Auburn women bounce back with 94-81 win over North Florida

AUBURN, Ala. – Five Tigers scored in double-figures as Auburn topped the 90-point mark for the second time this season with a 94-81 win over North Florida Thursday night at Auburn Arena.

The Tigers (5-2) were able to bounce back from tough offensive night Wednesday in their loss to SFA with their second-highest scoring total of the season, getting big nights from senior Unique Thompson and sophomore Annie Hughes to lead the way.

"Annie Hughes hit some big shots in the first half to get us going," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "That gave us the momentum, and then our press started working and we got some easy baskets. We did some really good things. We shot free throws well, we out-rebounded them, and more importantly, we had 16 assists, which means we were sharing the basketball.

"Yesterday was tough. We were out of sync, getting people back from quarantine, and they just had to get their rhythm back. They did really well today. I thought Alaina (Rice) stepped in at the point guard position and did well."

Thompson led Auburn with 19 points and 18 rebounds, her sixth straight double-double and the 48th of her career. Her 18 rebounds were the most in a home game in her Auburn career; she also contributed three assists and two steals.

Hughes hit for a career-high 17 points and matched a career-high with seven rebounds, knocking down three 3-pointers for the second time in three games. She also shared the team lead with three steals.

"Coach Flo pulled me aside and said if I passed up another open shot, I was going to be in trouble," Hughes said. "So I shot it. A few of them fell, and that's what sparked us there in the first half."

Redshirt sophomore Honesty Scott-Grayson scored 16 points for the second straight night, matching her career high from Wednesday's game. She also had three steals. Freshman Romi Levy also had a career-high 12 points along with five rebounds, and Jala Jordan came up just short of her first career double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds. Alaina Rice added nine points off the bench, her best at Auburn, and Kira Lowery led the Tigers with five assists and a career-best three steals.

Auburn shot 42.5 percent for the game, hitting 34 of a season-high 80 shots. The Tigers also hit a season-best 11 3-pointers, three from Hughes and two each from Jordan, Levy, Rice and Sania Wells. It was also a much-improved night at the free-throw line as the Tigers hit 15-of-18 attempts (83.3%). Auburn out-rebounded UNF 48-34 and forced the Ospreys into 22 turnovers, leading to 26 points.

The Ospreys (2-4), one of the nation's top 3-point shooting teams, scored the first seven points of the game and led by as many as eight in the opening minutes. But Auburn answered in a hurry, taking the lead with a 9-0 run then finishing the period on a 14-3 run to take a 27-16 lead after one. Hughes scored 11 straight points for Auburn over a 90-second stretch at the end of the first and start of the second quarter to extend the Tigers' lead to as much as 17. Auburn cooled off in the second quarter as UNF heated up, but Auburn's pressure limited the Ospreys' possessions and the Tigers led 44-32 at the half.

Auburn maintained its double-digit lead throughout the third as the Ospreys kept launching 3-pointers, but the Tigers increased their lead by one more point to 66-53 headed to the fourth. Taking advantage of tired legs on the part of Auburn, UNF cut the lead to as few as seven points, shooting 58 percent in the fourth. But Auburn got big buckets from Thompson, Levy and Rice down the stretch to hold off the Ospreys' comeback bid.

UNF's Jazz Bond, the preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, led all scorers with 23 points. Rhetta Moore added 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Auburn finishes out the non-conference season and a stretch of four games in eight days Sunday afternoon when the Belmont Bruins visit Auburn Arena for a 2 p.m. CT tip. The game was rescheduled from its original date of Dec. 8.