AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn women's basketball continues its six-game home stand Saturday as the Tigers welcome UCF to Neville Arena. Tip is set for 2 p.m. CT.
The first 300 fans at the Scholarship Entrance for Saturday's game will receive a free Auburn Women's Basketball holiday mug.
The Tigers (5-2) are coming off a 70-48 home win over Little Rock Wednesday afternoon that saw redshirt sophomore Romi Levy record a career-high 18 points and 13 rebounds for her second career double-double. UCF (6-0) defeated Sam Houston 67-55 Thursday night to stay unbeaten on the year.
PARKING INFORMATION
Fans are encouraged to allow plenty of time to arrive for Saturday's game as several events on campus will affect parking availability. The arena lot will be reserved for women's basketball ticket holders. Additional parking is available in the Campus Safety lot and Stadium Deck.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call on WQSI 93.9 FM beginning at 1:45 p.m. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› The game can be seen on SEC Network + with Brad Law and Joe Ciampi calling the action. SEC Network + is available via WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Pinch-hitting for Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris, who was ill, associate head coach Damitria Buchanan led the Tigers to victory for the second time this season with a 70-48 win vs. Little Rock Wednesday afternoon at Neville Arena.
›› Veterans Honesty Scott-Grayson and Romi Levy led the way, combining for 38 points. Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting while Levy scored 18 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds, notching her second career double-double.
›› Leading 37-24 at the half, Auburn pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring the Trojans 21-10 in the period to build a 24-point lead.
›› Making her first career start, Jakayla Johnson scored the first four points of the third quarter. Levy's jumper and free throw gave the Tigers a 20-point lead on their way to leading by as many as 26. Kaitlyn Duhon populated the box score in multiple categories, scoring eight points on 3-of-4 shooting while contributing three rebounds, three steals and three blocked shots.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Give the Tigers a 2-0 advantage in their series with UCF.
›› Improve Auburn to 4-1 at home this season.
›› Push Auburn's record to 6-2, the Tigers' best start since 2018-19 (12-1).
›› Snap a 3-game losing streak to opponents from the American Athletic Conference.
AUBURN-UCF SERIES
›› This is the second meeting between Auburn and UCF in women's basketball. The teams previously met Nov. 25, 1985, in Auburn, a 95-74 Tiger win.
›› In that first meeting, Sharon Stewart had a double-double with 22 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Tigers in the 1985-86 season-opener.
SCOUTING UCF
›› UCF is 6-0 on the season, one win shy of matching their best start in program history.
›› The Knights have one mutual opponent with Auburn so far this season; Auburn defeated Sam Houston 90-76 in the season opener Nov. 8, and UCF downed the Bearkats 67-55 Thursday night.
›› UCF averages 70.8 points per game while holding opponents to 52.7. The Knights are 4th nationally in field goal defense, holding opponents to 30.7% shooting. They are also the AAC's top rebounding team and 18th nationally with 45.3/game.
›› Destiny Thomas averages a double-double to lead UCF with 13.8 points and 11.2 rebounds per game. She is third nationally in offensive rebounds per game with 5.5, and she has four double-doubles in six games to rank 12th nationally.
›› Head coach Sytia Messer is in her first year at UCF. A longtime Baylor assistant, Messer has faced Auburn as a head coach once before, in 2011 when she was head coach at Tennessee Tech (Auburn won 68-54 in the first round of the WNIT).
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 5-2 after a home win over Little Rock Wednesday. The Tigers also have wins over Sam Houston, South Alabama, Alabama State and Colorado State to their credit so far this season.
›› The Tigers rank 9th nationally with 6.0 blocks per game and 23rd in the country with 16.0 offensive rebounds per contest. Auburn is also top-50 nationally in turnover margin at +5.6 (48th).
›› Junior Aicha Coulibaly is fourth in the SEC in scoring (17.0 ppg) and second in steals (2.9 spg). Those numbers rank her 89th nationally in scoring and 37th in steals. She was a preseason All-SEC Second Team selection after earning a nod to the postseason All-SEC Second Team last season, when she ranked 9th in the SEC in scoring (17.1 ppg). She scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds in the season-opener vs. Sam Houston for her sixth career double-double.
›› Through seven games, redshirt senior Honesty Scott-Grayson returns for her third season on the court for Auburn. Through six games, she averages 12.2 points to rank second on the team. She was second on the team with 13.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game last year, starting 27 of 28 games.
›› Redshirt sophomore Romi Levy has been lights-out in the Tigers' last two home games with double-doubles against both Alabama State and Little Rock. In Wednesday's game vs. Little Rock, she had career-highs in points (18) and rebounds (13) for her second career double-double.
›› 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 8-10 at the FT line so far this season.
›› 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, and Shaw leads the team with 3.3 assists per game. Richardson had a season-high 9 rebounds vs. Colorado State before leaving the game with injury.
UP NEXT
›› After a week off for final exams, the Tigers return to action Sunday, Dec. 11, as they host Louisiana-Lafayette. Game time is 2 p.m. CT at Neville Arena.
Auburn welcomes UCF to Neville Arena Saturday
