Vanderbilt University senior guard Lauren Lueders nailed a 3-pointer to break a 53-53 second-half tie and the No. 21 Commodores (14-5, 3-3 SEC) held off the Auburn Tigers (11-8, 2-4 SEC) in the final seconds to pull out a 61-60 victory in front of a crowd of 2,658 at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum Thursday night.
Auburn junior guard Alli Smalley had a game-high 19 points in the losing effort while sophomore guard Parrisha Simmons chipped in with nine points and eight rebounds.
Auburn head coach Nell Fortner spoke on the disappointing loss after the game.
"I feel bad for the kids," Fortner said. "I thought they played their hearts out. It's an awful way to lose a game."
Trailing by one point with 16.8 seconds remaining, the Tigers called a timeout to draw up their final shot. Senior center KeKe Carrier, who had been absent from the game since early in the first half after suffering a hamstring injury, checked into the game for the Tigers' final possession.
The Tigers worked the ball inside to Carrier, but the senior quickly found herself in trouble as the Commodore defense collapsed.
With time ticking down and Carrier forced to make a quick decision, she heaved a pass back out to the perimeter, but there was no Auburn player in sight.
Vanderbilt junior guard Jence Rhoads gained control of the errant pass as time expired to preserve the win for the Commodores.
"Just to have on the floor, that size, in the last 16 seconds, I thought we could use (Carrier)," Fortner said. "She didn't get in there and get good enough position when she got the ball and so she didn't feel good about shooting it. It didn't work out."
Senior guard Merideth Marsh led Vanderbilt with 19 points and five rebounds. Rhoads poured in 12 points to go along with five assists.
The Tigers raced out to an early 20-12 lead with 11:38 remaining in the first half and held a 36-29 advantage at halftime, led by 10 first-half points by Smalley.
Vanderbilt fought back early in the second half, using a 12-7 run to cut the Auburn lead to two on Marsh's 3-pointer from the right wing with 15 minutes left in the contest.
The Commodores eventually tied the game and took their first lead on Lueders' 3-pointer with 5:44 remaining. Lueders hit another 3 to cap a 12-0 run, giving Vanderbilt a 61-53 lead with 2:22 left in the game.
The Commodores caught fire from behind the arc in the second half, connecting on 4-of-8 three-pointers.
"They hurt us on the 3-point shot," said junior forward Jordan Greenleaf. "They got a lot of key 3-pointers."
However, the Auburn defense didn't allow another point to Vanderbilt the rest of the game. Auburn scored seven straight points to pull within one, but the Tigers couldn't get any closer.
"I just think we showed a lot of heart tonight," Smalley said. "We fought back very hard because we got down in the final minutes. I just commend everybody for that because everybody played hard and everybody wanted to win."
Despite the loss, Thursday night's game proved to be a memorable one for Smalley as the Arab native reached the 1,000-point mark for her career, becoming the 25th player in Auburn history to achieve the milestone.
Auburn returns to action Sunday at 1 p.m. as the Tigers travel to Kentucky.
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