AUBURN, Ala. – Postseason play continues for the Auburn women's basketball team as the Tigers hit the road for the second round of the WNIT. Auburn will play at Clemson Monday night with tip set for 6 p.m. CT at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Auburn (16-14) moved into the round of 32 with a 73-58 win over Tulane at home Friday night as freshmen Kharyssa Richardson and Sydney Shaw both hit career-highs in scoring, and senior Honesty Scott-Grayson and junior Aicha Coulibaly both had big nights at both ends of the floor. Clemson (18-15) defeated High Point 66-46 in their first-round game Thursday to advance.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on WQSI 93.9 FM beginning at 5:45 p.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› The game will be televised on ACCNX, available on WatchESPN.com and the ESPN app (similar to SEC Network +).
LAST TIME OUT
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson scored 18 points to lead Auburn to a 73-58 victory over Tulane in the first round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament Friday at Neville Arena, the Tigers' first postseason win since 2016.
›› Freshmen Kharyssa Richardson and Sydney Shaw scored 16 and 15 points, respectively, while each grabbed six rebounds, with Richardson going 7 of 8 from the field. Aicha Coulibaly scored 11 points and led Auburn with seven rebounds and six assists.
›› Auburn valued possessions, allowing only one turnover in the first half. The Tigers outscored Tulane 22-5 in points off turnovers, forcing 22 takeaways while committing only eight.
UP NEXT
›› The winner of Auburn-Clemson will face the winner of Florida-Wake Forest in the WNIT third round. Date, time and location are TBD.
AUBURN IN THE WNIT
›› This is Auburn's sixth appearance in the WNIT. The Tigers are 14-4 all-time in the tournament, winning the championship in their first appearance in 2003.
›› Auburn advanced to the quarterfinals in 2013, the third round in 2007 and 2014, and the second round in 2011.
›› At home, the Tigers are 11-2 in WNIT games (6-1 at Neville Arena).
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be Auburn's 17th win of the season.
›› Advance the Tigers into the third round of the WNIT for the fifth time in six tournament appearances.
›› Improve Auburn to 5-3 all-time against Clemson.
›› Be Auburn's first road win in the WNIT since 2011 (def. Tennessee Tech, 68-54).
AUBURN-CLEMSON SERIES
›› This is the eighth meeting between Auburn and Clemson in women's basketball and the first since 2002. Auburn is 4-3 all-time against Clemson, with a 1-1 record in games played in the Upstate.
LAST MEETING: Dec. 27, 2002, at Atlanta
Auburn 60, Clemson 58
›› Auburn went on a 10-0 run to finish out the game in a 60-58 win over Clemson at the Russell Athletic Shootout.
›› Auburn found itself down at the half 34-30, but was down by 10 with 12:37 remaining in the first. The Tigers actually took a brief lead in the first, but Clemson went on an 8-1 run to end the half.
›› Sophomore guard Natasha Brackett led all Auburn scorers tying her career-high 19 points, which included the final two free throws of the game, taking the two point lead for good.
›› Also in double figures for Auburn was junior forward Tia Miller with a season-high 14 points and six rebounds. Senior La'Keisha Johnson led the team with seven rebounds and Auburn, as a team, tallied five blocks.
SCOUTING CLEMSON
›› Clemson is 18-15 overall and went 7-11 in the ACC, finishing 10th in the final league standings. The TIgers defeated High Point 66-46 in the first round of the WNIT last Thursday.
›› Clemson averages 66.8 points per game and holds opponents to 62.7.
›› Amari Robinson leads Clemson with 14.1 points per game. Daisha Bradford is second in the ACC in steals with 2.2 per game.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 16-14 overall, and finished 5-11 in SEC play to finish 10th in the final standings. The Tigers' five SEC wins were a 150% improvement from the previous year, when they won two conference games.
›› Junior Aicha Coulibaly, an All-SEC Second Team selection, leads Auburn in scoring (16.0 ppg), rebounding (6.5 rpg), assists (2.7 apg) and steals (2.2 spg); she is 6th in the SEC in scoring and 3rd in steals. She has four double-doubles this season, her last coming at Alabama (13 points, 10 rebounds). In Auburn's five SEC wins, Coulibaly averaged 19.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.6 steals. Coulibaly missed three SEC games with injuries.
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson averages 13.1 points to rank second on the team. She led Auburn in scoring in seven of the last eight games in non-conference play, 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 37.5% from long range (45-120). She missed the first three games of SEC play with minor injuries but returned to the bench vs. Alabama and to the starting lineup at LSU. Her best game in SEC play came at Tennessee with a 23-point performance, and she hit the game-winning free throws to secure a win over Vanderbilt on her Senior Day.
›› Senior Sania Wells had six big games in SEC play, scoring a season-high 16 points in the win at Kentucky along with 13 against South Carolina, Alabama and Texas A&M. She was the SEC's leading free-throw shooter last year at 90.5% (76-84) and is currently 3rd all-time at Auburn in career free-throw percentage (79.6%).
›› Freshman guard Sydney Shaw scored a career-high 15 points and matched a season-best with 6 assists in the win over Louisiana-Lafayette, and she scored at least 14 points in 3 of the last 4 non-conference games. She matched that career-high with 15 points against South Carolina on Feb. 9, then equaled it again in the WNIT win over Tulane. Shaw is Auburn's third-leading scorer for the season with 7.6 points/game.
›› Auburn's newcomers have all made an immediate impact with three freshmen - Kaitlyn Duhon, Shaw and Kharyssa Richardson - starting each of the first six games. Duhon scored 17 points in the win over South Alabama. Richardson had a career night with 15 points and 16 rebounds in a win over Florida. Junior college transfer Jakayla Johnson has earned 17 starts, scoring 8+ points in four of those and posting a career-high 6 assists at Kentucky.
Auburn women head to Clemson for WNIT second round
