AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn women's basketball will face its toughest test of the non-conference season Sunday when the Tigers make the short trek to Atlanta to face No. 18 Georgia Tech. Game time is 3 p.m. CT at McCamish Pavilion on the Tech campus.
The Tigers (1-2) are coming off their first win of the season, a 74-45 victory over Alabama State Tuesday night that marked the first victory for Johnnie Harris as a head coach. Honesty Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and the Tigers pulled away with a 24-7 run in the fourth quarter.
Georgia Tech (4-0) is unbeaten on the young season and picked up a 65-42 win over East Tennessee State on the road Wednesday night. It will be the first meeting between the Tigers and Yellow Jackets in women's basketball since 1997.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call on WQSI 93.9 FM with the pregame show beginning at 2:45 p.m. CT. The broadcast can be heard online at AuburnTigers.com and via the official Auburn Athletics mobile app.
›› Auburn will appear on the ACC Network for the first time. Pam Ward and Chelsea Gray will call the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson recorded her second straight double-double, Kiyae' White matched a career-high in scoring, and Auburn gave coach Johnnie Harris her first victory as a head coach with a 74-45 win over Alabama State Thursday night.
›› The Tigers (1-2) held a double-digit lead for most of the game and pulled away late, finishing the game on a 13-0 run and outscoring Alabama State (0-3) 24-7 in the final period.
›› Scott-Grayson led all scorers with 21 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds for her second double-double in as many games, also the second of her career. White scored 15 points to match a career-high and contributed seven rebounds along with three steals.
›› Aicha Coulibaly narrowly missed her second-straight double-double with a 9-point, 9-rebound night that also included a team-leading five steals. Annie Hughes added nine points and six rebounds, and Sania Wells scored eight points with a career-high seven assists. Coulibaly, White and Jala Jordan each had two blocks.
›› A season-high 51 rebounds for Auburn were 20 more than Alabama State; it was the first time ASU had been out-rebounded this season. The Tigers also controlled the paint with 32 points.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Improve Auburn's all-time record against Georgia Tech to 4-0.
›› Give Auburn its second win in its last four true road games against non-conference Power 5 opponents.
›› Be Auburn's first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 25 Missouri 58-54 on Feb. 24, 2019.
›› Be Auburn's highest-ranked win since defeating then-No. 16 Florida 80-58 on Feb. 14, 2016.
›› Be Auburn's first win over a ranked opponent on the road since defeating No. 16 Vanderbilt 68-62 on Feb. 13, 2014, in Nashville.
AUBURN-GEORGIA TECH SERIES
›› Despite being separated by just 116 miles, this is only the fourth meeting between Auburn and Georgia Tech in women's basketball and the first since 1997. The Tigers have won all three previous meetings.
LAST MEETING: Dec. 30, 1997, at Atlanta
#20 Auburn 70, Georgia Tech 41
›› Conswella Sparrow led four players in double figures as 20th-ranked Auburn raced past Georgia Tech 70-41 in the Georgia Tech Marriott NW Christmas Tournament at O'Keefe Gymnasium.
›› Sparrow finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds, one of two Tigers with a double-double in the game. Justine Agbatan added 11 points and 13 rebounds. Tiffany Krantz scored 14, going 5-of-6 at the free-throw line, and Tasha Hamilton added 11.
›› Auburn shot 42.4 percent from the floor and held Tech to 28.1% on the day. After leading 33-22 at the half, the Tigers pulled away in the second half, outscoring Tech 37-19.
SCOUTING GEORGIA TECH
›› Georgia Tech is 4-0, ranked 18th by the Associated Press and 20th by the coaches. The Yellow Jackets have earned wins over Central Michigan, Kennesaw State, Belmont and ETSU so far this year.
›› Tech was picked to finish third in the ACC in a vote of the league's coaches. Lorela Cubaj and Lotta-Maj Lahtinen were selected to the preseason All-ACC team.
›› The Jackets are 11th nationally in scoring defense, holding opponents to 43.0 points/game. Cubaj is one of the nation's top rebounders, averaging 11.8/game (15th NCAA) and 9.5 defensive rebounds (5th NCAA).
SO MANY CONNECTIONS
›› It will be a family reunion Sunday inside McCamish Pavilion as Auburn faces former head coach Nell Fortner, now in her third season leading Georgia Tech. Fortner was 145-106 in eight seasons at Auburn (2004-12), leading the Tigers to the 2009 SEC Championship and two NCAA Tournament appearances.
›› Former Tiger Blanche Alverson (2009-13) is on the Yellow Jackets' bench as an assistant coach. Alverson is second in Auburn history in 3-point shooting (213 made) and was a two-time SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
›› Georgia Tech chief of staff Mickie DeMoss was an assistant coach at Auburn from 1983-85, and Tech strength & conditioning coach Shannon Jackson is a 2012 Auburn graduate.
›› Auburn director of basketball operations Alex Stewart played at Georgia Tech from 1999-2004 and was an All-ACC third-team selection as a junior.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 1-2 and snapped a 19-game skid dating back to Dec. 20 of last year with a 74-45 win over Alabama State on Tuesday.
›› The Tigers return 3 starters and 9 letterwinners from its 2020-21 team that finished 5-19 overall, 0-15 in SEC play.
›› Redshirt junior Honesty Scott-Grayson is the Tigers' leading returner in most statistical categories: scoring (14.5 ppg), rebounding (4.1 rpg), assists (1.7 apg), steals (2.1 APG) and shooting (.406 FG/.301 3FG/.761 FT). She is averaging 14.0 points and 9.3 rebounds through three games this year, and she has recorded double-doubles in each of the last two contests.
›› Junior Sania Wells and sophomore Aicha Coulibaly are expected to have a major impact on the Tigers in 2021-22. Wells will return to her natural position of point guard; she averaged 3.3 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.8 assists last season. Coulibaly averaged 5.1 points and 3.1 rebounds as a freshman.
›› Wells leads the Tigers in assists (4.3) and is second in scoring (12.7) through three games. Coulibaly is the team's top rebounder with 10.0 per game.
›› Junior Annie Hughes and redshirt senior Kiyae' White look to be a part of the Tigers' regular rotation as well. Hughes is the only Tiger to appear in every game each of the last two seasons; she averaged 3.0 points and 2.0 rebounds in 20-21. White missed all but one game last season, but as a redshirt sophomore in 2019-20, she averaged 4.0 points and 4.8 rebounds.
›› The Tigers will be without sophomore Romi Levy for the 2021-22 season after she suffered a torn ACL in practice just before the start of the season.
›› Transfers Xaria Wiggins and Paris Mullins look to provide depth off the bench for the Tigers, along with freshmen Amoura Graves and Mar'Shaun Bostic. Redshirt sophomore walk-on Adaora Onwumelu made her collegiate debut at Old Dominion with five rebounds in seven minutes.
UP NEXT
›› The Tigers continue a two-game road swing as Auburn travels to the state capital of Arkansas to face Little Rock. Game time is noon CT at the Jack Stephens Center on the UALR campus.
Tough test awaits Tigers at No. 18 Georgia Tech
