AUBURN, Ala. – After nearly three weeks without a home game, the Auburn women's basketball team will finally take the court at Auburn Arena Sunday afternoon, hosting No. 13 LSU. Game time is 4 p.m. CT.
Tickets are available at the Auburn Arena box office or by visiting AUBTix.com. The first 500 fans in attendance can pick up a free t-shirt replicating Auburn legend Carolyn Jones' No. 21 jersey. Arena doors open at 3 p.m. CT.
In addition, fans that attend Saturday's men's basketball game vs. Florida can show their ticket from that game and receive free admission to Sunday's contest.
Fans are reminded that Auburn University has reinstated its indoor mask policy. All persons, regardless of vaccination status, are required to wear masks while inside all campus buildings.
Auburn (8-5, 0-2 SEC) has dropped two straight tight contests to open league play, both on the road. A 56-53 loss at Alabama last Sunday was followed up by a 72-63 overtime setback at Missouri Thursday. But the Tigers own a six-game win streak at Auburn Arena, dating back to a victory over Alabama State on Nov. 16.
LSU (14-2, 2-1), meanwhile, has faced three straight ranked opponents to open league play, earning wins over Georgia and Texas A&M while dropping a close game at home to No. 1 South Carolina on Thursday.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call beginning at 3:45 p.m. on WQSI 93.9 FM. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics mobile app.
›› Sunday's game will air live on SEC Network with Eric Frede and Christy Thomaskutty calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn fought back in the closing minutes of regulation to force overtime, but Missouri pulled away in the extra period as Auburn fell 72-63 Thursday night at Mizzou Arena.
›› Auburn (8-5, 0-2 SEC) led by as many as seven in the second half and five in the fourth quarter, but several runs by Missouri (13-2, 2-0) coupled with Auburn cold stretches kept the Tigers from pulling away.
›› Sania Wells scored a career-high 20 points, including the bucket in the final 30 seconds to force overtime, and pulled down four rebounds. Aicha Coulibaly and Honesty Scott-Grayson added 15 points apiece. Kiyae' White led the Tigers with nine rebounds.
›› The Tigers' defense was huge early and kept them in the game as they turned 20 Mizzou turnovers into 24 points. But Missouri still shot 51 percent from the field (26-51) and was 16-of-19 at the free-throw line. Meanwhile, Auburn was 27-of-71 (38%) from the floor. Mizzou out-rebounded Auburn 38-34 and out-scored Auburn in the paint 38-30.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be head coach Johnnie Harris' first SEC victory.
›› Extend Auburn's home winning streak to seven games.
›› Be Auburn's first SEC win since Feb. 25, 2020, at Missouri.
›› Be Auburn's second top-25 win of the season (def. #18 Georgia Tech 59-51, Nov. 21)
›› Be Auburn's highest-ranked win since defeating No. 7 Kentucky 66-61 on Jan. 3, 2016.
AUBURN-LSU SERIES
›› Auburn is 34-23 all-time against LSU and has won five of the last seven meetings. Auburn has won the last three meetings at Auburn Arena.
LAST MEETING: Dec. 31, 2020, at Baton Rouge
LSU 56, Auburn 43
›› 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 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 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.
SCOUTING LSU
›› LSU is 14-2 overall, 2-1 in SEC play. The Tigers knocked off a pair of ranked opponents (Georgia, Texas A&M) in their first two league games before falling at home in a close one to No. 1 South Carolina on Thursday.
›› LSU is the SEC's third-leading scoring team at 75.7 points/game; they give up 56.0 points per contest.
›› Point guard Khayla Pointer is the SEC's fourth-leading scorer at 17.7 points per game, and she is second in assists at 5.3 per game.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 8-5, 0-2 in SEC play. The Tigers have had two straight nailbiters go the opponents' way with a 3-point loss at Alabama and an overtime setback at Missouri to open league play.
›› With wins at No. 18 Georgia Tech on Nov. 21 and at home over Oklahoma State on Dec. 5, the Tigers have two wins over non-conference Power 5 opponents for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
›› Sophomore Aicha Coulibaly leads Auburn and is third in the SEC in scoring with 17.9 points/game. She is also the Tigers' top rebounder with 8.2 rebounds per game. She has topped the 20-point mark in five of the last eight contests, scoring a career-high 27 against Charleston Southern, 23 against North Florida, 25 vs. Oklahoma State, 24 at Belmont and 23 vs. Kennesaw State. She also has three double-doubles this season, including 17 points and 12 rebounds at Alabama. For her efforts against UNF and OSU, she was named SEC Player of the Week on Dec. 7.
›› Redshirt junior Honesty Scott-Grayson is averaging 13.2 points and 6.2 rebounds, and she has recorded two double-doubles. She was the Tigers' leading returner from 2020-21 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).
›› Junior Sania Wells has returned to her natural position of point guard and is averaging 11.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists. Wells is the SEC's top free-throw shooter at .933 (42-45), which also ranks 8th nationally. She scored a career-high 20 points at Missouri on Jan. 6.
›› Junior Annie Hughes and redshirt senior Kiyae' White have been key components of the starting lineup as well. Hughes is the only Tiger to appear in every game since the start of the 2019-20 season and leads the SEC in minutes played (34.6). 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. Hughes scored a career-high 21 points and hit 5 3-pointers against Charleston Southern on Nov. 26. White had a season-high 9 rebounds at Mizzou.
›› Junior Jala Jordan has been exceptional on the defensive end, leading the Tigers with 12 blocks and pulling down 4.6 rebounds in 15.9 minutes/game off the bench. She recorded her first career double-double with a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds against Grambling on Dec. 18, and she made her first start of the season at Alabama on Jan. 2.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn hits the road once again for two more SEC contests, beginning with a trip to Gainesville, Fla., to face the Florida Gators on Thursday. Game time is 4 p.m. CT at the O'Connell Center; the game will be televised by SEC Network.
Auburn women back home Sunday vs. No. 13 LSU
