he women's basketball team comes home after a week of road games to take on George Washington Saturday at 1 p.m.
The two teams have met each other four times previously with George Washington leading the series 3-1.
Auburn's win in the series came Dec. 19, 2008, at George Washington with the Tigers outscoring the Colonials 65-51.
DeWanna Bonner of the Tigers led the team with 30 points and 16 rebounds, her third double double of the season.
Auburn led by as many as 19 points during the game and George Washington cut the lead to three with less than five minutes remaining. The Tigers came together and kept the Colonials scoreless for the rest of the game.
In another previous game, Jan. 3, 2008, the Tigers lost on a 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left to play.
The Colonials handed the Tigers their first back-to-back loss on the season. Both teams were ranked at the time of play, Auburn at No. 18 and George Washington at No. 20.
The game Saturday marks only the second time in the series the Colonials will travel to Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. The first 1,000 fans through the doors will receive a free mini photo book.
Junior guard Alli Smalley said she is hoping for a good crowd after being on the road for so long.
"It's definitely good to play at home in front of your home fans especially when you've been on the road playing in other people's gyms and in front of other people's crowds," Smalley said.
The game is also one of only two games left for the Tigers before finals start.
Junior forward Jordan Greenleaf said she missed a group project for an away game Tuesday and that being a student athlete is that much tougher during finals.
"It's a lot, but it has to be done so you have to see a way to get it done to the best of our ability and try to stay focused on grades as well as ball," she said. "You have a time for basketball and you have a time for your grades and you have to learn how to have a separate mind whether you're going into a game or going into the classroom."
In the Florida State Thanksgiving Classics, the girls lost to Florida State 82-67, but pulled out a win the next day against Florida A&M, 69-45.
Senior center KeKe Carrier said those games gave them something to look at for Saturday.
"I would say Florida State would match up more with George Washington because they both have bigger players and we're excited because those two games we played will prepare us for what is ahead and to get ready for the SEC," Carrier said. "We're just trying to take it day by day, though."
Greenleaf said the team is learning where its strengths and weaknesses.
"I think, this weekend, we learned how to play for 40 minutes and that's something we have to carry on for every game we play here on out," she said. "Every game is another experience for us to learn and get better."
Smalley said the team needs to take the experience from the games in Florida home and continue to build and improve. She played in the game against George Washington last year for the win, but said she isn't taking anything lightly.
"I know we played against them twice in my freshman year, so it was good to finally get a win against them last year," she said. "Hopefully we will match up against them good this year and get ready to play a good game."
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