AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women’s basketball team is back on the road this weekend, making the trip north to chilly Lexington, Kentucky, to take on the 15th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Game time is 2 p.m. CT Sunday at Memorial Coliseum on the UK campus.
Auburn (9-7, 0-3 SEC) faces their third ranked opponent in the last four games and looks to bounce back from a heartbreaking home loss to Arkansas Thursday night. Kentucky (14-1, 3-0) looks to stay unbeaten in league play and avenge two straight losses to the Tigers.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 1:45 p.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› The game can be seen on SEC Network with Sam Gore and Tamika Catchings calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› SEC leading scorer Izzy Higginbottom scored 36 points and hit a game-winning free throw with 2.4 seconds remaining to lead Arkansas to a 59-58 victory over Auburn Thursday at Neville Arena.
›› The Tigers’ chance for a buzzer-beater ended when Arkansas blocked Mar’shaun Bostic’s shot in the paint as time expired.
›› Leading 33-30 at the half, Auburn struggled with turnovers in the third quarter, committing 11 while scoring only seven points. The Tigers forced seven turnovers of their own in the quarter, holding the Razorbacks to 10 points to head to the fourth quarter tied 40-40.
›› Gaston led three Tigers in double figures with 16 points while grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Celia Sumbane scored 12 points and added seven rebounds. Bostic added 10 points and a game-high five assists.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Snap a four-game losing streak.
›› Be Auburn’s third straight win over Kentucky.
›› Be the Tigers’ first ranked victory in four tries this season.
SERIES HISTORY VS. KENTUCKY
›› Auburn and Kentucky are meeting for the 56th time in women’s basketball. The Tigers lead the series 28-27 and have won the last two meetings. Kentucky owns a 12-11 edge in Lexington.
LAST MEETING: Feb. 15, 2024, at Auburn
Auburn 78, Kentucky 50
›› Auburn built a big early lead and never trailed against Kentucky, hammering the Wildcats 78-50 at Neville Arena behind Taylen Collins’ double-double and another 20-point outing from Honesty Scott-Grayson.
›› Collins scored a season-high 19 points and recorded her third double-double of the season with 11 rebounds. Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 22 points, scoring at least 20 for the fifth straight game while grabbing eight rebounds.
›› Auburn made 15 steals, forced 26 Kentucky turnovers and finished plus-23 in points off turnovers.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
›› Kentucky is 13-1 overall and 3-0 in SEC play. The Wildcats have defeated Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and Florida to open the league slate.
›› The Wildcats 79.9 points per game and hold opponents to 59.1. Kentucky leads the nation in blocked shots per game (7.3) and is top-20 nationally in assists per game (7th-19.7), assist/turnover ratio (6th-1.57), free throw percentage (15th-78.2), fewest turnovers per game (17th-12.5), and defensive rebounds per game (12th-30.2).
›› Georgia Amoore leads Kentucky with 17.9 points per game and is third nationally in assists with 7.2 per game. Clara Strack leads the SEC and is ninth nationally in blocks with 2.5 per game.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› The Tigers have the nation’s No. 42 scoring defense at 57.1 points per game allowed. Auburn is holding opponents an average of 10.6 points below their season scoring average.
›› Graduate student DeYona Gaston is the nation’s seventh-leading scorer and second in the SEC. She leads the Tigers with 22.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, ranking in the SEC’s top 10 in both categories. She set a Neville Arena record for an Auburn player with 36 points in the win over VUL, then nearly matched that with 35 points vs. Alabama State. She has five double-doubles so far this season, including a 29-point, 12-rebound performance vs. Norfolk State on Dec. 29. For her efforts against ULL (29 points)and Alabama State, she was named SEC Player of the Week. Gaston also hit a corner 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to beat Northern Iowa on Nov. 28; it was just the second 3-pointer of her five-year collegiate career. She added 30 points in the Jan. 2 game vs. Ole Miss, going 14-for-17 at the free throw line. Her 14 made free throws and 17 attempts both tied Auburn program records.
›› Sophomore Taliah Scott, a transfer from Arkansas, made a splash in her Auburn debut, tying the program record for single-game 3-pointers with eight in the Tigers’ win over Little Rock Nov. 14. She scored 26 points in the game along with a career-high 9 rebounds. She followed that up with a 28-point night at Oregon where she knocked down seven 3-pointers. She has missed the last 11 games with an injury suffered at Cal on Nov. 22.
›› Graduate student Taylen Collins averages 9.1 points and 5.9 rebounds so far this season. She recorded her first double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the win over UAB Dec. 8. Collins hit double-digit scoring twice at the Paradise Jam and had 10 rebounds in the win over Pitt, then scored a then-season high 14 in the win at Virginia. She missed two recent games (Alabama State-illness, Norfolk State-injury) but returned to the lineup vs. Ole Miss.
›› Senior Mar’Shaun Bostic has been the Tigers’ starting point guard most of the season, currently ranking fifth in the SEC with 4.9 assists per game. She’s had five or more assists in nine of 16 games so far. One of the fastest players and top defenders in the SEC, she led the Tigers with 1.6 steals per game in 2023-24 and currently leads the team with 1.9 steals per game this year.
›› Senior Celia Sumbane scored a career-high 19 points with 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals vs. VUL. She was then named to the Paradise Jam all-tournament team after averaging 10.2 points in the tournament, including 16 in the final game vs. Kansas. She has started all 16 games so far.
›› Sophomore Audia Young opened the season with a bang, scoring a career-high 11 points on 3-4 3FG along with four steals vs. SIU. She then set another career high vs. VUL with 18 points, 4 assists and 5 steals. She hit double-digits a third time with 11 points in the win over Pitt, which included three 3-pointers. Young set a new career high in Sunday’s game at LSU with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
›› True freshmen Jordan Hunter and Syriah Daniels - two of the top high school players in Alabama a year ago - saw their first collegiate action vs. SIU. Hunter had 6 assists and 4 rebounds off the bench in the opener, then went 7-for-7 from the field for 15 points along with 6 assists vs. VUL. Daniels had 12 points and 4 steals in the VUL win, then scored a career-high 14 points in her first career start to help the Tigers come from behind to beat UAB Dec. 8.
›› Junior Oyindamola Akinbolawa has made five starts in the post, averaging 3.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. She played her best career game vs. Northern Iowa at the Paradise Jam, finishing with 7 points and 10 rebounds, including her first career 3-pointer. She then scored a career-high 10 points at UL-Lafayette Dec. 18 and just missed her first career double-double with nine rebounds.
›› Sophomore Yakiya Milton returned from injury Dec. 21 vs. Alabama State with six points and six rebounds in the Tigers’ win. She then moved into the starting lineup vs. Norfolk State.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn plays its fourth ranked opponent in five games when No. 5 Texas makes its first visit to Neville Arena Thursday night. Game time is 6 p.m. CT.