When asked about last season’s success earlier in the week, sophomore point guard Janiah McKay said, “Defense is everything. Defense is what got us that far and continues to be the main part of this program.”
That defense stole the show in the 2016 season opener, forcing 38 Troy turnovers, and leading Auburn to a 61-52 victory at Auburn Arena Friday night.
The 38 turnovers were the fifth most turnovers forced in program history, the most since Dec. 29, 2003, when the Tigers forced Alabama A&M into 39 turnovers.
Auburn also had 22 steals, two shy of the school record. Junior Jessica Jones led the Tigers with five steals, while Brandy Montgomery, Katie Frerking, McKay, and Erica Sanders all had three.
Despite the copious amount of turnovers, Auburn could not pull away from the Trojans because of a large amount of missed shots around the rim. The Tigers finished 22-69 (31.9 percent) from the field and 5-24 (20.8 percent) from three-point range.
“Are we happy for this win? Absolutely,” Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “Are we pleased with our play? No. We are an NCAA Tournament team and we need to look better than what we did today.”
“We are happy about forcing 38 turnovers because that is what we do, but we should’ve done a better job on the other end converting them,” Montgomery said. “That’s what we weren’t happy about. That is what we will focus on in practice tomorrow, turning teams over, converting them, and finishing with contact.”
Auburn opened the second half on a 9-0 run to push its lead to 45-2, but the Tigers only converted the 38 turnovers into 25 points, which allowed the Trojans to hang around and get the score to within as low as five in the fourth quarter. Despite the frustrations offensively, Williams-Flournoy was happy with her team’s defense.
“Troy’s an offensive team, and for them to score 52 points, that’s low for them,” Williams-Flournoy said. “They’re a team that shoots the ball, and shoot it well. They’re a veteran team, and they always shoot the ball with such confidence.”
The Tigers hit four of their first six three-pointers in the first quarter, but would go just 1-17 after that. Frerking, however, is not concerned with the team’s ability to knock down shots.
"I think we started off okay," Frerking said. "I know Brandy had a couple in the first half, I did too. But we've got to carry it into the second half. We have to take our time. We have to get our legs under us in the second half and that's just getting in the gym, getting shots when we're tired. That'll come around, so I'm not worried about that."
Troy was led by senior forward Caitlyn Ramirez who had 13 points and 20 rebounds for the Trojans. She also committed 13 of the Trojans’ 38 turnovers. The Trojans out-rebounded Auburn 49-40.
Auburn will hit the road for its next five games, starting next Thursday at North Carolina A&T. The Tigers will follow with a contest at East Carolina on Sunday.
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