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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Five players scored in double-figures for the Auburn women's basketball team Sunday afternoon, but hot 3-point shooting by Florida late in the second half sealed the game for the Gators as they defeated the Tigers 87-69. Auburn lost its third straight to fall to 11-9 overall and 2-5 in Southeastern Conference.
"It was an ugly day of basketball," Auburn head coachTerri Williams-Flournoysaid. "They are a penetrating team and can put the ball on the floor from all areas. Jaterra Bonds along with everyone else was just killing us on getting to the basket."
Tyrese Tanner, Tra'Cee Tanner,Hasina Muhammad, Megan Tucker andBrandy Montgomeryall scored at least 10 points for Auburn, with Montgomery leading the team with 16. It was Montgomery's second straight game to lead the team in scoring. She scored a career-high 22 against LSU last Thursday.
Tyrese Tannerfouled out at the 3:42 mark, while five other Tiger players recorded at least three fouls in the game. Florid hit 21-of-26 shots from the foul line, good for 81 percent.
Much of the game was played under the rim as Florida and Auburn both equaled 32 points in the paint. Nearly half of that amount for the Tigers came in the form of Tra'Cee Tanner, who not only scored 15 points, but also pulled down eight rebounds. For Tanner, it was her second 15 point output in the last three games, the last coming in Auburn's 73-71 loss to No. 10/12 Kentucky on Jan. 19.
"That number for Florida came from the penetration," Williams-Flournoy said. "We just didn't defend tonight and we can't afford to let anybody get by us like that. We have to defend everybody.
The game was played to a quick pace early in the first half as the Gator deficit got no bigger than five midway through. Seven ties and three lead changes were tallied in the first ten minutes of play and Auburn found themselves down on seven at the break. Much of Auburn's strength was coming on the boards as they held a 26-18 rebounding advantage at the half.
Auburn and Florida traded buckets in the early part of the second half as the Tigers were seeming to stay in it after a three-pointer by Montgomery cut the lead to six with 15 minutes to play. Montgomery, coming off her career-high performance of 22 points at LSU on Thursday, had a nice follow up game to lead the team with 16 points with four three-pointers.
However, the Gators would go on to score 14 of the next 15 points to jump out to a 19 point lead at the second media timeout of the second half. Florida's lead was built up to as much as 25 and Auburn never got closer than 15 for the remainder of the game.
Auburn now returns home to face No. 15/17 Texas A&M on Thursday inside Auburn Arena. Tip is slated for 6 p.m.
For more information on Auburn women's basketball, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow the team on Twitter@AuburnWBBor follow them on Facebook atFacebook.com/AUWBB.