AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn senior Daisa Alexander scored her 1,000th career point as the Tigers closed out non-conference play with a 62-53 win over Jacksonville State Saturday afternoon at Auburn Arena.
The Tigers (6-5) forced a season-high 27 turnovers, turning those into 27 points, and controlled the paint throughout. Auburn never trailed and led by as many as 18 in the fourth quarter before a late 3-point barrage from the Gamecocks (4-7) cut the final margin to single digits.
"I think we did some good things," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "One was definitely our defensive intensity. We weren't always able to get steals, but our rotation was better. And in the second half we did a better job getting our defense set, especially on missed (shots)."
"In the third quarter I thought we got out in transition a little better and made some easy shots. And (getting 27 turnovers) helped us in transition. Getting defensive turnovers helps you get easy buckets on the offensive end."
Alexander's fadeaway jumper with 39 seconds to play in the third quarter gave her 1,000 career points, making her the 34th Auburn player to reach the milestone. She finished with 10 points, six rebounds and three steals on the day.
"I didn't even know how close I was," Alexander said of being just eight points away from 1,000 entering today's game. "I was just trying to keep playing hard and get some steals on defense, and hopefully my offensive game would come with it."
Junior Unique Thompson kept her nation-leading double-double streak alive with a 20-point, 10-rebound effort, grabbing her final rebound with less than two minutes to play. She is now 11-for-11 this season and has 12 straight double-doubles, dating back to the final game of last season. Brooke Moore added 11 points and Kiyae' White pulled down eight rebounds to aid the Tiger effort.
Auburn shot 40 percent for the game (22-55) and held JSU to 34 percent (16-47) from the floor, but 13 of JSU's 16 made field goals came from 3-point range, including all seven of their made shots in the fourth quarter. The Tigers outrebounded the Gamecocks 36-30 and outscored JSU in the paint 22-2.
Auburn jumped out to an early double-digit lead, forcing seven first-quarter turnovers to lead 14-4 late in the period and 16-7 at the end of one. The Gamecocks hit back-to-back 3s to open the second quarter, but Auburn held JSU without a field goal for the next seven minutes, taking a 27-18 lead to the break.
The Gamecocks got as close as six points at 30-24 early in the third, but Auburn finished the quarter on a 15-5 run to take a 45-29 lead at the end of three. Two straight Thompson buckets midway through the final period gave Auburn its largest lead at 56-38 with 4:03 to play, but Jacksonville State hit four 3-pointers in the final 3:11 to cut the final margin to single digits.
Destiney Elliott led JSU with 21 points and Taylor Hawks added 12.
SEC play gets underway next Thursday when the Tigers travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt. Game time is 7:30 p.m. CT with the broadcast on SEC Network; the network will have whiparound coverage from all seven league games on opening night.