AUBURN, Ala.— Auburn women’s basketball faces its toughest test so far of the 2025-26 season when the Tigers travel to Austin to take on the No. 2-ranked Texas Longhorns. Game time is 7 p.m. CT Thursday at the Moody Center.
The Tigers (11-5, 0-2 SEC) take on a Texas team (17-0, 2-0) that’s one of four remaining unbeatens in Division I. Auburn’s defense, ranked 34th nationally, looks to slow down a Texas offense that ranks third in the nation in scoring.
Auburn is coming off a home loss to No. 23 Tennessee Sunday, 73-56, while Texas had to hold on for a 67-64 win over No. 15 Ole Miss.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 6:45 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 + with David Saltzman, Fran Harris and Andrea Lloyd calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn forced 25 turnovers and held No. 23 Tennessee eight points below its scoring average, but the Lady Vols spoiled the Tigers’ SEC home opener, winning 73-56 Sunday at Neville Arena.
›› Khady Leye led Auburn with 14 points on 7-for-14 shooting while grabbing a team-high six rebounds.
›› Auburn outscored Tennessee 18-12 in the fourth quarter to account for the 17-point final margin. Freshman Harissoum Coulibaly missed the game with an injury.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Be Auburn’s first ranked win since Jan. 14, 2024 (67-62 vs. #7 LSU)
›› Be Auburn’s first top-5 win since defeating No. 4 Tennessee on Jan. 25, 2022.
›› Be Auburn’s first road win over a top-5 team since Feb. 25, 1989 (86-76 at #5 Georgia).
›› Be the first win by an SEC opponent at the Moody Center.
›› Improve the Tigers to 3-0 in the state of Texas this season.
AUBURN-TEXAS SERIES
›› This is just the third meeting between Auburn and Texas in women’s basketball. The Tigers and Longhorns met in the 1999 NCAA Tournament in Blacksburg, Va., with Auburn winning 69-61 in the first round. The teams met for the first time as conference foes last season at Neville Arena; No. 7 Texas won 74-57.
LAST MEETING: Jan. 16, 2025, at Auburn
No. 7 Texas 74, Auburn 57
›› Mar’Shaun Bostic and DeYona Gaston combined for 36 points and Auburn started and finished strong, but No. 7 Texas won 74-57 at Neville Arena in the programs’ first SEC meeting.
›› Bostic scored a season-high 18 points for the second straight game, adding six assists, five steals and four rebounds before fouling out. Gaston, who played the previous four seasons at Texas, scored 14 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter on 6-of-7 shooting against her former team.
›› Auburn outscored Texas 23-15 in the fourth quarter, shaving 11 points off a 25-point deficit on three occasions.
SCOUTING THE LONGHORNS
›› Texas is one of four remaining unbeaten teams in the country at 17-0 overall, 2-0 in SEC play. The Longhorns are No. 2 in both the AP and Coaches’ polls.
›› The Longhorns are the nation’s leader in turnover margin (+14.7), second in assist/turnover ratio (1.9) and second in scoring margin (+38.4). The have the nation’s third-best scoring offense at 91.6 points per game and hold opponents to 53.2/game, 11th-best nationally.
›› Madison Booker, last year’s SEC Player of the Year, leads Texas with 19.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Rori Harmon, one of the nation’s top point guards, is fifth nationally with 7.6 assists/game and leads the nation in assist/turnover radio (5.4).
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 11-5 on the year, dropping its first two SEC games of the season to Mississippi State and Tennessee.
›› The Tigers rank 34th nationally in scoring defense, holding opponents to 56.3 points per game. Auburn also ranks 29th nationally in steals per game (12.1) and 31st in turnovers forced (21.7/game). Auburn averages 21.8 points off opponent turnovers.
›› True freshman Harissoum Coulibaly averages a team-best 11.1 points per game mostly off the bench; however, she has started three of the last five games. 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 53.3% 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 9.8 points per game. One of the top defenders in the SEC, she also leads the Tigers with 3.7 steals per game, which ranks 3rd in the SEC and 9th 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. She matched her career-high in steals with 7 at Mississippi State on Jan. 1.
›› Sophomore Khady Leye has been steady, averaging 9.4 points and a team-best 5.4 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 and matched that 14-point total against Tennessee Jan. 4.
›› 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 10.1 points per game and is one of the nation’s top free-throw shooters at 88.9% (32-36).
›› 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.
›› Junior forward Quanirah Montague, a Mississippi State transfer, made her first appearance of the season against her former school Jan. 1, making an immediate impact with 7 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals. She missed the first 14 games with an injury suffered late last season. She appeared in all 34 games last year for Mississippi State, averaging 4.6 points and 3.7 rebounds in 11.7 minutes per game.
›› 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.
›› 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.
›› Freshman Sania Richardson had the best game of her young career with 12 points in the win over Jackson State. She averages 3.9 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.
›› 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 Jan. 4, Auburn ranks 9th in the SEC and 34th nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 56.3 points per game.
›› All 16 opponents on Auburn’s schedule have been held below their season scoring average.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn is back home for its next two games, starting with a Sunday showdown against the Florida Gators. It’s Alumni Day and We Back Pat at Neville Arena; game time is 2 p.m. CT.