Auburn ended a two-game skid Sunday afternoon in Auburn Arena, knocking off the Arkansas Razorbacks 71-60 in overtime to notch their 13th win of the season.
However, the win wasn't pretty.
"Arkansas is a great team," said Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy. "They can score. You leave them open, nine times out of 10 that ball is going in the basket. We left them open a lot. We switched up and went to a box and one if you could even call it that, We just tried to take [Jessica Jackson] out of her game. She is a very good player."
After three sloppy quarters of basketball, the Tigers flipped a switch offensively in the fourth after falling behind by five points late. The rally was capped off by a Brandy Montgomery 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime tied at 56.
"I knew my teammates were going to set the screen for me, so once I ran through, I was open for a split second so I caught it and shot," said Montgomery.
In the extra period, the Tigers took over building their largest lead of the game, outscoring Arkansas 15-4.
The result was an unlikely smile from Auburn's head coach after a turnover-filled game.
"I was happy to finally be smiling," Williams-Flournoy said. I was about to lose it over there on the sideline especially when Brandy [Montgomery] came down, knocked a few people over. Janiah [Mckay] threw it out of bounds. During overtime, they got themselves together. It took 45 minutes."
Tra’Cee Tanner finished with a game-high 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Montgomery added 15 points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals in 37 minutes of action.
Freshman point guard Janiah McKay also made big contributions for the Tigers in a reserve role, scoring 12 of Auburn's 16 bench points. Jackson led the Razorbacks with 19 points.
The story of the game for Auburn was its defense, which forced Arkansas into 28 turnovers. The Tigers are 7-0 when forcing their opponents into 25 or more turnovers.
"We probably played the worst first half ever in Division I basketball," Williams-Flournoy said. "Our defense was able to keep us (in the game) to only go down by two at half. It continued and then brought us the win in overtime."
Next up, Auburn will take on the Georgia Bulldogs Thursday, Jan. 28 in Athens.
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