AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women's basketball team continues a five-game, nine-day road swing Wednesday night when the Tigers travel to Mobile to take on South Alabama. Game time is 7 p.m. CT at the Mitchell Center.
Auburn (3-4) enters Wednesday's game after a three-day tournament in Estero, Fla., where the Tigers went 1-2 at the Gulf Coast Showcase. The Tigers earned an overtime win over Dayton on Saturday, sandwiched between a loss to Middle Tennessee Friday and a one-point heartbreaker Sunday vs. Drake.
Junior Unique Thompson, a native of the Mobile area, returns to her hometown as one of the nation's top performers so far this season. She has seven double-doubles in seven games, tied for the national lead, and is the only player in NCAA Division I with a double-double in every game her team has played this season. Averaging 18.0 points and 12.3 rebounds, Thompson is third in the SEC in scoring and first in rebounding.
South Alabama (3-4) comes into the game on a two-game winning streak after home victories over Mobile and Tennessee State last week. This will be the 42nd all-time meeting between Auburn and South Alabama; the Tigers own a 39-2 advantage in the series.
Brit Bowen will have the radio call on WTGZ 93.9 FM beginning with the pregame show at 6:45 p.m. CT. The game can be seen on ESPN+ for fans with a subscription to the service.
QUICK HITS
• This is the 42nd all-time meeting between Auburn and South Alabama in women's basketball
• Auburn is 39-2 against the Jaguars, including a 16-1 record in games played at Mobile
• Auburn has won 24 straight against South Alabama dating back to 1981
• This is the first meeting since 2010, when the Tigers won 75-70 at Auburn Arena
• Freshman Lauren Hansen hit 7 3-pointers vs. Drake, one shy of the Auburn single-game record and the most by an Auburn player since Brandy Montgomery made 7 3-pointers at Florida on Jan. 1, 2017
• Hansen scored 24 points in the game, a career-high and the most by an Auburn freshman since Unique Thompson scored 29 at Louisiana-Lafayette on Dec. 8, 2017
• Auburn's 13 3-pointers vs. Drake (12/1) tied for the second-most in program history, one shy of the school record (14) set at Drake on Dec. 22 of last season
• Unique Thompson has seven double-doubles in seven games this year, which is tied for the NCAA lead; she has 27 career double-doubles, which ranks tied for 5th in Auburn history
• Thompson is the only player in NCAA Division I with a double-double in every game her team has played this year
• Going back to the final game of 2018-19, Thompson has double-doubles in eight straight games, the second-longest streak in program history (Lauretta Freeman, 18 in 1992-93)
• Thompson's 643 career rebounds rank 2nd among active SEC players and 17th in Auburn history
• Daisa Alexander is fifth in the SEC in scoring (17.0 ppg) and fourth in steals (3.0/game) (as of Dec. 2)
• Alexander's 184 career steals rank second among active SEC players; her 961 points are 7th among active players
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Get Auburn back to .500 overall.
›› Be Auburn's 25th straight win over South Alabama, dating back to 1981.
›› Improve Auburn to 256-64 all-time against in-state opponents.
AUBURN-SOUTH ALABAMA SERIES
›› This is the 42nd meeting between Auburn and South Alabama in women's basketball. Auburn is 39-2 all-time against the Jaguars and has won 24 straight, dating back to 1981.
›› South Alabama is Auburn's most-played non-conference opponent with 41 previous meetings. The next-closest are Troy and UAB, who Auburn has faced 36 times each.
LAST MEETING: Dec. 2, 2010
Auburn 75, South Alabama 70
›› Alli Smalley scored a team-high 15 points, followed by a career-high 13 from freshman Jassany Williams as Auburn pulled out the 75-70 win over in-state rival South Alabama. The win was the 24th win in a row for the Tigers over the Jaguars.
›› Auburn led by 11 at the half, but saw the lead slip away with South Alabama taking the lead with 14:03 left in the game. The Tigers bounced back, building its lead back to 10 before taking the five-point win. The Tigers again used their defense to pull out the win, using nine steals to force 17 South Alabama turnovers, scoring 17 points off the turnovers. The Tigers also blocked six shots.
SCOUTING SOUTH ALABAMA
›› South Alabama is 3-4 on the season but has won its last two games, defeating Mobile and Tennessee State at home.
›› The Jaguars were picked to finish fourth in the Sun Belt by the league's coaches. They average 72.6 points per game and give up 70.4 per game.
›› Antoinette Lewis leads the Jaguars in scoring (16.9 ppg) and rebounding (12.0 rpg), and she is the nation's leader in free throw attempts (68) and is ninth in offensive rebounds per game (5.1).
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› The Tigers are among the most inexperienced teams in the country with just two upperclassmen on their 13-player roster. With four freshmen and seven sophomores, Auburn is one of just eight teams nationwide with three or fewer upperclassmen on its roster.
›› Junior forward Unique Thompson has seven double-doubles through seven games, averaging 18.0 points and 12.3 rebounds; she is the leading rebounder and third-leading scorer in the Southeastern Conference. She has 27 career double-doubles, which ranks 5th in Auburn history and second among active SEC players.
›› Senior guard Daisa Alexander is the Tigers' second-leading scorer through seven games, averaging 17.0 points/game. She scored 22 points in the opener vs. Wofford and 17 vs. Old Dominion while playing point guard, a position she has played sparingly throughout her career. She poured in 20 points at UAB after returning to the shooting guard position and has four games this year with 20+ points. Alexander also ranks fourth in the SEC in steals (3.0/game).
›› Sophomore Brooke Moore, redshirt sophomore Kiyae' White and freshman Annie Hughes all earned their first collegiate starts vs. Wofford in the season opener. Moore scored 15 points in each of the first two games, Hughes hit double-digits in the first two games, and White scored a career-high 12 in the win over St. Joseph's.
›› Freshman Lauren Hansen earned her first career start at UAB on Nov. 21 in her second collegiate game. Hansen followed that up with an 18-point, 4-steal performance in a win over St. Joseph's, then a 24-point, 4-assist day against Drake where she made seven 3-pointers.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn will wrap up the season-long road swing with a trip to Fort Worth, Texas, to face TCU as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge. Game time is 2 p.m. CT Saturday for Auburn's final road non-conference game of the season.