AUBURN, Ala. – It's a short road trip for the Auburn women's basketball team this weekend when the Tigers make the two-hour trek to Birmingham to take on UAB. Game time is 2:30 p.m. CT Sunday at Bartow Arena.
The Tigers (5-2) look to build on a huge win over Clemson in Thursday's ACC/SEC Challenge. The 83-53 victory was Auburn's second over a major conference opponent this season, along with a Nov. 12 win at Rutgers. UAB (6-1) has won four straight, their last being an 88-56 win over Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call on AU100 (100.3 FM) beginning at 2:15 p.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› Sunday's game can be seen on ESPN+, available to subscribers via the ESPN app and WatchESPN.com.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn forced a whopping 29 turnovers and used balance scoring to rout Clemson 83-53 in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge Thursday at Neville Arena.
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 18 points, JaMya Mingo-Young scored 16 points in 17 minutes, Sydney Shaw made three 3-pointers and scored 11 points, and Kaitlyn Duhon added 10.
›› Wearing orange uniforms for the first time in nearly five years, Auburn outscored Clemson 29-4 in points off turnovers to avenge a season-ending loss at Clemson in March in the WNIT
›› Leading by 15 at the half, Auburn blew open the game with a 10-0 run midway through the third quarter that featured two Scott-Grayson layups and a 3-pointer from Mingo-Young that put the Tigers on top 48-25. Auburn produced another 10-0 run in a 27-point the fourth quarter to extend its lead to 29 points thanks to 3-pointers from Shaw and McKenna Eddings.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Improve the Tigers' record to 6-2.
›› Be Auburn's 18th win over UAB in the last 19 meetings.
›› Move Auburn to 3-0 against in-state opponents this season.
LAST MEETING: Nov. 21, 2019, at Birmingham
UAB 80, Auburn 75
›› Auburn's Unique Thompson scored 24 points and matched a career-high in rebounds, but the Tigers came up short in a back-and-forth battle at UAB, 80-75.
›› In a game that featured 12 ties and 25 lead changes and neither team ever led by more than five points, the Tigers shot 50 percent from the field and had 10 more rebounds than UAB. But the Blazers scored 23 points off 20 Auburn turnovers, hit 10 3-pointers and did not miss a free throw in the second half.
›› Thompson finished with a game-high points and tied her career-high with 19 rebounds, 10 of those coming on the offensive end and leading to 17 second-chance points for the Tigers. Daisa Alexander added 20 points on 9-of-14 shooting and also had a team-best four steals. Those were the only two Tigers in double-figures; Erin Howard added 9 points and 7 rebounds off the bench.
›› Freshman Lauren Hansen made her first career start, finishing with 3 points. Sania Wells scored 4 points in her Auburn debut, and Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu also added her first career basket.
AUBURN-UAB SERIES
›› This is the 37th meeting between Auburn and UAB in women's basketball. It will be the second straight meeting in Birmingham.
›› Auburn leads the series 31-5, including a 13-3 advantage in games played in Birmingham. UAB won the last meeting; Auburn had won 17 straight before that 2019 contest.
›› The Tigers are 50-12 all-time against current members of the American Athletic Conference, which UAB joined at the beginning of this school year.
SCOUTING THE BLAZERS
›› UAB is 6-1 on the year with a 5-0 record at home. The Blazers won three home games last week, defeating Valparaiso, Jacksonville State and Mississippi Valley State.
›› UAB and Auburn have two common opponents this year. Both teams earned home victories over Alabama A&M and Jacksonville State.
›› The Blazers average 75.6 points per game while holding opponents to 63.0. UAB is one of the nation's top free throw-shooting teams at 83.2% on the year (119-143), ranking 5th in Division I.
›› Mia Moore leads UAB with 19.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game; she's recorded three double-doubles so far this year. Denim DeShields leads the AAC and ranks 16th nationally with 6.3 assists per game.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 5-2 after crushing Clemson 83-53 Thursday night in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
›› Graduate student Honesty Scott-Grayson has scored a season-high 18 points three times, including in the win over Clemson. She also had 5 assists and 5 steals against Clemson. She leads the team with 14.5 points/game and also averages 5.0 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
›› Sophomore Sydney Shaw scored a career-high 17 points at UCF and has hit double-figures in five of seven games. Shaw also led the Tigers with 15 points in the Alabama A&M win and scored 11 against Clemson. She is second on the team with 10.7 points/game and leads the outside attack with 12 3-pointers. 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 this year.
›› 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. She also reached double-figures for the first time with 11 points and 8 rebounds at UCF, then recorded her first Auburn double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. Alabama A&M. She averages 7.7 points and 7.1 rebounds through seven games. 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 then had another huge game agains Clemson with 7 points, 4 assists and a career-high 5 steals. 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.
›› 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. She showed off her speed against Clemson, especially late in the first half, as she scored 10 points with 3 rebounds and 3 steals.
›› Celia Sumbane and McKenna Eddings, both JUCO All-Americans last season, have played significant minutes in the first several games. They both had their best games at Rutgers as Eddings had 4 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block in 24 minutes of action, and Sumbane was a beast at both ends of the floor with 5 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Eddings made her first Division I start vs. California, and Sumbane started for the first time against Alabama A&M.
›› JaMya Mingo-Young made her Auburn debut with a team-leading 5 assists vs. Cal after missing the first three games with injury, then racked up 7 points and 4 assists at UCF. She then scored a season-high 16 points against Clemson, hitting 9-of-11 free throw attempts. Mingo-Young leads Auburn with 3.8 assists/game in the four games she has played, and she is fourth on the team with 8.0 points/game.
›› Freshman Savannah Scott made a splash under the basket through the early part of the season, averaging 8.6 points and 5.4 rebounds. She led the Tigers with 16 points in the win over ULL, then posted her first career double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds in the win at Rutgers. 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).
UP TO THE CHALLENGE
›› Auburn's 83-53 win over Clemson Nov. 30 in the final game of the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge clinched a 7-7 tie in the 14-game event.
›› Auburn's 30-point margin of victory was also the largest by any team, men or women, in the three-day Challenge.
›› With wins by the Auburn men over Virginia Tech Nov. 29 and the women over Clemson Nov. 30, Auburn was one of just four SEC schools to win both the men's and women's contests in the Challenge (Arkansas, Kentucky, South Carolina were the others).
UP NEXT
›› After a week off for final exams, the Tigers return to action next Sunday, Dec. 10, at Little Rock. Game time is 2 p.m. CT at the Jack Stephens Center.
Auburn women make short trek to UAB Sunday
