GREENVILLE, S.C. – A defensive struggle did not go Auburn’s way Wednesday night as Florida eliminated the Tigers from the SEC Tournament 60-50 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
The Tigers struggled to find an offensive rhythm and were unable to capitalize on an equally poor shooting night by the Gators.
“I thought their point guard play tonight was better than our point guard play,” Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris said. “(Florida’s) point guard (Liv McGill) came out with a vengeance. She came out and controlled the game.”
In her final game as a Tiger, DeYona Gaston led Auburn with 16 points and 11 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. It was the 23rd time in 30 games for the Houston native to lead Auburn in scoring.
“This team embraced her,” Harris said of Gaston. “I think she embraced that role (as a leader). That’s what she wanted to do, and she did that. She’s always the first one in the gym. She has a pro mentality. She helped our team grow.”
Gaston finished her one season at Auburn with 646 points, the third-most in a single-season in program history. She will also finish this season with 257 made field goals, two shy of the single-season program record. For her collegiate career, which included four years at the University of Texas, she scored 1,605 points and had 701 rebounds.
“I really just had fun with everybody, my teammates, my coaches,” Gaston said of her one year on the Plains. “They gave me a really good opportunity to embrace my athletic abilities. It was good to do that because I came a long way, especially with injuries. It felt so good to play my game.”
Yuting Deng added 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers on the night. Oyindamola Akinbolawa scored nine and Taylen Collins had seven.
It was a tough offensive night for the Tigers as they shot a season-low 29.9 percent from the field (20-67) and made just two of 13 3-point attempts. Both teams thrived on second-chance attempts – Auburn scored 19 points off 23 offensive rebounds, and Florida had 23 points on 17 offensive boards.
The difference came at the free-throw line – Florida was a stellar 21-of-23 while Auburn went 8-for-12.
Trailing by six early in the fourth, a Collins layup and a pair of Gaston free throws cut the deficit to just two points at 48-46 with just under seven minutes to play. But from there, Auburn made just one field goal the rest of the way, missing 11 of their final 12 shot attempts.
Florida was equally cold, making just one shot over the last eight minutes of the game, but the Gators made 10-of-11 free throw attempts down the stretch to pull away for the win.
A jumper from Jordan Hunter tied the game 36-all just before the halfway mark of the third quarter, and the Tigers took their first lead since the first quarter at 38-36 on a midrange jumper from Gaston with 4:07 left.
But after another Gaston basket kept Auburn ahead by two with 2:35 left, Florida ended the third quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 44-40 lead after 30 minutes of play.
A low-scoring first half saw the Gators take a 27-25 lead at the break. Florida pushed a four-point first quarter lead to eight with the first two buckets of the second, both coming more than three minutes into the period.
Deng knocked down her second trey of the game to end a five-minute drought for the Tigers, and back-to-back scores from Gaston and Collins late in the period cut the deficit to two at the break.
The Tigers’ season comes to an end at 12-18 overall.
“This team continued to fight back,” Harris said. “People didn’t see the challenges we had. Missing starters. A lot of injuries. A lot of days where didn’t have players in practice. But they continued to bounce back.
“I’m really proud of them for staying the course and continuing to fight and bounce back. It was extremely challenging. It was not what we were planning for. It takes a level of toughness to do that when you have so much adversity. So I’m excited for the future of this team, the players we have coming in and the players we have coming back.”