AUBURN, Ala.— Looking for their first 5-0 start to a season in nine years, the Auburn women’s basketball team plays its fourth of five straight home games Monday night when the Tigers host Georgia State at Neville Arena.
Game time is 6 p.m. CT; arena doors open at 5 p.m.
Monday’s game is Fan Appreciation Night. Fans in attendance can register for a chance to win one of three autographed basketballs signed by Head Coach Larry Vickers and the rest of the Tigers.
The Tigers (4-0) are coming off a fun-filled 110-50 win over Mississippi Valley State on Thursday where more than 3,000 local schoolchildren created a memorable environment in Neville Arena. Georgia State (2-2) is playing its third straight road game; the Panthers dropped an overtime heartbreaker at Furman last week.
Tickets are available in advance by visiting AUBTix.com and can also be purchased at the arena ticket office on gameday.
PARKING INFO
›› The Neville Arena parking lot is a reserved permit-only lot for premium reserved season-ticket holders. This lot will only be accessible with a parking pass or an ADA hang tag. Parking for all other fans is available in the Campus Safety Lot, Coliseum Lot and Stadium Deck.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen and Larry DiChiara will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 5:45 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 Brad Law and hall-of fame coach Joe Ciampi calling the action. SECN+ is available via the ESPN app or WatchESPN.com.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Energized by more than 3,000 frequently screaming schoolchildren on Education Day, Auburn taught Mississippi Valley a lesson in full-court pressure, defeating the Devilettes 110-50 Thursday at Neville Arena.
›› Thursday’s crowd of 5,769 fans was the fourth-largest for a women’s basketball game at Neville Arena and set a record for attendance at an Auburn non-conference home game.
›› Khady Leye would lead six Tigers in double figures with a career-high 20 points to go along with seven rebounds. Arek Angui recorded her first career double-double, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Give Auburn a 5-0 start for the first time since the 2016-17 season.
›› Improve Auburn to 8-7 all-time against Georgia State.
›› Be Auburn’s 25th win in its last 27 non-conference home games.
AUBURN-GEORGIA STATE SERIES
›› Auburn and Georgia State have met 14 times, but this is the first meeting since 1987.
›› The teams are even with seven wins apiece in the series that dates back to 1975-76. The Tigers are 4-2 in home games.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
›› Georgia State is 2-2 on the season. The Panthers have wins over Oglethorpe and Wofford with losses to Mississippi State and Furman to start the season.
›› Last season, GSU went 17-16 overall and 8-10 in Sun Belt play.
›› The Panthers average 83.5 points per game while allowing 76.3. GSU ranks 11th nationally in steals per game with 16.8.
›› Crystal Henderson leads GSU with 18.8 points per game. Morgan Robinson-Nwagwu - who played her first two seasons at Auburn - is the Panthers’ leading rebounder with 7.5 per game.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 4-0 for the first time since 2016-17 after wins over Charlotte, Alabama State, UNC Greensboro and Mississippi Valley State to open the season.
›› Mya Petticord, a senior transfer from Rutgers, had her best game in two years with 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting (3-4 3FG) in the win over Alabama State. She followed that up with a team-leading 18 points (4-7 3FG) in the win over UNCG. She averages 12.8 points and his shooting 56.3% from 3-point range.
›› Ja’Mia Harris leads the Tigers with 13.8 points and is second on the team with 5.0 rebounds per game, scoring in double figures in three of the first four games. She shared the team lead with 19 points and led the Tigers with 8 rebounds in the win at Charlotte Nov. 3, then scored 16 with four 3-pointers in the win over Alabama State. She followed that up with a pair of 3-pointers on an 11-point night - along with 7 rebounds - vs. UNCG.
›› Redshirt junior Kaitlyn Duhon, one of two returners on the team, scored a season-high 16 points vs. Mississippi Valley State, one shy of a career-high. She scored 14 points in the opener at Charlotte and matched a career-high with four assists. She then matched her scoring output with 14 against Alabama State, along with a career-high 5 steals. She leads the Tigers in steals with 3.3 per game.
›› Sophomore Khady Leye scored a career-high 20 points in the win over MVSU. Just prior to that, she had her best game so far with 11 points and 5 rebounds vs. UNCG on Monday. She had three blocks and three steals in each of the first two games. Leye was a four-time conference rookie of the week honoree last season at Towson, where she averaged 9.9 points and a team-leading 7.2 rebounds per game.
›› True freshman Harissoum Coulibaly made a splash in her college debut Nov. 3 at Charlotte, scoring a team-leading 19 points with nine of those coming in the pivotal overtime period. She added 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists vs. MVSU. She is averaging 11.0 points and 4.3 rebounds through four games. She came to the U.S. from Paris, France, and she played high school basketball at S3 Academy in Virginia.
›› 6-9 redshirt freshmen Arek Angui notched her first career double-double with career-highs 11 points and 11 rebounds vs. Mississippi Valley State. She came from Central Florida, where she appeared in two games as a true freshman last year. She made her first appearance for Auburn against Alabama State Nov. 8 and pulled down a team-leading 8 rebounds along with 3 points. Originally from South Sudan, she played one season of high school basketball at Greenforest Academy in Georgia.
›› Sophomore Syriah Daniels, the Tigers’ second returning player, scored 10 points with four rebounds and two steals vs. MVSU. She played in 28 games last year, starting six, and averaged 3.6 points and 1.5 rebounds.
›› Senior guard A’riel Jackson knocked down three first-half treys, scoring 9 points with a team-best 4 assists vs. UNCG. She made her first Auburn start at Charlotte, scoring five points with three rebounds and two steals. She then had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists against Alabama State.
›› Senior guard Angena Belloso transferred from FIU where she played in 57 games the last 2 years. She averaged 7.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists as a junior. She scored her first Auburn bucket against Alabama State Nov. 8 and scored a season-best 5 points vs. MVSU.
›› Junior Clara Koulibaly came from the junior college ranks, where she started all 28 games last season at Gulf Coast State CC and averaged 12.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. She has played in all three games so far, averaging 2.3 rebounds.
›› Junior forward Quanirah Montague appeared in all 34 games last year for Mississippi State, averaging 4.6 points and 3.7 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per game.
MORE THAN JUST THE 6-7 THING
›› The Tigers put together one of their most complete offensive games in years in their 110-50 win over Mississippi Valley State on Nov. 13. Among the highlights:
›› Six players scored in double-figures; that hadn’t happened since the 2018-19 season-opener vs. Grambling.
›› Auburn shot 59.4% from the field, their best since shooting 62.2% vs. Virginia-Lynchburg in 2024, and their best against a Division I opponent since shooting 60.4% vs. Oklahoma State on Dec. 5, 2021.
›› From 3-point range, the Tigers were 9-of-13 for 69.2%. That’s the best 3-point percentage with at least 10 attempts since the Tigers went 12-of-17 (.706) vs. Colgate on Dec. 5, 2007.
›› With more than 3,000 students from Auburn City and Opelika City schools in attendance, the announced crowd of 5,769 was the fourth-largest in Neville Arena history and the largest-ever for an Auburn home non-conference game.
›› Oh yeah, the 6-7 thing: when Khady Leye made a free throw in the third quarter to give Auburn its 67th point, the schoolchildren in attendance lost their collective minds. The reaction was captured by the War Eagle Productions crew and went viral, garnering more than 10 million views on ESPN’s main Instagram page and hundreds of thousands more on Auburn’s social media channels.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn wraps up its five-game homestand Thursday night when the Tigers host Big Ten foe Rutgers. Game time is 6 p.m. CT.