AUBURN, Ala. – It was a Senior Night to remember for Auburn's Unique Thompson, who scored 22 points and had 18 rebounds, but the Tigers let a fourth-quarter lead slip away in a 74-69 loss to No. 16 Arkansas Thursday night at Auburn Arena.
The Tigers trailed by as many as 10 in the second quarter, flipped that to a 10-point lead in the third quarter, and were still ahead with less than five minutes to play. But the Razorbacks found their shooting stroke in the final minutes, and Auburn was unable to keep pace down the stretch.
"I'm very proud of them," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "We continued to fight, we continued to push. We were short in numbers, but they just stayed out there and kept fighting. I thought we did a good job (defensively) switching, communicating, talking. But we continued to fight and get after it. The one big thing, though – we were talking and communicating and trying to get stops.
"We need more people to score. You know Honesty is going to bring it every night, you know Unique's going to bring it every night. Anytime we can get help from any and everybody else, it helps a lot."
Thompson's 22-point, 18-rebound effort was her 15th double-double of the season. It was also the 57th of her career, which moves her into a tie for eighth place all-time in Southeastern Conference history, alongside SEC greats Chamique Holdsclaw (Tennessee), Armintie Price (Ole Miss) and Alaina Coates (South Carolina).
She had help on the offensive end as three other Tigers hit for double figures. Honesty Scott-Grayson had 18 points and six rebounds, along with a career-high three blocks. Sania Wells dropped a career-high 12 points, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers, and Aicha Coulibaly scored 10 points and pulled down four rebounds. Alaina Rice also had a seven-point, six-rebound night and led the Tigers with a pair of steals.
The Tigers dominated on the boards, out-rebounding Arkansas 47-29. For much of the game, Auburn was also out-shooting the SEC's top-scoring team, but a big fourth quarter for the Razorbacks gave them the edge, 41.4% to 40.0%. Arkansas also knocked down 10 3-pointers, five of them in the fourth quarter.
With just eight scholarship players dressed, Auburn trailed 14-10 at the end of one quarter and found itself in a 10-point hole at 22-12 with 7:55 to play in the half. But a 16-2 run over the next six minutes – punctuated by a triple from Wells – gave Auburn a 28-24 lead. The Tigers would lead 30-29 at halftime.
The first five minutes of the second half saw the Tigers go on a 14-5 run, ending with Wells drawing a charge then knocking down a 3-pointer at the other end to give Auburn a 44-34 lead. It would be 52-47 after three as Arkansas free throws in the closing minutes cut into the Auburn lead. But the longball that had eluded Arkansas through the first 30 minutes finally started falling in the fourth quarter, and the Tigers went cold at the same time as the Razorbacks took their first lead since the second quarter, 66-65, on an Amber Ramirez 3 with 4:16 to play. Auburn was unable to make another field goal the rest of the way, and the Razorbacks held on for the win.
Destiny Slocum and Chelsea Dungee had 16 points apiece to lead Arkansas.
Auburn closes out the regular season Sunday afternoon at Tennessee. Game time is 1 p.m. CT at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville with a national broadcast on SEC Network.