GREENVILLE, S.C. – The postseason begins for Auburn women’s basketball Wednesday night as the Tigers are in Greenville, South Carolina, for the 2025 SEC Tournament.
The Tigers, seeded 14th, will take on 11th-seeded Florida at approximately 7:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. ET in the final game of the first round at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
Auburn looks to pick up a win in the SEC Tournament for the second straight season; the Tigers defeated Arkansas in their first game last season before falling to LSU in the quarterfinals.
In the regular season meeting between the teams, Auburn won 74-51 at home on Jan. 26 behind 18 points from DeYona Gaston and a then-career high 16 from Yuting Deng.
This will be the 12th time for Auburn and Florida to square off in postseason play; the Tigers own an 8-3 advantage over the Gators in the SEC Tournament.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 7:15 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 Courtney Lyle and Carolyn Peck calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› In their Neville Arena finales, DeYona Gaston scored 33 points and Mar’Shaun Bostic posted a Senior Day double-double, but Mississippi State took control in the second half and defeated Auburn 73-66 Sunday at Neville Arena.
›› Bostic flirted with a triple-double, totaling 13 points, a career-high 10 rebounds and eight assists. In her fifth 30-point game of the season, Gaston was 13-for-23 from the field and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line.
›› Auburn led for the entire first half, but the Tigers found themselves on the wrong end of a 10-0 run to start the third quarter, with Mississippi State hitting its first two 3-point attempts to take its first lead of the game, forcing an Auburn timeout at the 8:23 mark.
AUBURN IN THE SEC TOURNAMENT
›› This is the 46th appearance in the SEC Tournament for Auburn. The Tigers are 40-43 all-time and own four SEC Tournament titles in 1981, 1987, 1990 and 1997.
›› This is coach Johnnie Harris’ fourth appearance in the SEC Tournament as a head coach. She had been part of 11 previous SEC Tournaments as an assistant coach at Arkansas and Mississippi State. She helped lead MSU to the 2019 tournament title in Greenville, S.C.
›› Auburn is the No.14 seed for the second time, the first in the new 16-team format.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Snap a six-game losing streak.
›› Be Auburn’s fourth straight win over Florida.
›› Give Auburn an SEC Tournament win for the second straight season.
SERIES HISTORY VS. FLORIDA
›› This is the 68th meeting between Auburn and Florida in women’s basketball. The Tigers own a 41-26 advantage in the all-time series that dates back to the 1973-74 season. Auburn is 8-3 against the Gators in the SEC Tournament.
LAST MEETING: Jan. 26, 2025, in Auburn
Auburn 74, Florida 51
›› Auburn started fast and never trailed, capitalizing on four 3-pointers and a career-high 16 points from freshman Yuting Deng to defeat Florida 74-51 at Neville Arena.
›› Deyona Gaston led Auburn with 18 points. Celia Sumbane added 12. Mar’Shaun Bostic had a career-high 11 assists, scored nine points and was a staggering plus-35 in more than 32 minutes of playing time. Taylen Collins led Auburn with 12 rebounds while adding eight points.
›› The Tigers scored the game’s first 10 points, shutting out the Gators for nearly seven and a half minutes while forcing nine early turnovers and six missed shots. The Tigers scored 15 consecutive points, capping the run on Bostic’s and-one layup to lead by 22 late in the half.
SCOUTING THE GATORS
›› Florida finished the regular season 14-16 overall and 5-11 in SEC play.
›› The Gators average 75.4 points per game but give up 71.4.
›› Freshman Liv McGill leads Florida with 16.2 points per game. Ra Shaya Kyle averages 8.7 rebounds and shoots over 60% from the floor.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 12-17 overall, 3-13 in SEC play. The Tigers have held 21 of 28 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 third in the SEC. She leads the Tigers with 22.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. She has 16 games this season with 20 or more points and five 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 seven 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 13th nationally with 6.0 assists per game. In SEC play, she tied for the league lead in steals with 2.9/game and was second in assists (6.4/game). She’s had five or more assists in 22 of 29 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 three double-doubles, the latest coming with 13 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists vs. Mississippi State.
›› Freshman Yuting Deng, named to the SEC All-Freshman Team, 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 7.9 points and 4.6 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 not played since suffering an injury 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. Akinbolawa returned to the starting lineup at Georgia.
UP NEXT
›› With a win, Auburn would face No. 19 Alabama in the SEC Tournament second round at 7:30 p.m. CT Thursday.