Nov. 23, 2011
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AUBURN - The Auburn women's basketball team overcame a seven-point halftime deficit to rally and defeat George Washington, 55-47, Wednesday night at the Auburn Arena. The Tigers (3-1) opened the second half on a 10-2 run, holding the Colonials (1-3) to two points for the first 9:37 of the half.
Junior Blanche Alverson led the Tigers in scoring with 14 points, followed by Tyrese Tanner with 11 and freshman Hasina Muhammad with 10. Senior Parrisha Simmons provided a spark off the bench, accounting for seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.
"Obviously it was a tale of two halves," said Auburn head coach Nell Fortner. "I'm not sure we could have played much worse in the first half, and I thought we did some really nice things in the second half. We had some players really step up. They were challenged, and they met the challenge."
The Tigers shot just 25 percent from the floor in the first half and hit only 4-of-11 from the free throw line. Meanwhile, George Washington beat Auburn on the boards, snatching 23 rebounds, including four on offense that led to seven second-chance points to the Tigers' first half zero.
GW's Sara Mostafa was the first-half hero, accounting for nine of the team's 26 points. Tara Booker was right behind her with seven points as the Colonials led 26-19.
Auburn came out of the locker room after halftime eager to turn things around. The Tigers went on a 10-2 run, fueled by four points each from Tanner and Simmons, taking a 33-28 lead. George Washington was never able to regain the lead in the second half as the Tigers would go on to lead by as many as 10 points with 14 seconds left before a Danni Jackson layup on the final possession cut it to eight.
Auburn shot a much-improved 44 percent in the second half and went 11-of-14 from the line. The Tigers forced 16 GW turnovers in the game, turning them into 13 points. Auburn also edged out the rebounding battle, 39-38.
Senior Morgan Jennings led Auburn with five assists while Muhammad added four. Six different Tigers tallied a steal in the game with Alverson leading with two.
Mostafa led the Colonials with 13 points, while junior Danni Jackson added 12. Brooke Wilson led the team with eight rebounds while Tara Booker added seven points and seven boards.
Auburn will return to action Sunday with the second game in its three-game homestand. The Tigers will face South Carolina-Upstate (0-5) at 2 p.m., Sunday at Auburn Arena.