For the third and final time this season, Auburn women's basketball can claim another win over Alabama.
The regular season sweep of the Tide, and now, an SEC second-round win, sent the Tide back to Tuscaloosa and pushed Auburn forward in the SEC Tournament with a 53-52 win in Greenville on Thursday night.
The Tigers improved to 22-8 following the game and will now face off against 3-seed Texas A&M in the quarterfinals Friday night at 7:15 p.m. CST. This will be Auburn's first SEC tournament quarterfinal appearance since 2016.
The sixth-seeded Tigers were down for a majority of the game with Alabama leading for a total of 28:31 during the 40 minutes of game time. The Tigers though relied on their defensive play in the second half and clawed their way back into the game to pick up the win.
"It was definitely a tough game," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "As everybody knows, it's hard to beat a team three times. Alabama was playing well. They played very well yesterday (against Vanderbilt). Then they came out and played just as well today."
Auburn forced the Tide to turn the ball over a combined 18 times between the third and fourth periods of play. Auburn would not only force these turnovers but was highly efficient in turning them into points scoring 25 of their 30 points off of turnovers in the second half.
Alabama did a good job containing the Tigers offense throughout the night, holding Auburn to a shooting percentage of 33 percent from the field. Auburn's defense stepped up all game and produced the offense, forcing 26 turnovers and 29 points off of these turnovers.
Sophomore Unique Thompson came close to a double-double with eight points and 10 rebounds on the night. Janiah McKay led the team in scoring with 12 points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the line tonight.
Daisa Alexander also stepped up from the free throw line, going 6-for-6, including her final two to give Auburn the 53-50 lead with 11 seconds remaining.
In the quarterfinals, A&M will be without star guard Chennedy Carter, who leads the SEC in points per game with 22.5 and was named first team All-SEC earlier in the week. Carter broke her finger in the season finale against Arkansas.
During the Tigers and Aggies lone matchup in the regular season at Auburn-Arena, the Tigers lost to the Aggies on a buzzer-beater from Carter, who sank a mid-range jumper with 4.6 seconds left to play.
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