BATON ROUGE, La. - Auburn got strong play from its freshmen in their first SEC road game, but second-half turnover troubles plagued Auburn in a 56-43 loss at LSU Thursday night.
Auburn (5-4, 0-1 SEC) led by eight at halftime and got a combined 20 points and 16 rebounds from freshmen Romi Levy and Aicha Coulibaly, but relentless pressure from LSU (3-4, 1-0) led to 24 turnovers that LSU converted into 22 points.
Coulibaly led Auburn with a career-high 12 points. Levy added eight points and a career-high 11 rebounds, along with 5 steals.
As a team, Auburn shot a season-low 28.3 percent from the field (17-60) and 3-of-18 (16.7%) from 3-point range. Auburn pulled down 39 rebounds to LSU's 43 and forced LSU into 19 turnovers.
The Auburn rookies contributed more than half of the team's first-half points as Auburn took a 27-19 lead at the break. Levy had six points and nine rebounds in the opening half while Coulibaly had 10 points, including her first career 3-pointer. Auburn also forced LSU into 12 first-half turnovers.
But in the second half, Auburn struggled to get the ball across half court with 13 turnovers leading to 17 LSU points. A seven-point lead quickly turned into a two-point deficit late in the third quarter as Auburn went nearly six minutes without a basket, and LSU continued to turn up the pressure in the fourth as Auburn again struggled to score.
Khayla Pointer led LSU with 14 points. Tiara Young and Jailin Cherry added eight apiece.
Auburn will open the home portion of its SEC schedule Sunday afternoon, Jan. 3, when the Georgia Lady Bulldogs visit Auburn Arena. Game time is 2 p.m. CT with a national broadcast on SEC Network.