AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women’s basketball team takes to the road for the first time in SEC play when they travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to take on No. 6 LSU. Game time is 3 p.m. CT Sunday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Auburn (9-5, 0-1 SEC) looks to bounce back after dropping their SEC opener to No. 25 Ole Miss Thursday night. LSU (16-0, 1-0) defeated Arkansas on the road Thursday in their league opener.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 2:45 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 Roy Philpott and Carolyn Peck calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› DeYona Gaston continued her torrid scoring with 30 points but Auburn dropped its SEC opener to No. 25 Ole Miss 85-58 Thursday at Neville Arena.
›› Gaston, the nation’s sixth leading scorer, was 8-of-15 from the floor and 14-for-17 from the free-throw line in 36 minutes, reaching the 30-point mark for the third time this season.
›› Auburn struggled to find much offense other than Gaston, committing 29 turnovers while compiling only seven assists.
›› Ole Miss shot 64.3 percent in the first quarter, including a trio of 3-pointers, to lead 26-10 after the opening period.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be Auburn’s first win in Baton Rouge since 2019.
›› Be the Tigers’ first ranked win in three tries this season.
›› Give Auburn its third road victory of the year.
SERIES HISTORY VS. LSU
›› This is the 63rd meeting between Auburn and LSU in women’s basketball. Auburn leads the all-time series 35-27, but LSU owns a 15-13 edge in Baton Rouge.
›› The teams met three times last season, with Auburn pulling a massive upset over then-No. 7 LSU at home, 67-62, on Jan. 14. LSU won a tight contest in Baton Rouge, 71-66, on Feb. 22, then LSU sprinted to an early lead and never looked back in a 78-48 win in the SEC Tournament on March 8.
LAST MEETING: March 8, 2024, at Greenville
#8 LSU 78, Auburn 48
›› Auburn fell behind early and could never recover in a 78-48 loss to No. 8/5 LSU in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals Friday night at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
›› McKenna Eddings led Auburn with a career-high 15 points, knocking down three 3-pointers. JaMya Mingo-Young and Sydney Shaw added eight points each.
›› LSU pulled away at the free throw line, hitting 27-of-31 attempts while Auburn attempted just six, making four. Auburn was 30 percent from the field (20-67) while LSU shot 46 percent (23-50). LSU also scored 22 points off 19 Auburn turnovers.
SCOUTING THE OTHER TIGERS
›› LSU is 16-0 overall, 1-0 in SEC play. They are ranked No. 6 in the AP poll, No. 4 in the Coaches’ poll, and No. 9 in the NCAA NET and one of seven unbeaten teams remaining in the nation.
›› The Fighting Tigers average 92.9 points per game (3rd NCAA) while holding opponents to 59.6.
›› LSU also ranks top 10 nationally in field goal percentage (9th - 49.0), field goal defense (6th - 33.3), rebounds per game (2nd - 50.2), scoring margin (3rd - +33.3) and free throws per game (6th - 17.8).
›› Flau’jae Johnson leads LSU with 20.2 points per game. Aneesah Morrow is the nation’s top rebounder with 14.0 per game, and she has a nation-leading 14 double-doubles.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 9-5 overall, 0-1 in SEC play, and looking to bounce back from a loss to Ole Miss in the SEC opener.
›› The Tigers have the nation’s No. 34 scoring defense at 55.8 points per game allowed. Auburn is holding opponents an average of 10.3 points below their season scoring average.
›› Graduate student DeYona Gaston is the nation’s fifth-leading scorer. She leads the Tigers with 23.2 points and 8.8 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 Thursday’s 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 nine games with injury.
›› Graduate student Taylen Collins averages 9.3 points and 6.3 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 fourth in the SEC with 5.1 assists per game. She’s had five or more assists in nine of 14 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 1.8 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. .
›› 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, and she hit a crucial 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to help secure the win at Virginia.
›› 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 is back home Thursday, Jan. 9, to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks. Game time is 6 p.m. CT at Neville Arena. It’s the annual Play4Kay Pink Game; fans are encouraged to wear pink.