Heading into Monday night’s contest against Alabama, the Auburn Tigers found themselves amid an unsatisfactory tailspin. After defeating the Crimson Tide in late January and climbing into the top half of the conference standings, the Tigers had lost five-straight. However, Auburn had beaten their bitter in-state rival in five-straight games. Something had to give in Auburn Arena.
The Tigers and Tide took their time reaching a conclusion, but eventually Alabama escaped with a narrow victory, 63-61 in overtime on Monday night.
“It was a hard-fought game,” Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “Our kids played extremely hard and it was a tough loss.”
Junior guard Hannah Cook hit the game-winning layup with six seconds to play for Alabama. Cook, an 82 percent free throw shooter on the year, redeemed herself, after missing a pair at the line with under a second left in regulation.
“Hannah Cook is a very good free throw shooter,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We still had a chance to win. For her to miss those two, the opportunity to win just went up even higher.”
With 0.2 remaining in the fourth quarter, Coach Flo drew up a lob to the rim for Brandy Montgomery. Montgomery bobbled the pass and couldn’t get the shot up in time.
In the overtime period, the teams traded back to back 5-0 runs to knot the score at 60. Auburn sophomore guard Janiah McKay went one for two at the line to push Auburn’s lead to one with a minute to go. Alabama guard Jordan Lewis followed suite, splitting a pair of free throws with 43 seconds left.
Auburn had a chance to take the lead with the next possession, but Brandy Montgomery’s jumper was just off the mark. Alabama initially went with Jordan Lewis for their game-winner, but Cook found herself in the right place at the right time for the offensive rebound and put-back. McKay couldn’t hit a layup of her own on the other end, which would have forced a second overtime period.
“I saw the clock, I just tried to push as hard as I could,” McKay said. “I wish I could have finished. But we could have prevented that from happening. We got outrebounded, bad. To lose by two, we could have had a couple more crucial rebounds and the game wouldn’t be decided by a last-second shot. We don’t want to continue to put ourselves in that position because these losses hurt.”
Alabama won the battle on the glass by 20, 56-36. The Crimson Tide feasted on second-chance buckets, besting the Tigers 21-10 in that category. Auburn worked their defensive prowess, forcing 24 turnovers to Alabama’s 12, but the Tigers scored only 21 points off those turnovers.
“We still want to get more points than that,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We want to get at least 30 points off of that. We did a very good job turning them over, we knew we could. We just need to convert a little bit more and get some points.”
Auburn shot only 22 percent in the first quarter and scored only eight points. The Tigers seized their first lead of the night with 5:10 to play in the first half behind McKay’s eight points. McKay then exploded for 12 in the third quarter, eventually finishing with 29 for the night, tying a career-high.
Auburn senior forward Katie Frerking went down with an ankle injury in the third quarter, bringing the 2,607 in attendance at Auburn Arena to an alarmed hush. Frerking was tended to on the sideline for approximately five minutes of game time, then returned to the lineup. Frerking turned in yet another resourceful offensive performance, tallying 16 points, 6 boards and 4 assists. Minus Frerking and McKay, the remaining Tigers that saw the floor scored a combined 16 points on 8 of 33 shooting.
The home loss stretches Auburn’s losing streak to six games with only two games remaining in the 2017 regular season. The victory for the Tide snaps their five-game skid at the hands of their rival.
“Six straight losses, that’s tough,” Williams-Flournoy said. “And they’ve been tough games, winnable games.”
Alabama and Auburn both move to 5-9 in the conference, with Auburn falling to 15-13 overall and the Tide ascending to 17-10. The Tigers will look to halt their now six-game skid at home against LSU on Thursday night. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CST on the SEC Network Plus.
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