AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn women's basketball will play its fifth of six straight home games Sunday when the Tigers play host to Samford. Game time is set for noon CT at Neville Arena.
Everybody's favorite Tiger, Aubie Claus, will be making the rounds before and during Sunday's game to pose for photos with fans. Tickets are available at the arena ticket office on gameday and online at AUBTix.com. Fans are reminded that even though a start time of 2 p.m. may be printed on tickets, the game is set to begin at noon CT. Arena doors will open at 11 a.m.
Auburn (8-2) has won five straight, the last being a 79-63 victory over North Carolina A&T Thursday night that saw senior Honesty Scott-Grayson score a career-high 31 points. Samford (4-8) has been off for more than a week; their last game was a road loss at Nebraska last Saturday.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call on WQSI 93.9 FM beginning at 11:45 a.m. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› SEC Network will carry a live national broadcast with Sam Gore and Steffi Sorensen calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson scored a career-high 31 points to lead Auburn to a 79-63 victory over North Carolina A&T Thursday night at Neville Arena.
›› The Tigers (8-2) used a 32-point third quarter to pull away from the Aggies and improve to 7-1 at home this season.
›› Scott-Grayson's 31 points eclipsed her previous career-best of 30, set against Missouri during the 2020-21 season. She also had 5 rebounds, 5 steals and 3 assists. Sydney Shaw had her second straight huge game with 14 points and 5 assists, and Romi Levy added 13 points.
›› Kharyssa Richardson returned to the starting lineup after missing three games with an injury sustained in the Tigers' Thanksgiving weekend tournament in Las Vegas. She finished with 8 points and a team-leading 6 rebounds.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Give the Tigers a 5-0 advantage in their series with Samford.
›› Improve Auburn to 8-1 at home this season.
›› Be the Tigers' sixth straight win.
›› Push Auburn's record to 9-2, the Tigers' best start since 2018-19 (12-1).
AUBURN-SAMFORD SERIES
›› Auburn and Samford are meeting for the fifth time in women's basketball. The Tigers have won the four previous meetings, all of them at home.
LAST MEETING: Nov. 28, 2020, at Auburn
Auburn 66, Samford 64
›› Unique Thompson picked up her first double-double of the season, and Auburn was able to fend off a late 3-point flurry from Samford to pick up a 66-64 win at Auburn Arena.
›› The Tigers led by as many as 16 early in the second half. But Samford chipped away over the final 20 minutes – led by five 3-pointers from the Bulldogs' Katie Allen in the fourth quarter, three of them in the final 79 seconds – to put major pressure on the Tigers.
›› A pair of key shots from Jala Jordan kept the Bulldogs at bay, and clutch free throws from Thompson and Kira Lowery secured the win as Samford missed a final 3-point heave at the buzzer.
›› Thompson led Auburn with 16 points for the second straight game and pulled down 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season and 43rd of her career. She also led the Tigers with five steals.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
›› Samford is 4-8 on the season. The Bulldogs have wins over Alabama A&M, Miles, Talladega and Southern Miss this year.
›› The Bulldogs average 66.1 points while giving up 67.8 per game. Samford shoots the ball well with a 44.7% field goal percentage that leads the SoCon and ranks 56th nationally.
›› Senior guard Andrea Cournoyer averages a team-leading 18.5 points per game and has scored 222 total points this season to rank 9th in the nation. She also ranks 63rd nationally in steals per game with 2.5 (30 total; 17th in NCAA).
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 8-2 after five straight wins, the last four coming at home. The Tigers are 7-1 at home this season.
›› The Tigers rank 5th nationally with 6.3 blocks per game and 26th in the country with 15.4 offensive rebounds per contest. Auburn is also top-50 nationally in 3-point percentage at 35.9% (41st) and scoring offense at 77.1 points/game (49th).
›› Auburn forces an average of 20.8 turnovers per game, which ranks 36th nationally and 3rd in the SEC. The Tigers have forced 20 or more turnovers in 6 of 10 games.
›› Junior Aicha Coulibaly is fourth in the SEC in scoring (16.8 ppg) and steals (2.3 spg). Those numbers rank her 83rd nationally in scoring and 94th in steals. She has two double-doubles this season, with her last coming against UCF Dec. 3 (17 points, 12 rebounds). She was a preseason All-SEC Second Team selection. Coulibaly missed the Tigers' last game vs. N.C. A&T and is expected to miss the next two as well.
›› Through 10 games, Honesty Scott-Grayson averages 15.9 points to rank second on the team and 7th in the SEC. She has led Auburn in scoring in five of the last six games, topping the 20-point mark four times including a career-high 31 against North Carolina A&T. She is also the Tigers' top 3-point shooter, hitting 48.8% from long range (21-43) to rank 23rd nationally.
›› Redshirt sophomore Romi Levy recorded double-doubles against both Alabama State and Little Rock. Against Little Rock, she had career-highs in points (18) and rebounds (13) for her second career double-double. She has started the last four games.
›› 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 has topped the 10-point mark twice this year and is 10-16 at the FT line so far this season.
›› Freshman point guard Sydney Shaw leads the Tigers with 3.6 assists/game, which ranks 9th in the SEC and leads all SEC freshmen. She scored a career-high 15 points and matched a season-best with 6 assists in the win over Louisiana-Lafayette.
›› Auburn's newcomers have all made an immediate impact with three freshmen - Kaitlyn Duhon, Sydney Shaw and Kharyssa Richardson - starting each of the first four games. Duhon scored 17 points in the win over South Alabama. Richardson had a season-high 9 rebounds vs. Colorado State before leaving the game with injury. Junior Jakayla Johnson has earned three starts, averaging 5.0 points in those starts.
UP NEXT
›› The Tigers close out non-conference play as North Florida visits Neville Arena for a Tuesday matinee. Game time is noon CT.
Tigers take on Samford Sunday afternoon
