FRISCO, Texas— Thanksgiving week finds the Auburn women’s basketball team in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex as the Tigers compete in the Hoopfest Challenge.
Auburn will take on UTSA at 4 p.m. Monday then face California at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Comerica Center in Frisco.
The Tigers (6-0) look to build on their best start to a season in more than a decade. UTSA (2-2) comes into the week with two straight wins, and Cal (5-1) has won five straight since dropping their opener to Vanderbilt in Paris.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call of both games on ESPN 106.7 FM, beginning 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time. The broadcasts can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› The games can be seen on FloCollege; the video stream requires a subscription.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Improving to 6-0 for the first time in 17 years, Auburn shut out Rutgers for most of the third quarter and held the Scarlet Knights without a field goal for 16 minutes and 39 seconds to win 51-46 Thursday at Neville Arena.
›› With Auburn leading by three points in the final minute, former Rutgers guard Mya Petticord secured the victory for her new team at the expense of her former one, driving for a layup that gave Auburn a five-point lead with 10 seconds to go.
›› Khady Leye led the Tigers with 14 points and shared the team lead with six rebounds. Harissoum Coulibaly added 12 points to help Auburn start the season 6-0 for the first time since 2008-09.
AUBURN-UTSA SERIES
›› Auburn and UTSA have met just once before. The Tigers defeated UTSA 73-50 on Dec. 30, 2001, in San Diego, California.
LAST MEETING: Dec. 30, 2001, in San Diego
Auburn 73, UTSA 50
›› Auburn used a big first half to pull away early for a 73-50 win over UTSA in the third-place game of the Surf ‘n Slam Classic in San Diego, Calif.
›› Three Tigers scored in double figures, led by LaKeisha Johnson with 14 points. Carol Smith scored 11 and Tia Miller added 10.
›› Auburn led 37-16 at the half, thanks to forcing 15 turnovers and holding UTSA to 26.1% shooting in the first 20 minutes.
AUBURN-CALIFORNIA SERIES
›› Auburn and Cal will be meeting for the third time with the last two meetings coming each of the last two seasons. The Golden Bears won the previous two meetings, at Auburn in 2023 and in Berkeley last season.
LAST MEETING: Nov. 24, 2024, in Berkeley
Cal 63, Auburn 59
›› Auburn’s defense forced Cal into a season-high 29 turnovers, but the Tigers could not hold a late lead as the Golden Bears rallied for a 63-59 win at Haas Pavilion.
›› The Tigers led 57-51 with less than five minutes to play but went cold down the stretch, not scoring again until the closing seconds as Cal finished the game on a 12-2 run.
›› DeYona Gaston led Auburn with 16 points to go along with six rebounds. Taylen Collins hit double-digits with 13 points and seven rebounds, and Celia Sumbane led Auburn on the boards with eight to go along with seven points.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 6-0 for the first time since 2008-09 after wins over Charlotte, Alabama State, UNC Greensboro, Mississippi Valley State, Georgia State and Rutgers to open the season.
›› Mya Petticord, a senior transfer from Rutgers, hit the game-winning shot against her former team, hitting a driving layup with 10 seconds left to clinch the Tigers’ win Nov. 20. She 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. Petticord is also one of 16 players nationally to not have missed a free throw, going 16-for-16 on the year.
›› True freshman Harissoum Coulibaly leads the Tigers with 12.5 points per game off the bench, and she also shoots a team-best 61.7% from the field. She led Auburn with 19 points, matching a season-best, in the win over Georgia State Nov. 17. She 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 came to the U.S. from Paris, France, and she played high school basketball at S3 Academy in Virginia.
›› Redshirt junior Kaitlyn Duhon, one of two returners on the team, leads the Tigers with 3.0 steals per game. She 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. Against Georgia State, she matched a career-high with 8 rebounds.
›› Ja’Mia Harris scored 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.
›› Sophomore Khady Leye scored a career-high 20 points in the win over MVSU, then she recorded her first Auburn double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds vs. Georgia State. She added a team-leading 14 points in the win over Rutgers Nov. 20. Earlier, 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.
›› 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.
›› Sophomore guard Eva Garabadian joined the Tigers as a walk-on in mid-November and dressed for the first time vs. Rutgers. She played in 16 games at Georgia College last year as a freshman.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn returns home to face its third major conference opponent in four games when the Oregon Ducks visit Neville Arena Sunday, Nov. 30. Game time is 2 p.m. CT.