do not have a Thursday game. Auburn will return to action at 2 p.m., Sunday with a home game against South Carolina (11-9, 3-4 SEC).
Follow Auburn women's basketball on Twitter at twitter.com/AuburnWBB.