In the second faceoff of the season, the Auburn women's basketball team fell to the Vanderbilt Commodores 66-61 Thursday night in the Auburn Arena.
With the loss, Auburn drops to 11-12 overall and 3-7 in the SEC, while Vanderbilt moves up to 17-5 overall and 5-4 in the conference.
"I thought we fought hard," said Auburn coach Nell Fortner. "I thought we had opportunities to knock some shots down, but we just fell a little short."
Vanderbilt started the game with a 6-0 run until junior forward Blanche Alverson brought Auburn into the game with a three-pointer at the 17:14 mark.
The Commodores maintained the lead until the middle of the first half when sophomore guard Camille Glymph hit a three-pointer to tie the game and spur a 7-0 run for the Tigers.
Vanderbilt sophomore center Stephanie Holzer's two free throws in the final minute tied the game going into the half.
Commodore sophomore guard Christina Foggie opened the second half with the first five points, establishing a lead Auburn never came back from, although the Tigers threatened when senior center Chantel Hilliard's two free throws cut the lead to one with 3:46 left in the game.
The two teams traded baskets until two Vanderbilt free throws in the final five seconds put the game out of reach.
Vanderbilt junior forward Tiffany Clarke was the game's leading scorer with 26 points, six of which came in the final three minutes of the game.
Hilliard led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points, going 5 for 7 from the free-throw line.
"We got better today, as a team, individually, we all got better," Hilliard said. "Our fight was just tremendous and for all the games that we've played I've never seen us fight as hard as we did tonight. It's our last time playing Vanderbilt in the regular season, so we just wanted to go out there an give it our all."
Auburn's free-throw percentage for the game held at 66 percent, while Vanderbilt went 90 percent from the line.
"We did a lot of things right, but we lost at the free-throw line," Fortner said. "We just couldn't get to the free-throw line as much as they got, and I think that was a real problem. It was an incredibly physical game for us not to get to the free-throw line more than we did."
This was the Tigers 19th-straight loss to the Commodores.
"It's pretty tough, especially from my perspective being a senior and not knowing if we're going to see them again in the SEC Tournament or not," said senior guard Morgan Jennings. "You want to always get the W--snap the streak."
But Jennings has a positive outlook on the rest of the season.
"We've been consistently showing fight all year, we've just got to put it all together and get a W," Jennings said. "We've had a lot of tough losses, but we got better today and that's all that matters."
The Tigers look to rebound from this loss Feb. 5 at Tennessee.
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