AUBURN, Ala. – The final day of the 2023-24 regular season sees the Auburn women's basketball team on the road in Gainesville, Florida, to take on the Florida Gators. Game time is 11 a.m. CT Sunday at the O'Connell Center.
The Tigers (18-10, 7-8) look to head into postseason play on a roll as a win Sunday would give Auburn a 3-game winning streak and a .500 record in league play. More importantly, it would secure the No. 7 seed in next week's SEC Tournament. Auburn won its final two home games, defeating Texas A&M and Mississippi State last week to finish 6-2 in league play at home this year.
Florida (14-13, 5-10) is coming off a tough 79-76 loss at Alabama Thursday. Auburn is seeking its first win in Gainesville since 2019.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on AU100 (100.3 FM) beginning at 10:45 a.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› Sunday's game can be seen on SEC Network with Tiffany Greene and Tamika Catchings calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› In a storybook closing chapter to a spectacular career, Honesty Scott-Grayson scored a career-high 32 points in her Neville Arena finale Thursday to lead Auburn to a 77-60 wire-to-wire win over Mississippi State on Senior Night.
›› Scott-Grayson tied her career high of 31 on a layup with 1:25 to play, drawing a foul and making the free throw to tie Blanche Alverson's Neville Arena record of 32 points by an Auburn player, set in 2013.
›› Auburn turned up the heat down the stretch, forcing six turnovers in the quarter to secure the victory. The Tigers forced 17 turnovers in the game while committing only six, leading to a 25-7 advantage in points off turnovers.
›› The Tigers earned their sixth SEC home victory of the season, the second-most in program history and most at Neville Arena, while snapping an 11-game losing streak against the Bulldogs.
ROAD TO GREENVILLE
›› Auburn is currently tied for 7th place in the SEC standings and would be the No. 7 seed in the SEC Tournament if the season ended today.
›› With a win Sunday, Auburn would secure the No. 7 seed and face either Texas A&M or Arkansas in the second round at 6 p.m. ET Thursday.
›› An Auburn loss to Florida could have the Tigers finish anywhere from 7th to 10th depending on results of several other games. Potential second-round opponents could be Mississippi State, Texas A&M, Arkansas or Florida.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be Auburn's fifth road win of the season, the most since winning 10 on the road in 2018-19.
›› Be Auburn's eighth SEC win of the year, securing a .500 or better finish in league play for the first time since 2019.
›› Be the 996th win in program history.
›› Be Auburn's second straight over Florida.
›› End the regular season on a three-game win streak.
›› Be Auburn's first win in Gainesville since 2019.
AUBURN-FLORIDA SERIES
›› This is the 67th meeting between Auburn and Florida in women's basketball, dating back to 1973-74. Auburn owns a 39-26 advantage in the all-time series, but the series is even at 13-13 in games played in Gainesville. Florida has won the last two meetings at the O-Dome.
LAST MEETING: Jan. 30, 2023, at Auburn
Auburn 66, Florida 55
›› Kharyssa Richardson and Aicha Coulibaly notched double-doubles to lead Auburn to a 66-55 victory vs. Florida Monday at Neville Arena, the Tigers' first three-game SEC win streak in six years.
›› Auburn outrebounded the Gators 52-40, pulling down their highest rebounding total of the season. Romi Levy added seven rebounds and seven points in 12 minutes. Wells and Scott-Grayson each added nine points.
›› Auburn made only two 3-pointers in the game, but the second – Sydney Shaw's 3 after a steal – capped a 7-0 run that gave the Tigers a 13-point lead midway through the final quarter.
SCOUTING THE GATORS
›› Florida is 14-13 overall, 5-10 in SEC play. The Gators have lost four of their last five, but two have been by four points or less and a third went to overtime.
›› The Gators average 76.0 points per game while giving up 71.2.
›› Florida has two of the top four scorers in the SEC with Aliyah Matharu (18.1 ppg) and Leilani Correa (17.7 ppg) leading the way.
›› Sunday's game will feature the top two scorers in the SEC in league games. In SEC games, Correa leads the league in scoring with 21.3 points/game, and Auburn's Honesty Scott-Grayson is second with 20.7 points/game.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 18-10 overall, 7-8 in SEC play. The latest ESPN "Bracketology" lists the Tigers as "last four in" as of March 1.
›› The Tigers have four total road wins this season, the most since winning 10 times on the road in 2018-19.
›› Auburn has three top-30 wins this year, defeating NET No. 9 LSU, No. 26 Washington State, and No. 28.
›› The Tigers are 15-1 this season when shooting at least 40% from the field.
›› Graduate student Honesty Scott-Grayson has scored 15+ points in 14 of 15 SEC games this season and 20+ points10 times overall, including a stretch of five straight games. She scored a career-high 32 points on Senior Night in a win over Mississippi State. Previously, she matched a then-career high with 31 points vs. No. 1 South Carolina on Feb. 1. She followed that up with a 27-point performance at Arkansas, then a 24-point night at Missouri. She was named SEC Player of the Week after a 21-point performance in the win over LSU, then matched that output with 21 in the win over Georgia. She leads the team with 18.4 points/game (3rd SEC) and also averages 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists. She averages 20.7 points/game in SEC play (2nd in SEC), and has scored in double figures in 25 out of 27 games she has played this year.
›› JaMya Mingo-Young leads Auburn with 4.0 assists/game, and she is second on the team with 9.2 points/game. She is fifth in the SEC and 8th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.3). She is also second in the league in free-throw percentage (85.2%) and made 29 consecutive free throws from the UAB game Dec. 3 until finally missing at Texas A&M Jan. 7. Mingo-Young equaled a season-high with 16 points at LSU, scoring all 16 in the second half in a return to her home state. She also had 16 points against Clemson, hitting 9-of-11 free throw attempts, then matched her scoring output with 16 against Norfolk State and tied an Auburn record going 12-for-12 at the free-throw line. She made the highlight-reel play of the season to clinch the win over LSU, stealing the ball from Angel Reese and drawing a foul with 10 seconds to play and Auburn leading by 2, then sinking both free throws to secure the win.
›› Senior Taylen Collins scored a season-best 19 points and had 11 rebounds in the win over Kentucky for her third double-double of the year. 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, and she had a then-season high 17 points vs. Alabama State. She recorded her first Auburn double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. Alabama A&M, then got her first in SEC play with 12 points and 11 rebounds at Arkansas. She averages 8.3 points and a team-leading 6.5 rebounds.
›› Junior Mar'Shaun Bostic scored a season-high 17 points on 7-11 shooting vs. Tennessee. She had a huge game in the opener vs. Jacksonville State 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. Another big game for her came against Georgia when she had 4 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals.
›› Sophomore Sydney Shaw scored a career-high 17 points at UCF and has hit double-figures in six games. Shaw also led the Tigers with 15 points in the Alabama A&M win and scored 11 against Clemson. Shaw knocked down two key 3-pointers in the second half to help the Tigers pull away from Texas A&M; she shared the team lead with 10 points. She is fourth on the team with 6.3 points/game.
›› 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. She swiped a career-high 5 steals in just 10 minutes of action vs. Alabama State, and she has started 10 games.
›› Freshman Savannah Scott has seen a resurgence since moving back into the starting lineup vs. Alabama. For the season, she averages 4.9 points and 3.4 rebounds, and she was SEC Freshman of the Week the opening week of the season after a double-double at Rutgers.
›› Junior college transfer McKenna Eddings had a huge game in the win over Mississippi State, scoring 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting and pulling down a career-high five rebounds. She averages 3.9 points off the bench and has made 18 3-pointers this year, third-most on the team.
SHUT IT DOWN
›› Auburn's defense has been among the best in the SEC so far this year. In 15 SEC games, Auburn is holding opponents an average of 12.2 points below their season scoring average. Auburn's scoring defense is second in the league in SEC games at 61.7, behind only top-ranked South Carolina (57.3).
›› The biggest example was Auburn's home win over No. 7 LSU where the visiting Tigers - at the time the nation's top scoring team - were held to 62 points, their lowest total of the season and nearly 27 points below their season average (as of 2/27).
›› Nine SEC opponents have been held at least 10 points below their season average - LSU (26.5 and 17.5), Vanderbilt (15.8), Georgia (15.3), South Carolina (11.0), Missouri (11.5), Kentucky (15.5) and Texas A&M (27.6), Mississippi State (15.4).
UP NEXT
›› Auburn will play Thursday, March 7, in the 2024 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina. Auburn's seed, opponent and game time have yet to be determined.
Auburn women close out regular season at Florida
