BATON ROUGE, La. – A low-scoring defensive struggle went Auburn's way on the final day of the regular season as the Tigers earned a 56-46 win at LSU Sunday afternoon.
Auburn (21-8, 9-7 SEC) earned the No. 6 seed in next week's SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C., and the Tigers will face the winner of Alabama and Vanderbilt at approximately 7:30 p.m. CT Thursday, March 7. At 9-7 in SEC play, the Tigers also clinched a winning record in SEC play for the first time since 2009.
"I knew if we played our cards right, we could get that six-seed," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "You get that, you're playing the late game, and you're playing a team that just played the night before.
The Tigers used a 20-7 second quarter to build a double-digit lead, extending that lead to as many as 16 points in the fourth.
"The second quarter, we kind of set the tone," Williams-Flournoy said. "They were playing a lot harder than we were (in the first quarter) and we picked it up in the second quarter."
Daisa Alexander led all scorers with 16 points on the day and Crystal Primm added 11 to lead the Auburn offense. Abigayle Jackson added a season-high nine points, all in the first half, and Unique Thompson was one point shy of a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds. Erica Sanders added a season-high four steals.
Auburn shot 35.7 percent from the field to LSU's 36.4 percent, but the Tigers took advantage of 24 LSU turnovers, converting those into 25 points. Auburn finished with 14 steals on the day.
After a slow first quarter for both teams ended with LSU leading 14-11, Auburn outscored LSU 20-7 in the second quarter as Jackson topped her season-high in the first half alone, leading Auburn to a 31-21 halftime lead. Auburn scored 17 points off 13 LSU turnovers in the opening half.
A low-scoring third quarter from both teams gave Auburn a 42-30 lead after 30 minutes, and Auburn moved ahead by as many as 16 in the fourth. LSU cut the advantage to as few as seven points late in the period, but a jumper from Primm pushed the lead back to nine and all but sealed the victory.
Ayana Mitchell led LSU with 15 points and 21 rebounds. Faustine Aifuwa added 13 points.
Auburn's win was its sixth road victory in SEC play this year, breaking the previous school record of five from 1989 and 2009. The Tigers' 21 regular-season wins are also a new high mark under Williams-Flournoy.