NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Auburn completed one of the biggest comebacks in school history Thursday night, rallying from a 20-point third-quarter deficit to earn a 72-70 win over Vanderbilt at Memorial Gym.
Freshman Robyn Benton hit a jumper in the paint and drew a foul with 8.6 seconds to play to give Auburn the lead for just the second time in the game at 71-70. She sank the free throw to push the lead to two points, and Vandy's baseline jumper at the buzzer fell short.
Auburn (15-3, 3-2 SEC) fought back from a huge deficit for the second straight trip to Memorial Gym. In 2017, the Tigers trailed by 17 midway through the third quarter before rallying for a 64-59 win.
"Unbelievable," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "It goes back to what I've been trying to preach to them – it's our defense that wins games. It's our defense that makes our offense. When the shots aren't falling, the game can't just end. You've got to figure out how to defend and rebound."
"Give Vandy credit, the offense they were running, we got caught in our 1-2-2. So we went back to man-to-man, and we did an unbelievable job of sitting down and defending in our man-to-man."
The 20-point comeback is the largest for Auburn under Coach Flo and tied for the largest deficit ever overcome in an SEC game; Florida trailed Alabama by 20 in a game in 1992 before rallying for a two-point win.
Janiah McKay led the Tigers with 19 points and six assists. Unique Thompson picked up her eighth double-double of the season with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and Daisa Alexander overcame a slow start to post a 14-point night; 12 of those came in the second half.
Benton and Primm both had eight points, and Erica Sanders added five, including the first 3-pointer of her career to beat the third-quarter buzzer.
The Tigers overcame Vanderbilt shooting 61.0 percent from the floor, including a 69.2-percent clip on 3-pointers. The Commodores had made six total 3-pointers in SEC play before knocking down nine tonight; eight of those came from Cierra Walker, who scored a game-high 25 points.
Auburn posted a 44.8-percent shooting night of its own after barely reaching double-digits in the first quarter. The Tigers shot 64.7 percent in the final period and outscored the Commodores 43-21 over the final 18-plus minutes.
Vanderbilt led 42-29 at halftime as the Tigers had no answer for Walker's outside shooting; she made six treys in the first half. Her seventh pushed the Vandy advantage to 18 points early in the third quarter, and the Commodores went up 49-29 with 7:53 to play.
From there, though, Vandy scored just two more buckets the rest of the period as the Tigers forced turnovers on seven of the next eight Commodore possessions and closed the third quarter on an 18-4 run, punctuated by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Erica Sanders to cut the deficit to 53-47.
A three-point play by Primm with 3:21 to play tied the game for the first time all night. The teams traded buckets on the next three possessions before a missed Vandy free throw gave Auburn its first opportunity to take the lead. McKay hit an 18-foot jumper with just over a minute to play to give the Tigers a 69-68 lead, its first of the night. After a Vanderbilt timeout, the Commodores went back up 70-69 on an Autumn Newby layup with 22 seconds left. But Benton drove into the paint, drew contact, and saw her shot fall after hitting the rim three times to give the Tigers their final lead.
"Robyn made a great drive to the basket," Williams-Flournoy said. "She knew she got fouled, so she just kind of threw it up. And it went in."
Auburn forced 21 Vandy turnovers, converting those into 24 points. Of those, 15 turnovers and 19 points came in the second half.
The Tigers will have a rare Sunday off in SEC play before returning to action next Thursday, Jan. 24, as Texas A&M visits Auburn Arena. Game time is set for 7:30 p.m. CT with the broadcast on SEC Network for the annual We Back Pat game.
Auburn rallies from huge deficit for 72-70 win at Vanderbilt
