Auburn women host Louisiana Tech Sunday night

Nov. 18, 2017

AUBURN, Ala. -- Fresh off a win in its home opener, the Auburn women's basketball team is back at Auburn Arena Sunday night to host the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters at 6 p.m.

Sunday's game is the annual canned food drive; fans that donate two or more non-perishable food items will receive a free general admission ticket. In addition, the Tigers will be celebrating Thanksgiving at the arena - the first 200 fans will receive a mini-Thanksgiving meal sampler that includes turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

The Tigers (1-1) look to build off a win in their home opener, a 63-53 victory over North Carolina A&T Thursday night. Three Tigers scored in double-figures, led by junior Janiah McKay's 15-point, 8-rebound performance. Freshman Unique Thompson is averaging a double-double through the first two games with 10 points and 11.5 rebounds.

Louisiana Tech (3-0) has early-season wins over Grambling, LSU-Alexandria and Memphis to its credit; the Lady Techsters will be playing their first road game of the season. LA Tech finished fourth in Conference USA last season and advanced to the WNIT.

This is the ninth meeting between the teams. Louisiana Tech leads the series 5-3, but this will be just the second meeting since the early 80s not in the postseason. Auburn and Louisiana Tech met in the Final Four in each of the Tigers' trips there in 1988, 1989 and 1990.

Andy Burcham will have the radio call on WQSI 95.9 FM in Auburn and also online at AuburnTigers.com. The game can also be seen on SEC Network + via ESPN.com or the ESPN app for mobile devices.

Promotions

- Canned Food Drive - Free admission with donation of two or more non-perishable food items..
- Happy Thanksgiving! - Mini-Thanksgiving dinner sampler to first 200 fans.

Auburn Quick Hitters

- This is the ninth all-time meeting between Auburn and Louisiana Tech, but just the second since 1997
- Auburn is 3-5 all-time against the Lady Techsters with five of the previous eight meetings coming in the postseason
- This is just the second meeting between Auburn and Louisiana Tech when neither team is nationally ranked
- Seven of the eight previous meetings featured Hall of Fame head coaches Joe Ciampi and Leon Barmore
- Auburn won last year's meeting 76-66 in Ruston; Katie Frerking had a double-double with 30 points and 11 rebounds
- This is LA Tech's second visit to Auburn; the Lady Techsters won 80-68 on Feb. 6, 1984, at Beard-Eaves Coliseum
- Auburn is 58-15 all-time against current members of Conference USA
- This is the first of eight games Auburn will play against opponents from the state of Louisiana this season
- Auburn is 59-29 all-time against opponents from Louisiana; the Tigers were 2-1 last year (def. LA Tech & LSU, lost to Tulane)
- Auburn's win over North Carolina A&T on Nov. 16 was the 900th win in program history, dating back to 1971-72
- Auburn is the 24th program in NCAA Division I to win 900 women's basketball games
- Under coach Terri Williams-Flournoy, Auburn is 34-3 in non-conference home games
- Sophomore Daisa Alexander scored a career-high 19 points in the season opener at Virginia Tech (11/13); she scored 26 points all of her freshman season
- Freshman Unique Thompson became the sixth Auburn freshman since 2005 to earn a start in her first collegiate game; she played 34 minutes in the opener at Virginia Tech
- Thompson pulled down 16 rebounds at Virginia Tech, the most by an Auburn player since Tra'Cee Tanner had 19 at Florida Gulf Coast in 2015
- Thompson is averaging a double-double through two games with 10.0 points and 11.5 rebounds
- Junior Emari Jones had a career-high 7 rebounds at Virginia Tech (11/13) and earned her first start vs. N.C. A&T (11/16)
- Auburn's 52 rebounds at Virginia Tech were the most since pulling down 57 in an overtime loss at Marquette in 2015
- Auburn has won 39 consecutive home openers; last home-opener loss was 11/20/78 vs. Florida
- The Tigers are 4-2 all-time on Nov. 19; last game was a 69-52 loss to Virginia in 2015
- Auburn is 132-37 all-time in the month of November; Coach Flo is 24-10 in November at Auburn
- Auburn is 59-27 in non-conference games under Terri Williams-Flournoy

Last Time Out

>> Three players scored in double-figures to lead the Auburn women's basketball team to a 63-53 victory over North Carolina A&T on Thursday night, the 900th victory in program history.
>> Junior Janiah McKay scored 15 points and added a career-high eight rebounds to go along with five assists and four steals, leading the Tigers (1-1) to their 39th consecutive victory in a home opener, a streak that dates back to 1978. A 20-4 run that spanned the last part of the second quarter and the first five minutes of the third pushed the Tigers to a lead they would not relinquish.
>> Alexander added 12 points off the bench, and Unique Thompson had 11 points with seven rebounds. Jessica Jones added 10 rebounds off the bench, and Emari Jones, making her first career start, had six points and six rebounds.

Noteworthy

A WIN OVER LOUISIANA TECH WOULD...
>> Improve Auburn to 35-3 in non-conference home games under Terri Williams-Flournoy.
>> Move Auburn to 4-5 all-time against LA Tech.
>> Be Auburn's fourth win in its last five meetings with LA Tech after losing the first four.

AUBURN-LOUISIANA TECH SERIES
>> This is the ninth meeting between Auburn and Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters lead the series 5-3 and won the only prior meeting in Auburn. This is LA Tech's first visit to Auburn since 1984.
>> Five of the previous eight meetings in the series have come in the NCAA Tournament, including three times in the Final Four. Two of Auburn's wins in the series came in national semifinal games. LA Tech defeated Auburn in the national championship game in 1988.

SCOUTING LOUISIANA TECH
>> Louisiana Tech seeks its first 4-0 start since 1996-97 after opening the season with three straight home wins over Grambling, LSU-Alexandria and Memphis. This is Tech's first road game of 2017-18.
>> The Lady Techsters are outscoring opponents by an average of 25.3 points/game and holding opposition to just 46.7 points. Tech has outrebounded opponents by more than 18 boards per game.
>> Kierra Anthony leads LA Tech with 15.3 points per game, and Alexus Malone averages 14.0 points, 9.3 rebounds, and shoots 60.7% from the field. Freshman point guard Amber Dixon has recorded 20 assists against just two turnovers so far.
>> LA Tech was picked to finish third in Conference USA. Last season, Tech was picked 12th but finished fourth and earned a berth in the WNIT.

LAST MEETING (Dec. 14, 2016 in Ruston):
AUBURN 76, LOUISIANA TECH 66
>> Senior Katie Frerking scored 30 points and picked up her fourth double-double of the season to lead Auburn to a 76-66 win at Louisiana Tech. The Tigers overcame a sloppy start to put up their season-high scoring figure and overcame late foul trouble to hold off a fourth-quarter run by the Lady Techsters.
>> Frerking's 30-point, 11-rebound effort marked her sixth career double-double and fourth of the season. It was Auburn's first 30-point game since Brandy Montgomery scored 30 against Alabama in the 2015 regular-season finale. Frerking was 9-of-14 from the floor, 5-of-9 from 3-point range and was a perfect 7-for-7 at the free-throw line while playing a season-high 37 minutes.
>> Auburn shot 42 percent for the game (24-57) and made a season-high nine 3-pointers, five of them from Frerking. The Tigers were also 19-of-24 at the free-throw line and outrebounded Louisiana Tech 38-27.

SCOUTING AUBURN
>> Auburn returns three starters and eight letterwinners from its 2016-17 team that finished 17-15 overall and advanced to the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
>> Auburn averaged 62.4 points per game last season but lost almost half of that in three graduating seniors: Katie Frerking (15.7 ppg), Brandy Montgomery (13.3 ppg) and Khady Dieng (1.1 ppg).
>> Junior point guard Janiah McKay has scored 15 points in each of Auburn's first two games. She is the Tigers' leading returning scorer after averaging 12.9 ppg last season. She also is the leading returner in assists (3.4/game) and minutes played (28.3/game). She led the Tigers in scoring eight times last season and had her first career double-double with 13 points and 13 assists vs. Ole Miss.
>> Senior forwards Jazmine and Jessica Jones are the TIgers' other two returning starters. Jessica Jones is the team's leading returner in rebounds (5.2/game) and steals (1.4/game) and averaged 3.8 points last season. Jazmine Jones averaged 4.5 points and 4.3 rebounds last season and was a key component of Auburn's trademark pressure defense. Jessica pulled down 10 rebounds in a win over N.C. A&T.
>> Senior Tiffany Lewis enters the starting lineup this season. She is Auburn's leading returner in made 3-point field goals with 23 last season. Freshman Unique Thompson is the Tigers' fifth starter; she averaged 18 points and 13 rebounds as a high school senior last season.
>> Junior Emari Jones earned her first career start vs. North Carolina A&T on Nov. 16. She has averaged 5.5 points and 6.5 rebounds through two games this year.

900 AND COUNTING
>> Auburn's win over North Carolina A&T on Nov. 16 was the 900th victory in Auburn women's basketball history, dating back to the first available records in 1972.
>> Auburn became the 24th team in NCAA Division I to reach the all-time 900-win plateau. Auburn is the third SEC team with 900 wins, joining Tennessee and Georgia.

Looking Ahead

>> Auburn travels to Nashville, Tenn., for the Challenge in Music City next Friday-Sunday. The Tigers will face Georgetown, Northwestern and UT-Chattanooga in the three-day event.