The Auburn women’s basketball team has had a tough time finding wins within the gauntlet of conference play, and last night’s trip to Starkville provided yet another loss at the hands of the Mississippi State, however head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy thinks that there are positive takeaways for her squad.
The Tigers kept the score close for the duration of the game, rallying behind a 21-point outing from Unique Thompson and a 20-point showing from Daisa Alexander in the team’s second game this season with multiple players scoring 20 or more. But, according to Williams-Flournoy, the team was hindered by a combined 24 turnovers that the Bulldogs converted into 24 points.
“Once again, it was the turnovers,” Williams-Flournoy said. “Right there where we needed to make the run, those turnovers took away our offensive possessions. But I thought we also did a very good job defensively understanding who to guard, who not to guard. We didn’t make as many errors in our half-court defense. We did a very good job there.”
The game saw 23 lead changes, and Auburn found themselves ahead 40-33 going into halftime after going on a 7-0 scoring run in the final 2:08 of the second quarter. The Tigers did not seem to let the concept of being underdogs bother them in the first half, shooting 55.6% from the field, converting 5 of their 7 3-point attempts, and scoring 14 points on 11 MSU turnovers.
Auburn’s Robyn Benton – who would turn in 14 points on the game – started the second half by hitting a layup and putting her team up by nine. Then, things would begin to go downhill. MSU would go on a 9-0 run to tie things up in the third quarter and took what would be the lead that lasted throughout the rest of the game with 2:03 remaining in the third.
Auburn eventually lost the contest 78-73, its closest margin of loss since the beginning of conference play. The Tigers have lost to two ranked opponents in their last two games, and have played both teams closer than any others to this point in the SEC.
Auburn (7-12) will now return home and prepare to play host to Vanderbilt on Sunday, Feb. 2 at 2:00 p.m. CST.
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