STARKVILLE, Miss.— Auburn women’s basketball came up short in its SEC opener as Mississippi State pulled away in the second half for a 75-53 win Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum.
“After they made their run in the third, we really fell apart,” Auburn head coach Larry Vickers said. “And that’s disappointing. I’ve got to do a better job keeping us together. We got it to four points, then we gave up offensive rebound after offensive rebound. Instead of us coming together, we began to fall apart and we can’t do that. We’ve got to do a good job staying on the glass, winning our one-on-ones. You can’t beat a good basketball team giving up 16 offensive rebounds.”
Kaitlyn Duhon was stellar on the defensive end, matching a career-high with seven steals to go along with 10 points, four rebounds, an assist and a block. Harissoum Coulibaly led the Tigers with 14 points along with a pair of steals.
After missing all of non-conference play with an injury, Quanirah Montague made her Auburn debut against her former team. She made an immediate impact with two blocked shots in the first quarter and finished with seven points, a team-leading seven rebounds, three blocks and a pair of steals.
“I would have thought only turning the ball over 14 times, we would have come out of here with a win,” Vickers said. “But that speaks to some of our shots not going in. Duhon, Quanirah, I thought they did a good job defensively, same thing with Khady Leye. But we’ve got to convert on some of those opportunities. Possessions that will break the other team’s momentum. And when we had those opportunities, we would miss a layup and give up a layup. It’s tough to win basketball games like that.
MSU led 14-7 after one quarter as Auburn struggled from the field early. The Bulldogs pushed their lead to as many as 15 late in the second, but Auburn finished the quarter on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to just nine at halftime, 32-23.
Auburn kept up the pressure on defense and found its way to the free-throw line early in the third, pulling as close as four points at 37-33 with just over six minutes remaining. But the Tigers would make just one more shot over the next six-plus minutes while MSU pushed its lead back to double-digits.
Coulibaly would get a rebound and sprint the length of the court to beat the third-quarter buzzer to make it 52-39 after three.
The fourth quarter, however, was all Bulldogs. An 11-point game with 8:30 to play turned into a 28-point lead as MSU went on a 19-2 run over five-plus minutes to put the game out of reach.
Auburn shot 35 percent from the field (19-54) and made just two of 15 3-point attempts. MSU was 27-of-59 from the floor (46%) and 7-of-21 from 3-point range (33%). The Bulldogs controlled the boards, out-rebounding Auburn 46-24.
The Tigers turned 16 MSU turnovers into 21 points and had 14 steals to MSU’s two.
Trayanna Crisp led State with 17 points, and Madison Francis recorded her second straight double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds.
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.