MURFREESBORO, Tenn.— Syriah Daniels matched a career-high with 14 points, and Auburn’s women got it done at both ends of the court in a 68-52 win over Middle Tennessee Tuesday night at the Murphy Center.
The Tigers (9-3) shot 57 percent from the floor and converted 25 MTSU turnovers into 28 points as Auburn snapped a three-game skid and won on the road for the second time this year.
“(Defense) is our calling card at this point,” Auburn head coach Larry Vickers said. “Especially in the first half. We held that team to 15 points in the first half, and that’s a good basketball team. We did a good job locking into the scout, and personnel-wise, taking away their strength.”
Daniels, making her first start of the season, scored 14 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including a career-best three 3-pointers. The Auburn High product also set or matched career-highs with six rebounds – four of them on the offensive glass – four assists, two steals and two blocked shots.
“Late last night, I was going through some (clips) of our players who haven’t played much this year,” Vickers said. “I watched some the UAB game from last year … and Syriah did a good job defending similar players. She kind of plays behind Duhon in our rotation, who plays 30-plus minutes a game. So it was good to see her play a different position, and she did an excellent job.”
Harissoum Coulibaly, also making her first start, led the Tigers with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting. She matched Daniels with four assists and a pair of steals.
Khady Leye had six rebounds along with seven points, Kaitlyn Duhon had eight points, and Sania Richardson swiped a career-best four steals along with five points.
Auburn’s offense did it inside and outside, controlling the paint with 28 points to MTSU’s 12 and hitting 6-of-12 3-point attempts. The Tigers’ 57-percent clip (25-of-44) was just shy of a season-high, and the Tigers recorded 13 assists on their 25 made field goals.
“That assist number was high,” Vickers said. “That’s the number on the stat sheet that will tell you how we played. We moved the ball, we got some fast-break transitions. Sania did a good job getting some easy layups for Harissoum. The two freshmen, they did a good job tonight.”
Auburn flexed its defensive muscle throughout the first half, forcing the Blue Raiders into multiple shot clock violations and several more rushed attempts late in the clock. The Tigers converted 14 MTSU turnovers into 17 points in the opening half.
But it wasn’t just defense as the Tigers shot 62 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
MTSU scored the first bucket of the game, but after a Jackson jumper and a pair of Duhon free throws minutes later, Auburn never trailed again. The Blue Raiders were held to just 2 points through the first seven minutes, and the Tigers led 13-9 after one period.
Defense continued to rule the day as Auburn smothered the Blue Raiders throughout the second quarter, holding MTSU scoreless for more than eight minutes as the Tigers opened the quarter on a 19-0 run.
A Coulibaly jumper, giving her 10 points in the quarter, beat the halftime buzzer to push the Auburn lead to 35-15.
The second half saw Auburn maintain its advantage, pushing its lead to as much as 27 points before the Blue Raiders knocked down some late shots to cut the final margin to 16.
Sophomore walk-on Eva Garabadian made her Auburn debut, playing three minutes in the fourth quarter.
Auburn is back at home for the first time in 18 days when the Tigers take on Alcorn State Thursday, Dec. 18. Game time is 6 p.m. at Neville Arena. Thursday’s game is The Plains Holiday Classic – fans are encouraged to bring a stuffed animal for the Teddy Bear Toss at halftime.