AMES, Iowa – A furious comeback by the Auburn women's basketball team fell just short Tuesday night as the Tigers dropped a 67-64 battle at Iowa State in the Preseason WNIT semifinal.
Trailing by 10 with less than two minutes to play, senior Janiah McKay made three straight 3-pointers in less than a minute - the last coming with 41 seconds left - to tie the game at 64-all. But the Tigers were unable to get a shot away in their final two possessions, and a Cyclone layup with 9 seconds to play was the difference.
Sophomore Unique Thompson had her second straight double-double and third of the season with 19 points and 14 rebounds. Emari Jones matched a season-high with 15 points, and McKay's late flurry gave her a 14-point night.
"There were some time-and-score situations down at the end that will take away from how well we started the game," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "We should have kept going inside to (Thompson). Give Iowa State credit, they started packing it in a little more and taking away the inside game, but I still think we could have gotten the ball inside to her."
Auburn was playing its third game in five days in three different states and will have traveled over 3,700 miles since Saturday by the time the team returns home Wednesday.
"It was tough," Williams-Flournoy said. "They got tired. It's been a long (few days). The travel has been tough. It's hard traveling, traveling, traveling. That's no excuse, but we got tired. And our bench isn't as strong right now. We'll be better when we get our other players back that have been out."
Thompson dominated both ends of the floor in the first half, racking up 16 points and 10 rebounds by halftime. Meanwhile, Iowa State started cold, shooting 18 percent in the first quarter and 28 percent in the first half as the Tigers were able to build an early lead. Auburn led by as many as 15 late in the second quarter before the Cyclones cut the lead to nine at the break, 38-29.
A 3-pointer from Jones to start the second half pushed the Tigers' lead to 12. But from there, the Cyclones caught fire. A 10-0 ISU run cut the lead to two with 6:34 left in the quarter, and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer tied the game at 45-45.
The Cyclones took their first lead nine seconds into the fourth quarter and never trailed again, going on an 8-0 run to push the advantage to 10 points at 64-54 with 2:21 to play. But after a Jones free throw cut the deficit to nine, McKay, who had been quiet most of the night, hit three 3-pointers in a span of 47 seconds to tie the game.
Auburn shot 41.1% for the game, but just 31% in the second half. Meanwhile, Iowa State shot 47% in the second half, including 40% on 3-pointers. The Cyclones won the rebounding battle 42-36, including 16 offensive rebounds which turned into 14 second-chance points. Auburn turned the ball over 16 times to Iowa State's 15; both teams scored 19 points off the other's turnovers.
Iowa State's Ashley Joens hit five second-half 3-pointers and finished with 18 points. Bridget Carleton had 15 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.
Auburn will have an 11-day break before returning to action Sunday, Nov. 25 at home against Louisiana-Lafayette. Game time is 2 p.m. CT at Auburn Arena.
