AUBURN, Ala.— The 46th season of SEC women’s basketball begins on New Year’s Day as Auburn travels to Starkville to take on Mississippi State. Game time is 6:30 p.m. at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Tigers (11-3) look to build on three straight wins to close out the non-conference season. Auburn picked up its 11th win Monday at home over Jackson State, clamping down on defense in the second half and holding JSU to just 15 points over the final 20 minutes.
Mississippi State (13-1) has won nine straight coming into Thursday’s league opener. The Bulldogs defeated Samford 112-54 Sunday in their final non-conference tune-up.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 6:15 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 +, available via the ESPN app or WatchESPN.com.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Mya Petticord matched her season high with 21 points to lead Auburn to a 64-48 win over Jackson State in a Monday matinee at Neville Arena to conclude nonconference competition.
›› Ja’Mia Harris and Sania Richardson each added 12 points to help Auburn improve to 7-1 at home.
›› Auburn held Jackson State to just 15 points in the second half, leading by as many as 20 in the fourth quarter.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be Auburn’s first win in Starkville since 2014.
›› Be Auburn’s first win in an SEC opener since the 2017-18 season.
›› Be the Tigers’ second win over Mississippi State in the last four meetings.
AUBURN-MISSISSIPPI STATE SERIES
›› Auburn is 36-28 all-time against Mississippi State, but the Bulldogs have controlled the series over the last 11 years, winning 13 of the last 14. MSU won both meetings last season.
LAST MEETING: March 2, 2025 in Auburn
Mississippi State 73, Auburn 66
›› In their Neville Arena finales, DeYona Gaston scored 33 points and Mar’Shaun Bostic posted a Senior Day double-double, but Mississippi State took control in the second half and defeated Auburn 73-66 Sunday at Neville Arena.
›› Bostic flirted with a triple-double, totaling 13 points, a career-high 10 rebounds and eight assists. In her fifth 30-point game of the season, Gaston was 13-for-23 from the field and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line.
›› Auburn led for the entire first half, but the Tigers found themselves on the wrong end of a 10-0 run to start the third quarter, with Mississippi State hitting its first two 3-point attempts to take its first lead of the game, forcing an Auburn timeout at the 8:23 mark.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
›› Mississippi State is 13-1 on the season with their lone loss coming to Texas Tech, who is currently unbeaten and nationally ranked.
›› Auburn and MSU had seven common opponents in the non-conference season. Both teams went 7-0 against those foes - Georgia State, Mississippi Valley State, Jackson State, Alcorn State, Middle Tennessee, Charlotte and Alabama State.
›› The Bulldogs are top-25 nationally in both scoring offense (19th - 83.0) and scoring defense (21st - 53.8). They also rank in the nation’s top 25 in blocks per game (12th - 6.1), field goal percentage (16th - 48.3), field goal percentage defense (12th - 33.6), rebounds per game (9th - 46.1) and rebound margin (5th - 15.0).
›› Favour Nwaedozi leads MSU in scoring (14.6 ppg) and rebounding (10.7 rpg). She ranks 11th nationally in rebounds and has seven double-doubles this year. Madison Francis is the SEC leader in blocked shots with 3.2 per game.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 11-3 on the year, winning its last three games against Middle Tennessee, Alcorn State and Jackson State.
›› The Tigers rank 17th nationally in scoring defense, holding opponents to 53.7 points per game. Auburn also ranks 32nd nationally in steals per game (12.0) and 29th in field goal percentage defense (35.2).
›› True freshman Harissoum Coulibaly averages a team-best 10.9 points per game mostly off the bench. She was named SEC Freshman of the Week Dec. 23 after averaging 15.0 points in the two wins over MTSU and Alcorn. She also shoots a team-best 54.6% 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 averages 9.9 points per game. One of the top defenders in the SEC, she also leads the Tigers with 3.5 steals per game, which ranks 6th in the SEC and 15th nationally. Duhon scored a career-high 20 points and was 5-of-5 from 3-point range at Seton Hall Dec. 14. She also had a career-best 7 steals in the win over Cal on Nov. 26, then had 15 points and six steals at Syracuse Dec. 3. Against Georgia State, she matched a career-high with 8 rebounds.
›› Sophomore Khady Leye has been steady, averaging 9.4 points and a team-best 5.6 rebounds. She 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. She had three blocks and three steals in each of the first two games.
›› Sophomore Syriah Daniels dazzled in her first start of the season at MTSU, setting or matching career-highs with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks in the win. She also 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.
›› Mya Petticord, a senior transfer from Rutgers,matched a season high with 21 points, hitting 4-of-5 3s to lead Auburn in the win over Jackson State. She 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 averages 10.8 points per game and is one of the nation’s top free-throw shooters at 91.2% (31-34).
›› 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, and she had 17 points and 7 rebounds at Seton Hall.
›› Senior guard A’riel Jackson scored a season-high 17 points, going 7-11 from the field and 3-3 from 3-point range to lead the Tigers in their win over Cal Nov. 26. Two days earlier, she scored a season-high 12 points in the win over UTSA. Jackson knocked down three first-half treys, scoring 9 points with a team-best 4 assists vs. UNCG. She then had 8 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists against Alabama State.
›› Freshman Sania Richardson had the best game of her young career with 12 points in the win over Jackson State. She averages 4.2 points off the bench and is becoming one of Auburn’s top 3-point threats.
›› 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 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.
›› Senior guard Angena Belloso transferred from FIU where she played in 57 games the last 2 years. She scored a season-high 10 points, all in the second quarter, in Auburn’s game with Oregon Nov. 30.
›› 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 scored a season-high 4 points in the win over Cal.
›› 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 made her Auburn debut with three minutes of action at MTSU. She played in 16 games at Georgia College last year as a freshman.
DEFENSE IS OUR STRENGTH
›› Through games of Dec. 29, Auburn ranks 8th in the SEC and 17th nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 53.7 points per game.
›› All 14 opponents on Auburn’s schedule have been held below their season scoring average, and two have been held to season-lows.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn opens the home portion of its SEC schedule Sunday, Jan. 4, as they welcome No. 23 Tennessee to Neville Arena. Game time is 3 p.m. CT.