AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women's basketball team will wrap up a season-opening four-game home stand Sunday afternoon as Alabama State makes the short trip up I-85. Tip is set for 2 p.m. CT at Neville Arena.
The Tigers (2-1) look to bounce back after falling at home to Georgia Tech 57-51 Wednesday night. Alabama State (0-3) dropped an 81-46 contest on the road at Mississippi State Friday night. The teams met last year in Auburn with the Tigers earning a 74-45 victory for coach Johnnie Harris' first win as a head coach.
Tickets are available at the arena ticket office, online at AUBTix.com and by calling 855-282-2010.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call beginning at 1:45 p.m. CT on WTGZ 93.9 FM in Auburn. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the official Auburn Athletics app.
›› The game can be seen on SEC Network + with Auburn's radio call. SEC Network + is available via WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn turned a 15-point first-half deficit into a fourth-quarter lead, but the Tigers could not finish off the comeback in a 57-51 loss to Georgia Tech at Neville Arena Thursday night.
›› The Tigers (2-1) struggled to score early, allowing the Yellow Jackets (3-0) to build an early cushion. Auburn chipped away late in the second and through the third, briefly moving ahead midway through the fourth quarter, but Tech used a 10-2 run from there to hold off the comeback.
›› Aicha Coulibaly and Honesty Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 11 points each. Freshman Mya Pratcher came off the bench to grab a team-leading 10 rebounds while finishing with six points. Freshman Kaitlyn Duhon contributed six points as well. Coulibaly led Auburn with four assists and four steals.
›› It was a rough shooting night for the Tigers, who missed 17 of their first 18 shots to post a season-low 26.3% (20-76), including just 2-of-19 from 3-point range. But the Tigers crashed the boards, winning the rebounding battle for the first time this season, 51-39. Auburn turned 29 offensive rebounds into 22 second-chance points, and they forced Tech into 22 turnovers that turned into 14 points for the Tigers.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Improve the Tigers to 21-0 all-time against Alabama State.
›› Give Auburn a 3-1 start for the fourth time in the last five seasons.
AUBURN-ALABAMA STATE SERIES
›› This is the 21st meeting between Auburn and Alabama State. The Tigers have won the previous 20 meetings between the teams.
LAST MEETING: Nov. 16, 2021, at Auburn
Auburn 74, Alabama State 45
›› 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.
›› The Tigers 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 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.
SCOUTING ALABAMA STATE
›› Alabama State is 0-3 after three road losses to open the season; two of their three setbacks came against SEC opponents in Georgia and Mississippi State.
›› The Hornets were picked to finish second in the SWAC behind Jackson State. ASU went 15-15 last year, 12-6 in SWAC play and finished third in the conference.
›› Ayana Emmanuel, Shmya Ward and Jayla Crawford were selected to the preseason All-SWAC team. Emmanuel leads ASU with 11.3 ppg; Crawford averages 10.7 ppg.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 2-1 after a pair of home wins over Sam Houston and South Alabama and a hard-fought loss to Georgia Tech.
›› Auburn returns 3 starters and 8 letterwinners from the 2021-22 team that finished 10-18 overall and 2-14 in SEC play, doubling their win total from the previous season. The Tigers earned three wins over top-25 opponents last season, defeating No. 4 Tennessee, No. 18 Georgia Tech and No. 21 Georgia.
›› Junior Aicha Coulibaly was a preseason All-SEC Second Team selection after earning a nod to the postseason All-SEC Second Team last season. She is Auburn's leading returner in scoring (17.1 ppg), rebounding (7.5 rpg) and steals (2.2 spg). She ranked ninth in the SEC in scoring last season. She scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds in the season-opener vs. Sam Houston for her sixth career double-double and leads the Tigers with 18.0 points/game.
›› Redshirt senior Honesty Scott-Grayson returns for her third season on the court for Auburn. She was second on the team with 13.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game last year, starting 27 of 28 games. She had 12 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds in the opener.
›› Senior Sania Wells was the SEC's leading free-throw shooter in 2021-22, hitting 90.5% of her attempts (76-84). That percentage ranked sixth in the nation. Wells was Auburn's third-leading scorer with 9.1 points per game and led the Tigers with 2.6 assists/game. Wells is 5-5 at the line so far this season.
›› Redshirt sophomore Romi Levy returns to action after missing the 2021-22 season with a torn ACL. As a freshman in 2020-21, she averaged 5.4 points and 3.9 rebounds and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. She made her first appearance of the regular season Nov. 16 vs. Georgia Tech after missing the first two games with illness.
›› Auburn's newcomers will look to make an immediate impact. Freshmen Sydney Shaw, Kaitlyn Duhon and Kharyssa Richardson were all in the starting lineup opening night. All were highly-rated recruits that helped make up the Tigers' top-25 class last fall. Freshman Mya Pratcher and junior Jakayla Johnson also look to play significant minutes.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn hits the road for the first time this season for the Las Vegas Invitational, which will be played Friday-Saturday at The Mirage in Las Vegas. The Tigers will face No. 12 Indiana at 7:45 p.m. CT Friday, then take on Colorado State at 5:30 p.m. CT Saturday.
Auburn women wrap up home stand with Alabama State
