Unique Thompson continued her ascent toward Auburn's all-time rebounding record on Thursday.
After grabbing her fourth rebound of the game, Thompson passed DeWanna Bonner for the second-most rebounds in program history.
Despite that historic mark for the senior, Auburn fell to No. 8 Texas A&M 84-69 inside Auburn Arena.
“I thought we came out and gave the No. 8 team in the country a good run,” said head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy. “I thought we had some good energy. It hurt us where we knew we didn’t want them to hurt us and that was rebounding and points in the paint.”
Thompson reached the milestone near the end of the first quarter after grabbing her fourth rebound of the game, which gave her 1,048 career rebounds, passing Bonner for second all-time. She finished the evening with seven rebounds and now sits at 1,051 career rebounds.
Becky Jackson holds the all-time record with 1,118.
“It’s great, I mean it’s great,” Williams-Flournoy said. “She’s one of the best post players in the SEC.”
The Tiger defense held the Aggies to a season-low 11 first-quarter points. Texas A&M, who came into the game shooting 48.3%, finished the first quarter 3-of-18 from the field.
“It gave us a good start defensively,” Williams-Flournoy said. “It kinda kept us going. We didn’t have to play from so far behind like we’ve had to do in some first quarters.”
Auburn continued to hang around with the No. 8 team in the country throughout the second quarter. The Tigers shot 50% from the field in the quarter, led by Romi Levy, who had six points in the second. Texas A&M outscored Auburn 22-19 in the second quarter and closed on an 11-6 scoring run to take a 33-27 lead into halftime.
“We just have to keep competing and keep fighting,” Williams-Flournoy said. “Texas A&M is a really good team, there’s a reason why they’re the No. 8 team in the country. They come at you at so many angles, with [N’Dea] Jones inside rebounding and [Ciera] Johnson inside. It was tough defending both of them in the paint.”
The duo of Jones and Johnson torched Auburn, combining for 37 points and 21 rebounds. As a team, Auburn only totaled 28 rebounds. The Aggies outrebounded the Tigers 41-28, with a physical game happening in the paint between Thompson and the Texas A&M bigs.
“[Thompson] is really getting hounded and pounded down there,” Williams-Flournoy said. If you see her, her lip is huge. At halftime, she had to go get a stitch in her lip. She is getting hammered down there, we have to protect her.”
Out of the locker rooms, the Tigers opened on a 10-7 scoring run led by Honesty Scott-Grayson and Thompson, who both had five points in the run.
Throughout the quarter, Auburn’s offense brought the game within one point six different times. The Tigers were never able to get over the hump as Texas A&M retained its lead throughout the quarter.
As the third quarter came to a close, the Aggies found ways to the basket and once again finished on a scoring run as Texas A&M finished on an 11-4 run. Heading into the fourth quarter, Texas A&M held its largest lead of the day and was up 59-51.
The Aggies continued to pull away from the Tigers in the fourth, outscoring Auburn 25-18 over the final ten minutes.
“Texas A&M went on a run, and it took them away,” Williams-Flournoy said.
The Tigers now enter their toughest stretch of the season as six of its next seven games are against opponents ranked in the Top 25.
“It’s a tough stretch, but it's the SEC,” Williams-Flournoy said. “I mean, there’s a reason you’re playing in one of the toughest conferences in the country. We just happen to be at that stretch right now. Every team in the league hits that stretch. We just have to continue to fight and continue to play hard and look at every opportunity as a possible upset.”
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