AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women's basketball team hits the road for the first time in 2023-24 when they head north to Piscataway, New Jersey, to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Game time is 4 p.m. CT Sunday at Jersey Mike's Arena.
The Tigers (2-0) are coming off wins over Jacksonville State and Louisiana-Lafayette at home to open the season. Rutgers (2-0) also won its first two games, defeating Monmouth and Wagner in midweek home contests.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on AU100 (100.3 FM) beginning at 3:45 p.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› Sunday's game will air nationally on Big Ten Network with Sloane Martin and Meghan McKeown calling the action. It will be the first Auburn women's basketball game to appear on BTN.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn overcame a sluggish start to defeat Louisiana 60-54 Thursday at Neville Arena thanks to a pair of late 3-pointers from Honesty Scott-Grayson and big games from post players Savannah Scott and Taylen Collins.
›› After Louisiana cut Auburn's lead from nine points to one with 4:13 to play, Scott-Grayson hit 3s on back-to-back possessions to put the Tigers on top 55-50.
›› In her second college game, Scott scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting while adding six rebounds. Collins grabbed 14 rebounds and came within one point of a double-double with nine points. Sydney Shaw added 10 points.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Give Auburn a 2-1 lead in the all-time series with Rutgers.
›› Be Auburn's fourth win in six games played in the state of New Jersey.
›› Improve Auburn to 27-15 all-time against the Big Ten.
›› Be Auburn's first win in a road opener since 2018 at New Mexico.
AUBURN-RUTGERS SERIES
›› This is the third meeting between Auburn and Rutgers in women's basketball. The teams met in 1985 in a tournament in Miami, a 61-48 Auburn win, then again in the 2009 NCAA Tournament, an 80-52 Rutgers win at home.
LAST MEETING: March 23, 2009 - NCAA 2nd Round
Rutgers 80, #8 Auburn 52
›› The Auburn women's basketball team's magical season came to close as the Tigers fell to Rutgers, 80-52, at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in NCAA Second Round action. Auburn, which had its best season in 20 years, winning the SEC regular season title, finished with a 30-4 record.
›› Southeastern Conference player of the year DeWanna Bonner led Auburn with 17 points and nine rebounds. Bonner broke Auburn's single-season scoring record at the 6:50 mark of the first half, breaking Carolyn Jones previous record of 703 points in 1989-90. Bonner finished the season with 715 points.
›› Field goal shooting was the difference as Rutgers hit 54 percent of their shots, while Auburn managed just 28 percent field goal shooting. The Scarlet Knights also took advantage of 24 free throw attempts to the Tigers' 12.
›› Senior point guard Whitney Boddie joined Bonner in double figures with 10 points and three assists. Sherell Hobbs added eight points and nine boards.
SCOUTING THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
›› Rutgers is 2-0 after a pair of wins over Monmouth and Wagner to open the season.
›› Through two games, the Scarlet Knights average 71.0 points while holding opponents to 47.0.
›› Last season, Rutgers went 12-20 overall and finished 11th in the Big Ten at 5-13 in league play. The Scarlet Knights return all five starters from that team and welcome several high-profile transfers.
›› UNC transfer Destiny Adams leads Rutgers in scoring (15.0) and rebounding (14.5) through two games. Three others average double-figures with returners Kaylene Smikle and Chyna Cornwell at 12.5 points each, along with Texas A&M transfer Mya Petticord at 11.5 ppg.
REMEMBERING NIKKI McCRAY-PENSON
›› Sunday's game will be Nikki McCray-Penson day at Jersey Mike's Arena. McCray-Penson, who served as Rutgers' assistant coach during the 2022-23 season, passed away in July at age 51 following an extended battle with breast cancer.
›› McCray-Penson was a four-year standout at Tennessee and was a Team USA teammate of former Auburn star Ruthie Bolton on the 1996 and 2000 gold medal-winning Olympic teams. She coached in the SEC for 10 years, spending nine seasons as an assistant at South Carolina and the 2020-21 season as head coach at Mississippi State.
›› Auburn's players and coaches will wear a special shirt during warmups to honor the late McCray-Penson at Sunday's game.
HOMECOMING FOR HONESTY
›› Sunday's game will be a homecoming of sorts for Auburn graduate student Honesty Scott-Grayson. A native of Brick Township, less than an hour's drive from Rutgers, she will play a college game in her home state for the first time.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 2-0 after wins over Jacksonville State and Louisiana-Lafayette at home to open the season.
›› Auburn returns two starters and six total letterwinners from 2022-23, when the Tigers finished 16-15 overall, 5-11 in SEC play. Auburn made its first postseason appearance and secured its first winning record since 2019 last season, when they advanced to the second round of the WNIT. Eight newcomers and one redshirt join the Tigers for 2023-24.
›› Graduate student Honesty Scott-Grayson led the Tigers with 14 point in the opener vs. JSU, then hit two clutch 3-pointers late in the win over UL-Lafayette and finished with 15 points. She is Auburn's leading returning scorer, averaging 12.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.3 steals last season as a redshirt senior. She also finished third in the SEC in steals per game with 2.3.
›› Sophomore Sydney Shaw scored 10 points in the comeback win over UL-Lafayette Thursday night. She started 25 games last season, averaging 7.6 points, and 2.6 rebounds. Possibly the Tigers' best pure shooter, she moves from playing significant minutes at point guard last year to mostly at the 2-guard spot this season, although she has run the point at times in the first two games.
›› Senior Taylen Collins had a huge second half to spark the comeback win over UL-Lafayette on Nov. 9 with all nine of her points and 8 of 14 rebounds coming after halftime. Collins, a transfer from Oklahoma State, was fourth in the Big 12 in rebounding last year with 9.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
›› Junior Mar'Shaun Bostic had a huge game in the opener with 12 points, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 rebounds. She was a breakout star in the Tigers' final game of the season last year, scoring a career-high 23 points in the WNIT second round matchup at Clemson. She played in all 31 games last year, averaging 5.6 points and 1.9 rebounds. Bostic, one of the fastest players in the SEC, looks to play significant minutes at point guard and can be one of the SEC's top defenders.
›› Freshman Savannah Scott has been a force under the basket in the first two games, averaging 14.5 points and 7.5 rebounds. She led the Tigers with 16 points in the win over ULL. At 6-4, she adds much-needed size in the post, as do fellow freshmen Timya Thurman (6-5) and Yakiya Milton (6-4) along with sophomore Oyindamola Akinbolawa (6-5).
›› Sophomore Kaitlyn Duhon started the season off with a bang, scoring 13 points along with 3 rebounds and 2 steals in the opener vs. JSU. In the two exhibition games, she had 6 steals in each and recorded a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double vs. Columbus State.
›› JaMya Mingo-Young (Alabama/Mississippi State) averaged 5.4 points and 4.4 rebounds in 14 games at Alabama before missing the second half of the season with injury; in 2021-22, she started all 34 games and averaged 11.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and finished second in the SEC with 80 steals.
›› Celia Sumbane and McKenna Eddings, both JUCO All-Americans last season, played significant minutes in the opener. Eddings finished with 6 points and 4 rebounds, and Sumbane recorded 5 rebounds and a block.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn returns to the friendly confines of Neville Arena Friday night for its second straight game against a Power Five opponent when the Cal Golden Bears visit for a 7 p.m. CT tip.
Auburn women head to Rutgers for first road game of 2023-24
