Bonner: covered by Georgia’s Jasmine Lee (No.3) and Angela Puleo during Auburn’s 82-52 win over the Bulldogs Jan. 13 in Auburn. Pete Riley / PHOTO EDITOR
The 2007-2008 chapter of Auburn women’s basketball was completed Friday as the Tigers fell to No. 21 Vanderbilt 49-44 in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
Although the Commodores held a strong lead throughout the majority of the game, the victor was unclear in the final minutes of play.
The match up was a defensive battle as both teams had 13 offensive rebounds, but Vanderbilt aggressively had 27 defensive rebounds with seven steals, compared to Auburn’s three steals.
“I feel like I just got done with a prize fight,” Fortner said in a press conference. “It was like one slug, then another slug. It was just a hard-fought defensive battle.
With 1:45 remaining, Vanderbilt’s team scoring leader Christina Wirth’s sole bucket of the night broke a tie at 41 to give the Commodores 43.
“She had been so consistent for us and has been the go-to (and) has hit so many big shots,” said Vanderbilt coach Melanie Balcomb. “She stepped up at the end and had that big shot. That says a lot about her maturity on the floor as a player.”