TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Auburn took a 10-point lead to the fourth quarter but could not hold on as Alabama rallied for a 67-61 win Sunday afternoon at Coleman Coliseum.
The Tigers turned the ball over eight times in the fourth period and hit just 3-of-12 shot attempts as the Crimson Tide outscored Auburn 25-9 in the final frame to earn a split of the season series.
"We played hard, and that got us in the game and kept us in the game," Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris said. "But undisciplined mistakes cost us. We've got to be better. I need to be better, and they need to be better.
"When we did break the press, when we got in our press attack and broke the press, we came down and took bad shots. We didn't flip the floor, we took bad shots, and then ultimately they went on a run."
Honesty Scott-Grayson led Auburn for the 11th straight game, scoring 15 points along with five rebounds. JaMya Mingo-Young added 14 points and a game-high six assists against her former team. And Taylen Collins led the Tigers with seven rebounds.
The Tigers shot 45.3 percent from the field, their second-best in SEC play, falling for the first time this year when shooting at least 40 percent (now 14-1). Auburn also won the rebounding battle 35-33.
But Alabama got 15 points off 13 second-half Auburn turnovers, flipping the script as the Tide's full-court pressure caused problems for the Tigers.
Auburn led 52-42 after three quarters. However, Alabama slowly chipped away, holding Auburn to just four points in the first six-plus minutes, taking their first lead since the second quarter at 57-56 on a Sarah Ashlee Barker layup with 3:46 to play.
A Mingo-Young free throw tied the game 57-57 at the 3:20 mark. But a pair of 3-pointers from Aaliyah Nye, the SEC's top 3-point shooter, would be the daggers as the Tigers never regained the lead.
Auburn shot 57.7 percent in the first half, their best shooting half of the season. The Tigers' defense was stellar in the second period, holding Alabama to just eight points and turning six turnovers into nine points.
The Tigers held Alabama scoreless for more than four minutes to begin the second quarter, moving ahead for the first time at 23-21 on a Sydney Shaw 3-pointer at the 6:44 mark. She would make another less than a minute later to push Auburn's lead to 26-21.
An 8-0 run late in the quarter, punctuated by a Scott-Grayson jumper, gave the Tigers their largest lead of the half at 34-25. Auburn would lead 37-29 at the break.
Alabama led by as many as seven in the first quarter, but Auburn closed the gap late and trailed by just three, 21-18, after 10 minutes of play.
Barker led Alabama with 26 points, 10 of those coming in the pivotal fourth quarter. Nye scored 17, hitting four 3-pointers.
Auburn (16-9, 5-7 SEC) is on the road for the fourth time in five games Thursday night with a late tip in Baton Rouge against No. 13/11 LSU. Game time is 8 p.m. CT at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Auburn falters in fourth quarter, falls at Alabama
