Women's basketball cruised their way to a 79-53 victory over the Marquette Golden Eagles Tuesday night in Auburn Arena. The Tigers improve to 4-2 on the year and remain undefeated at home six games into the season.
"We are playing well at home and that's what you want," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "We have to be able to play better on the road. Unfortunately, all your games aren't at home. It's important to protect home floor. Our press on the road hasn't been as good as it has been at home."
The Tigers (4-2) came into the contest off to their third straight 3-2 start after losing their last game on the road to Winthrop on Nov. 29, while Marquette (2-5) has started their season 2-4 under first year head coach Carolyn Kiegar.
"Marquette is a very good team," Williams-Flournoy said. "They're big, the guards are really quick, so our young ladies did a good job tonight."
Brandy Montgomery led the way for Auburn in the first half scoring 6 points and pulling down 2 rebounds as the Tigers were clinging on to a 32-30 lead heading into the locker room.
Montgomery finished the game with 13 points on 6 for 13 shooting two games removed from a career-high performance against UVA on Nov. 23.
"She's been taking better shots this year," Williams-Flournoy said. "She's got a good percentage this year because of the shots she's taking. Last year she took a lot of bad shots, and that gave her a bad percentage. She's not a bad shooter, but this year she has a better understanding of what a good shot and a bad shot is."
After a tight first half where neither team shot the ball well, Auburn changed gears on both end of the floor in the second half sparked by tough defense.
"We really just wanted to turn up the pressure," Montgomery said, "We knew they were turnover-prone so we used that to our advantage. Once we got one and then got another, we got hyped and got energy, and we just wanted to keep turning them over so we could convert on the other end."
Auburn took control of the game on a 20-2 run and never looked back.
Along with shooting a red-hot 55.9 percent from the floor in the second half, Auburn's defense held Marquette to 23.3 percent shooting from the floor during a period where Auburn forced eight turnovers.
Auburn held Marquette to an abysmal 27 percent shooting for the game scoring 28 points off of 27 Marquette turnovers.
"Definitely a better second half defensively," Williams-Flournoy said, "our players started understanding how defense can score points for us."
Tra'Cee Tanner added 16 points and 3 rebounds for Auburn. Katie Frerking did not start but chipped in 8 points off the bench.
"The lineup has been changing quite frequently," Williams-Flournoy said. "Right now it's about finding different combinations to get on the floor to get us going right away. It doesn't matter how much we change this lineup, our style of play requires nine to 10 girls to play. The way we play, they should get tired."
Auburn is now 19-1 in non-conference home games under coach Williams-Flournoy.
The Tigers will be back in action Saturday, Dec. 4, against Southeast Louisiana at 6 p.m. at 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.
