The Auburn Women's Basketball team (12-11, 3-7 SEC) fell in a close bout with the South Carolina Gamecocks (12-10, 5-5 SEC) in Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum Thursday night.
Center KeKe Carrier struck first with a layup for the Tigers, who stayed in the lead while trading shots with the Gamecocks for the first four minutes of the game. By halftime, South Carolina had a narrow 34-31 lead.
"We tried to use our confidence coming off the win against Georgia," Carrier said. "I felt like we were not focused for 40 minutes completely. We lost focus at times when they hit us hard."
The Gamecocks steadily increased their point margin throughout the
second half of play, but a jump shot from junior guard Alli Smalley with 45 seconds to go gave Auburn a one-point lead. However, a foul by freshman guard Morgan Toles gave South Carolina junior forward Jewel May the two points to put the Gamecocks over the edge.
"Initially, after the timeout, we were looking for Alli off the screen," Toles said. "We knew they were going to pressure us, and Coach told me to dribble it up. We had trouble getting it across half court, and I was looking for Alli, but I took the shot too early. I thought it was a good look. It just did not drop."
Carrier scored 14 points total while Smalley lead the team with 15.
"Offensive rebounding really killed us in the second half, and I thought that was the difference in the ball game," said Auburn coach Nell Fortner. "We were making some good defensive stops, but we were not able to get the ball to finish the play out, which hurt us tonight."
Auburn will travel to Tuscaloosa to face Alabama Sunday, Feb. 6 at 2 p.m.
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