The Auburn women’s basketball team suffered its first loss of the year at the hands of the Virginia Cavaliers, 69-52, moving the team to 2-1.
The loss was primarily cemented in the 2nd quarter, where Virginia outscored Auburn 28-12.
Auburn’s offense was nowhere to be found. After scoring 85 and 80 points in its first two games, the team shot just 34.4 percent from the field, with only one player scoring over 10 points.
The team’s ‘usual suspects’ were out of sync throughout the game. Brandy Montgomery scored just eight points, after coming into the game averaging 23 points per game. Katie Frerking also ended the game with eight points.
However, while Auburn found itself struggling to put the ball through the net, Virginia had no trouble scoring and displayed impressive patience against Auburn’s zone press and on offense.
Virginia made four 3-pointers in the first half, and shot 83 percent from the line. Auburn shot just 15 percent from 3-point range, and struggled at the free throw line, shooting 53 percent.
The Cavaliers were also particularly impressive defensively, forcing 20 turnovers compared to Auburn’s 13 forced turnovers. They also doubled Auburn’s number of steals with 14.
“You can’t turn the ball over 20 times and expect to win…they had 24 points off of our turnovers,” said coach Terri Williams-Flournoy.
Auburn did have small bright spots. Khady Dieng emerged on the scene with a strong seven rebounds, and Tra’Cee Tanner once again led the Tigers in rebounding, finishing with nine.
Freshman Janiah McKay led the Tigers with 16 points, the majority of which came from around the basket.
“(McKay) gives us explosiveness on our team attacking the basket,” Williams-Flournoy said.
McKay also turned the basketball over five times, which led the team.
Auburn will begin a short road stretch over Thanksgiving break, including a stop at Savannah State. Tip off will be Sunday, at 3 p.m.
On the road trip, the team will also play in the San Juan Shootout in Puerto Rico against Boise State and Minnesota..
The Tigers will return to the Auburn Arena Dec. 5 at 12 p.m. to take on East Carolina.
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