CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands – It was three years and one day ago that DeYona Gaston made the first and only 3-pointer of her career. She couldn’t have picked a better time for her second.
With 1.6 seconds left, the Auburn graduate forward knocked down a corner trey to give the Tigers a thrilling 65-64 win over Northern Iowa Thursday afternoon in their first game of the Paradise Jam.
After UNI drew a foul and hit two free throws to take a 64-62 lead with 3.3 seconds left, Auburn called timeout to advance the ball to the frontcourt. Inbounding in front of the Auburn bench, Taylen Collins found Gaston wide open in the corner, where she swished it to put the Tigers ahead by one. UNI was unable to get a shot off after calling timeout, and the Tigers celebrated at the UVI Sports & Fitness Center.
“(Coach J) saw one of their girls was sagging off, and she just told me to shoot it,” Gaston said. “So I just shot it.
“I’m getting really comfortable shooting the 3. I’ve been trying to work on it each day. But when she told me to shoot it, I knew I had to try to make that.”
The only previous 3-pointer of Gaston’s career came Nov. 27, 2021, against Cal State Northridge while she was a sophomore at Texas. She had not attempted one in a game since. But she says she could add that to her repertoire as the season progresses.
“She makes them in practice all the time,” Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris said. “And that kid is always in the gym. I have every confidence in her. The play call actually was not that, it was for her to screen for Audia (Young), and either we go straight in to DeYona or get Audia out. But once they were sagging in on DeYona, I told her to shoot it.”
“War. damn. ball game.” -DeYona, probably.#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/Sklfk4rcbV
— Auburn Women's Basketball (@AuburnWBB) November 28, 2024
Gaston finished with 18 points, all in the second half, as she missed significant minutes in the first half with foul trouble, along with being the focal point of the UNI defense.
Taylen Collins had 10 points with seven rebounds along with four assists, including on the game-winner. Audia Young knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and finished with nine points. And Oyindamola Akinbolawa had a career-high 10 rebounds along with seven points, including her first career 3-pointer.
Kaitlyn Duhon turned four steals into eight points along with three assists, and Mar’Shaun Bostic had seven points and a game-high seven assists.
“I saw this team grow up today,” Harris said. “Just by listening, by taking plays out of the huddle, by executing. Getting stops when we needed to. When we had to turn the pressure up, I saw them getting a little tired so we cranked it up a little bit. I thought our kids responded to it.”
UNI opened the second half on a 13-5 run, taking their first lead at 39-36 with just under five minute to play in the third. But a Young 3-pointer and a pair of transition buckets led to a 7-0 run over a 50-second span, putting Auburn back ahead 46-41. It would still be a five-point game headed to the fourth.
The Tigers would extend their lead to as many as six points with just over five minutes to play at 59-53, and it was 60-55 with 3:55 left. But Auburn would miss its next five shots while the Panthers went on a 7-0 run, taking a 62-60 lead with just over a minute to go.
Auburn forced a turnover and tied the game on a Gaston layup with 30 seconds left, and UNI held for the final shot. Fouled with 3.3 seconds left, the Panthers hit two free throws to set up the Auburn timeout and Gaston’s heroics.
Auburn led by as many as 11 points in the second quarter and never trailed in the first half, but foul trouble put starters on the bench and allowed UNI to cut the deficit to five points at the half, 31-26.
“They mixed up their defense, and we got in foul trouble,” Harris said. “DeYona had to sit for a little while, and they were able to take advantage. Once she let the game come to her, I thought she did a really good job.”
Reigning national player of the week Maya McDermott, the country’s second-leading scorer, led Northern Iowa with 29 points, including the two free throws to put the Panthers ahead just before Gaston’s winning trey.
Auburn continues its week in the Virgin Islands Friday when the Tigers face Pittsburgh. Tip is set for 1:30 p.m. local/11:30 a.m. CT; the game can be heard on ESPN 106.7 FM in Auburn and AuburnTigers.com and seen on ESPN+.