AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn held Texas A&M scoreless for 8 and a half minutes and defeated the Aggies 65-52 Thursday at Neville Arena, the Tigers’ third consecutive SEC home victory.
“The team came out prepared,” Auburn coach Johnnie Harris said. “Coach D (assistant coach Damitria Buchanan) did a great job with the scout. We were prepared for everything they threw at us. Really happy to get this win.”
Mar’Shaun Bostic flirted with a triple-double, totaling 10 points, 10 assists and seven of Auburn’s 13 steals to record her first career double-double.
“It feels great,” Bostic said. “I’m going to give credit to Coach D because in practice, she was on me, and this is her scout. She was telling me to work as hard as I can.”
“Mar’Shaun sets the tone for us,” Harris said. “I was really happy for her. She wanted that double-double. She set the tone defensively which set the tone for the game.”
DeYona Gaston led four Auburn starters in double figures with 18 points. Yuting Deng added 12 points and Taylen Collins scored 10 on 5-of-8 shooting.
“I make sure I’m prepared,” said Gaston, who was 8-for-13 from the field and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line. “It helps when my teammates can find me. I’m not going to be able to get those points if my teammates don’t find me. It’s really good to have sisters like that.”
Leading 12-8 after the first quarter, the Tigers scored the first eight points of the second quarter, taking a 10-point lead on Bostic’s steal and assist to Collins for a jump shot.
Bostic continued to push the pace, finding Gaston in transition cap a 10-0 Auburn run.
Auburn shut out the Aggies from the 3:05 mark of the first quarter until 4:30 remained in the second quarter, during which the Tigers turned a two-point lead into a 12-point advantage.
Auburn led 28-14 at halftime, the Tigers’ best defensive showing in a half since holding Alabama to 12 points in 20 minutes on Feb. 17, 2019.
Auburn made five straight field goals in the third quarter while building a 21-point lead on Collins’ jumper.
Making her first Neville Arena start, Deng made Auburn’s only 3-pointer late in the third quarter to help the Tigers take a 15-point lead to the final period.
Any notion of an Aggie comeback dissipated quickly when Auburn scored the first nine points of the fourth quarter to push its lead to 24 before Texas A&M trimmed 11 points off its deficit down the stretch.
The Tigers forced 21 turnovers while committing only 10, leading to a 19-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
Sole Williams made 5 of 7 3-pointers to lead Texas A&M (10-12, 3-7) with 21 points.
Auburn (12-11, 3-7) travels for four of its next five games, beginning with the Tigers’ first trip to Norman, Oklahoma, to take on the 15th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners Monday at 7 p.m. CT at Lloyd Noble Center.
“Having an extra day to prepare for a tough Oklahoma team is going to help us,” Harris said. “We’re playing more our style. We have a tough stretch, three ranked opponents in a row.”
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer