Senior guard Alli Smalley and sophomore guard Blanche Alverson paced the Tigers with 15 points each, but the women's basketball team came up short against No. 5 Tennessee, losing 53-73.
"I think they (Tennessee) are definitely one of the top five teams in the country," said head coach Nell Fortner. "They are playing a style of basketball that is tough to guard. It wears you out, and then they keep bringing players up off the bench, that continue to put the pressure on you. I thought our transition defense wasn't good today, which led to about 18 points for them today. We've got some work to do to stay in a ball game with them for sure."
The Lady Volunteers opened the scoring after junior guard Shekinna Stricklen stole the ball and scored on a layup.
Auburn answered with a jumper from senior forward Jordan Greenleaf and was able to keep it close until a three-pointer from Stricklen gave Tennessee a 7-point lead.
Auburn's offense struggled to find the basket midway through the first period and were kept scoreless for five minutes.
"We just couldn't find the basket," Fortner said. "They're big. It's hard to see over them and see around. It's also hard to play against a switching man defense, especially when everyone looks the same, as far as their size. It made it very difficult for us to find shots."
Greenleaf ended the drought as she scored on a jumper after an assist from sophomore guard Morgan Toles to make it 19-27.
Tennessee pulled away once again after a layup by junior forward Glory Johnson, bringing the score to 19-34 going into the half.
The Lady Volunteers continued to lay on the points, going up by as much as 20 early in the second period after a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Spani Taber.
Auburn quickly answered with a jumper from Toles to start a run that reduced the deficit to 10 within a matter of minutes.
"We hit shots," Fortner said. "We started knocking shots down. When you play against them, you've got to make them pay for their defensive mistakes. The run was nice, but when we cut it to 10 we didn't show a lot of poise to make it a ball game."
Tennesee junior forward Vicki Baugh hit a layup midway through the second period to bring the score to 42-54 and start a 10-0 Tennessee run that put the game out of reach for the Tigers.
Auburn returns to action 2 p.m., Jan. 30 against South Carolina in the Auburn Arena.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
