AUBURN, Ala. – Aicha Coulibaly scored 18 points, and Auburn overcame an eight-point deficit in the second half to defeat Texas A&M 65-55 Thursday at Neville Arena, the Tigers' first victory vs. the Aggies in program history in the teams' 17th meeting.
"A good, much-needed win for us," Auburn coach Johnnie Harris said. "They fight, they battle, and it started in practice. This is the result of that.
"In my first couple years we've had a lot of firsts. It's just a start. We're building. I still think the best is yet to come."
On a night when Auburn missed a dozen free throws, Sania Wells secured Auburn's historic win by going 10-for-10 from the line in the fourth quarter.
"We've been doing a lot of pressure free throws in practice and that's been helping," Wells said. "I knew we needed it and I was willing to do anything that would help. I'm just proud to be a part of the team that did it."
With Auburn leading by two, Wells beat the shot clock with a baseline floater with 2:03 remaining to put the Tigers ahead 57-53.
"I was just trying to get a shot off in time," Wells said.
"She's done that before," Harris said. "I had her down in the corner just in case they came off of Honesty so we would be able to kick it out to her and she'd have the shot or the drive."
Wells scored all of Auburn's points during a game-ending 10-2 run that turned a two-point lead into a 10-point victory.
Coulibaly was 8-for-11 from the floor and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds, including six points and five rebounds in the decisive fourth quarter. Her jump shot in the paint with 6:09 to play broke a 47-47 tie, giving Auburn a lead it would not relinquish.
"I'm just happy," Coulibaly said of playing a key role in a program milestone. "This is big news. I still have a lot of work to do. I feel like I can do better to help my team out with the scoring."
Wells scored 13 points, and Honesty Scott-Grayson and Kharyssa Richardson each added 12.
Auburn made 12 steals while forcing 29 Aggie turnovers, the most by an SEC opponent this season. The Tigers committed 22 turnovers but still managed to outscore Texas A&M 24-20 in points off turnovers.
Romi Levy grabbed an offensive rebound with less than a second remaining in the first quarter and scored on a jumper from the free-throw line to beat the buzzer to give Auburn an 18-16 lead. Levy led the Tigers with four assists.
Richardson scored eight points in the first quarter on 4-of-5 shooting. The Tigers forced 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes.
Coulibaly grabbed a deflected pass and drove coast-to-coast for a layup to that tied the score at 20-20 early in the second quarter.
The Tigers trailed 30-27 at the half and fell behind by eight early in the third quarter before rallying to tie at 41-41 on Scott-Grayson's 3-pointer late in the quarter.
Heading to the final period, Auburn trailed 43-41 after making only 6 of 14 free throws through three quarters.
The victory secured a .500 regular season record for Auburn (14-11, 4-9) and doubled last season's SEC victory total.
"I have to mention our student section," Harris said. "They were amazing today. When we got stops and we were able to run in transition, it got loud in there. I think that just gave them energy to continue to do that."
Auburn plays at Tennessee Sunday at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
Coulibaly, Wells lead Auburn to program's first win over Texas A&M
