AUBURN, Ala.— Off to its first 5-0 start in nearly a decade, Auburn beat Georgia State 69-65 Monday at Neville Arena, thanks to a fast freshman from France.
Harissoum Coulibaly matched her career high with 19 points, making 8 of 11 shots and delivering
for her team time and again.
C’est magnifique.
“Harissoum’s special. I don’t know if anybody’s faster, especially when she dips her shoulders,” Auburn coach Larry Vickers said. “We want to be better on every possession. We’ve been in situations with overtime and two close ones at home where we’ve managed to buckle down and make free throws or get stops late. That’s going to pay dividends in the long term.”
Overcoming a slow start that saw Auburn miss its first six shots while going scoreless for the first five minutes, Coulibaly sparked the Tigers off the bench, using her quickness to score two transition buckets.
“I wasn’t excited the way we started,” Vickers said. “We looked a little slow, a little lackadaisical. I’d like to see more fight on every possession.”
A’riel Jackson beat the buzzer to give the Tigers a 13-9 after the first quarter.
Coulibaly continued to lead Auburn in the second quarter, hitting the Tigers’ only first-half 3-pointer to tie the score at 18-18, accounting for half of her team’s scoring to that point.
“She’s a special player and she’s going to score,” Vickers said. “I don’t want to throw too much at her too fast. She’s playing starter minutes, which is the most important thing. We’ll just call her our sixth starter.”
Kaitlyn “Downhill” Duhon broke the tie with a steal and layup, then capped a 6-0 run with a putback that helped the Tigers take a six-point halftime lead.
Leading 28-22 at the half, Jackson’s layup early in the third quarter gave Auburn an 11-point lead, its largest of the game.
Kaleigh Addie bookended a 12-0 Georgia State run with a pair of 3-pointers that put the Panthers ahead 38-37. Georgia State’s Crystal Henderson led all scorers with 21 points.
“Some teams would’ve folded at that point,” Vickers said. “We have to prevent some of those runs. We’ve got to come out with a level of attention to detail. We have to have a different mentality on every possession to eliminate those runs.”
Coulibaly’s speed again factored decisively when the point guard from Paris ended the run with back-to-back baskets on a contested drive and a transition layup.
Mya Petticord hit Auburn’s second buzzer to put the Tigers up 51-44 after three quarters.
The Panthers (2-3) opened the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run to pull within one point before Coulibaly came to the rescue once more, driving past defenders to get to the rim.
Coulibaly and Khady Leye keyed an 8-0 Auburn run that gave the Tigers a 59-50 advantage before the Panthers made their final push, scoring five straight points to get within four on Henderson’s 3-pointer with 4:27 to play.
Leye recorded her first Auburn double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Coulibaly’s final basket – another tough drive off the glass – put the Tigers back up by six before a last-minute rally pulled the Panthers within two points.
Duhon secured Auburn’s victory with a pair of free throws with nine seconds remaining to finish with 13 points and eight rebounds to help the Tigers claim the rebounding battle 41-30.
Equaling its best start since 2016-17, Auburn (5-0) concludes its five-game homestand Thursday at 6 p.m. CT when Rutgers comes to Neville Arena for an SEC-Big Ten matchup.
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on X: @jeff_shearer