Dec. 14, 2014
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AUBURN, Ala. -- Auburn played tough defense and used a balanced scoring attack to earn their third-straight win with a 64-41 victory over Samford in women's basketball action Sunday afternoon at Auburn Arena.
The Tigers (6-2) have now won 10 straight home games at Auburn Arena, one shy of the arena record. Auburn is now 21-1 in non-conference home games under coach Terri Williams-Flournoy.
"I thought our young ladies did a great job of forcing Samford into 27 turnovers," Williams-Flournoy said. "That was one thing that we talked about was being able to force them into turnovers. Going in, we already knew defending their offense was going to be a problem. They run a very efficient offense, they are very effective with it. They run it extremely well. We really wanted to pressure them and then covert off of those turnovers, and I thought we did that well."
It marked the fourth time this season for Auburn to force 25 or more turnovers; the Tigers are 4-0 in those games. Auburn also forced 18 steals, the fourth time this season with 15 or more takeaways.
Senior Hasina Muhammad filled the stat sheet with a season-high seven steals to go along with seven points, four rebounds and four blocks. In one sequence in the second half, she blocked an opponent's shot on three consecutive attempts.
Freshman Jazmine Jones led the Tigers with a career-high 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting. Sophomore Katie Frerking had 11 points and a team-high seven rebounds, and junior Tra'Cee Tanner scored 10 points to finish in double-digits for the seventh time in eight games.
"We knew coming into this season that we were going to have to get help from everybody," Williams-Flournoy said. "It was not going to be just one person replacing Tyrese Tanner. It was going to be a group effort and we really did that tonight. I think we have done a good job with our assists. We are pretty high with our assists record, and our young ladies are doing a very good job sharing the ball."
Auburn never trailed in the game, but allowed Samford to keep things close through the first 12 minutes. But with the game tied 19-19 with 8:32 to play, the Tigers finished the first half on a 13-1 run to take a 32-20 lead into the break.
Samford came out strong in the second half, cutting the deficit to five points at 34-29, but Auburn would go on a 21-5 run over the next six minutes to extend their lead to 11 points. The Tiger lead would not drop below double-digits again as Auburn's depth and pressure defense wore down the shorthanded Bulldogs, who only had eight players play in the game.
The Tigers scored 27 points off Samford's 27 turnovers, and the Auburn bench outscored Samford's reserves 29-2. Auburn got 40 of its 64 points in the paint.
Hannah Nichols led Samford with 13 points, and Destiney Elliott and Krista Strickin had nine apiece.
Auburn will play its final home non-conference game of the season Wednesday as the Tigers host Savannah State at 5:30 p.m. The game is part of a doubleheader with the Auburn men's team, which hosts Winthrop at 8 p.m. Men's basketball parking regulations will be in effect for Wednesday's game; check AuburnTigers.com for more information.