AUBURN, Ala. – The rivalry is renewed for the 104th time Sunday afternoon when the Auburn women’s basketball team travels across the state to take on No. 18 Alabama. Game time is 4 p.m. at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.
Auburn, after an open date in the midweek, looks to bounce back from a heartbreaking overtime loss at home to Vanderbilt last Sunday. The Crimson Tide, meanwhile, also dropped their last contest, falling on the road at Tennessee Thursday.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 3:45 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
›› Yuting Deng scored a career-high 27 points, but Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes exploded for an NCAA freshman record 55 to help the Commodores overcome a 15-point fourth quarter deficit and defeat Auburn 98-88 in overtime Sunday at Neville Arena.
›› Vanderbilt scored the first nine points of overtime, outscoring the Tigers 14-4 in the extra period.
›› Mar’Shaun Bostic recorded a double-double with 14 points and 11 assists. DeYona Gaston made 9 of 11 shots and scored 25 points.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Give Auburn its first SEC road win of the year.
›› Snap a five-game skid in Tuscaloosa.
›› Be Auburn’s first ranked victory of the season.
›› Be Auburn’s first top-25 road win in SEC play since 2014.
SERIES HISTORY VS. ALABAMA
›› This is the 104th meeting between Auburn and Alabama in women’s basketball, the second-most played series in the SEC behind only Ole Miss and Mississippi State. Auburn is 54-49 all-time against the Crimson Tide in a series that dates back to 1973.
›› Auburn’s and Alabama’s records do not match because Alabama did not sponsor women’s basketball as a varsity sport until the 1974-75 season. Two meetings in 1973 and 1974 were between Auburn’s varsity team and Alabama’s club team. Auburn lost to Alabama 33-29 in 1973, then defeated the Tide 69-31 on Jan. 11, 1974, in the first women’s game at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.
LAST MEETING: Feb. 18, 2024, in Tuscaloosa
Alabama 67, Auburn 61
›› 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.
›› 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. 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.
SCOUTING THE TIDE
›› Alabama is 21-6 overall, 8-5 in SEC play. The Tide saw a four-game winning streak snapped at No. 15 Tennessee Thursday night.
›› Alabama averages 78.9 points per game and holds opponents to 61.3. The Tide have the SEC’s best 3-point shooting percentage (39.1%), which ranks third nationally.
›› Sarah Ashlee Barker leads Alabama with 17.2 points per game, and Zaay Green adds 15.6. Aaliyah Nye is the SEC’s top 3-point shooter with 90 made treys this year (44.6%).
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 12-14 overall, 3-10 in SEC play. This game against Alabama is Auburn’s third straight road game against a top-20 opponent.
›› Auburn has held 18 of 25 Division I opponents below their season scoring average. Eleven of those opponents have scored more than 10 points below their season average.
›› Graduate student DeYona Gaston is the nation’s eighth-leading scorer and sthird in the SEC. She leads the Tigers with 22.1 points and 7.0 rebounds per game. She has 14 games this season with 20 or more points and four with 30-plus. 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 six double-doubles so far this season, including a 24-point, 12 rebound performance at Tennessee on Feb. 13. 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.
›› Senior Mar’Shaun Bostic is turning heads as the Tigers’ starting point guard recently, ranking third in the SEC and 14th nationally with 5.8 assists per game. She’s had five or more assists in 19 of 26 games, including three with 10 or more. She scored 18 points in back-to-back games vs. Kentucky and Texas for season-highs. She then recorded a career-high 11 assists along with nine points in the win over Florida Jan. 26, then barely missed a double-double with 10 points and 9 assists at South Carolina. She has two double-doubles, the latest coming with 14 points and 11 assists vs. Vanderbilt. One of the fastest players and top defenders in the SEC, she leads the team with 2.2 steals per game this year (7th SEC).
›› Freshman Yuting Deng has made waves in her debut season, scoring a career-high 27 points vs. Vanderbilt Feb. 13, the most by an Auburn freshman in an SEC game since 1983. She had 13 points in the win over Missouri Jan. 19, then knocked down four 3-pointers en route to a 16-point night against Florida Jan. 26. Deng entered the starting lineup Feb. 2 at South Carolina, scoring 10 points while hitting a pair of 3s, then scored 13 points at Tennessee Feb. 13.
›› Graduate student Taylen Collins averages 8.3 points and 5.3 rebounds. 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. Collins pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds in the win over Florida Jan. 26.
›› 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 started the first 18 games, then recorded her first career double-double off the bench with 13 points and 11 rebounds vs. Missouri on Jan. 19.
›› 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 19 games with an injury suffered at Cal on Nov. 22.
›› 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 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.
›› Oyindamola Akinbolawa and Yakiya Milton have spent time in the post with Akinbolawa starting 13 games and Milton one. Akinbolawa’s best game came vs. UNI at the Paradise Jam, where she finished with 7 points and 10 rebounds. She then scored a career-high 10 points at ULL, just missing a double-double with nine rebounds. Milton had her best outing of the year at Oklahoma with a career-high 7 rebounds.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn plays its final road game of the season Thursday night when the Tigers travel to Athens, Ga., to face Georgia. Game time is 5 p.m. CT/6 p.m. ET at Stegeman Coliseum.