SOUTH ORANGE, N.J.— Kaitlyn Duhon scored a career-high 20 points including five 3-pointers, but Seton Hall out-shot Auburn in the second half as the Tigers fell 69-63 on a snowy day in New Jersey.
Auburn (8-3) hit a season-high 11 3-pointers, but Seton Hall (6-3) was one better, hitting a season-high 12 of their own as the Pirates held off the Tigers’ comeback bid.
“We knew this stretch was going to be tough, but we’ve got to do a better job of starting basketball games,” Auburn head coach Larry Vickers said. “We’ve owned the first five minutes of every game, and today we did not. These two-hour basketball games, we’ve just got to do a better job of understanding every play means something.
“The second quarter was a little slow. This is back-to-back games we came out in the second quarter and just haven’t been locked in. We did some uncharacteristic things in the fourth quarter, gave up some untimely 3s in some bad spots. We’ve got to realize we’re going to play defense as a team and help each other. There’s a lot of one-on-one defense right now, and we’ve got to stop that.”
Trailing by seven with just over three minutes to play, the Tigers got within one on a Ja’Mia Harris 3-pointer – Auburn’s 11th of the day – with 1:49 remaining, cutting the deficit to 62-61. Seton Hall answered with a trey of their own to move back up by four just 20 seconds later.
Khady Leye got to the rim for a layup to make it 65-63 with under a minute to play, but for the second straight possession, the Pirates got an open look at 3 and nailed it, pushing the lead back to five. Auburn was unable to answer.
Duhon was a perfect 5-for-5 from 3-point range and also pulled down a team-leading eight rebounds.
Harris had 17 points with a pair of treys to go along with seven rebounds. A’riel Jackson finished with 10 points and a team-best four assists, and Khady Leye had eight points and seven rebounds.
After a difficult first half, the Tigers shot 52 percent in the second half (14-of-27), including a 7-of-13 clip (53.8%) from 3-point range. But free throws were an issue as the Tigers missed six second-half attempts and went 6-of-12 for the game.
Auburn won the rebounding battle 36-34, but Seton Hall turned 17 Tiger turnovers into 17 points while the Tigers were unable to get much going in transition, scoring just nine points off 15 Pirate turnovers.
After a first-minute Leye bucket put Auburn on the board, the Tigers went cold as Seton Hall built an 11-2 lead in the first four-plus minutes.
But the Tigers bounced back after a quick Vickers timeout, going on an 11-2 run of their own – paced by a pair of Sania Richardson 3-pointers - to close the period with the score tied at 13-all.
It was 15-all early in the second quarter before the Pirates went on a 12-2 run over the next four-plus minute to build a 27-18 lead.
Auburn scored twice on its next two possessions to get back within five as Seton Hall didn’t score for nearly four minutes. But a Pirate trey ended the drought, and Seton Hall took a 32-24 halftime lead.
The Pirate lead would grow to as many as 11 early in the third, but Auburn would go on a 13-4 run to get it back to a one-possession game at 41-39 with 3:19 left. It would be a 50-47 Seton Hall lead after three.
Mariana Valenzuela led Seton Hall with 20 points, and Savannah Catalon added 15. Each knocked down four 3-pointers on the day.
Auburn is back in action Tuesday, Dec. 16, on the road at Middle Tennessee. Game time is 6:30 p.m. at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn.