The Auburn women's basketball team thumped the University of South Carolina-Upstate 75-34 Sunday afternoon at the Auburn Arena. The Tigers improved their record to 4-1 on the season while USC-Upstate fell to 0-6 overall.
Coach Nell Fortner said the team's fast start--Auburn lead 31-5 with eight minutes left in the half--helped the team put away the Spartans fast.
"We shot the ball well in the first half," Fortner said. "Then our bench came in and gave us a really good lift. We are really trying to work on that pressure defense and it kind of wore us out a little bit in the second half, but I am pleased with the win.
Junior forward Blanche Alverson led the Tigers with 14 points, including 4-9 from behind the 3-point line.
"They were playing zone pretty early, and I wanted to come out and shoot the ball well," Alverson said. "That was the plan all along."
Freshman guard Hasina Muhammad followed up Alverson with 12 points in her fifth career game with the Tigers. Muhammad said she didn't feel like this game was any different from the first of the season.
"It was no different from the start," Muhammad said. "It is just me coming out playing my best and do what I do, which is attacking the basket and rebounding to help my team more."
After leading 44-18 at half, Auburn substituted frequently to start the second half. Fortner said it was a wake-up call to her team.
"I did not think that first group started very well," Fortner said. "You got to get their attention somehow."
Fortner said she's been tweaking the lineup to make sure the right players are on the court before the conference schedule arrives.
"We started a different starting lineup today," Fortner said. "That is our third or fourth different starting since the season started. Hopefully we can zero in on a starting lineup."
Along with Muhammad and Alverson, two other Tigers, senior forward Chantel Hilliard and senior guard Morgan Jennings, each had double digit scoring totals at 12 and 10 points, respectively.
USC-Upstate was lead by Tee'Ara Copney with 19 of her team's points on 6-12 shooting.
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