Despite another double-double by Unique Thompson, Auburn was defeated 74-54 by Georgia Thursday night.
The Tigers have lost seven of their last eight against the Bulldogs.
“With a team like Georgia, you’ve got to keep it close,” said head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy. “You can’t let it get into the 15- or 20-point range. That’s really tough to come back from.”
Within the first 1:05 of the game, Thompson had a steal and a pair of buckets to give Auburn an early 4-0 lead. Jenna Staiti, Georgia’s leading scorer coming into the game, answered with a 3-pointer and a layup of her own to give the Bulldogs the lead, 5-4.
It was the only lead change of the game, as Georgia built on its lead for the remainder of the quarter and the game. The Bulldogs outscored Auburn 13-4 to finish out the first and led 18-9 after the first quarter.
While the deficit Auburn faced continued to grow in the second quarter, Thompson remained consistent as she was in the first. She dropped nine points and grabbed three rebounds in the quarter.
At halftime, Thompson had 15 points and eight rebounds.
She finished the evening with 22 points, 12 rebounds and four steals for her 55th career double-double.
“I thought Unique held it down for us and kept us in the game, as close as it could be,” Williams-Flournoy said.
On the other side, Georgia dominated the glass and outrebounded Auburn 28-14 in the first half. Five different Bulldogs scored at least five points in the first half, helping them take a 38-27 lead into halftime.
Auburn came out of the locker room to start the second half and struggled to score. The Tigers started the second half 0-for-8 from the field, and by the time they scored, Auburn was trailing by 14.
The Tigers cut the deficit to 10 with just over five minutes to play in the third, but a Georgia scoring run ensued.
The Bulldogs closed the quarter on a 14-2 run, and Auburn found itself down 20 heading into the final 10 minutes. Georgia scored over 40% of its points from downtown, knocking down a season-high 10 3-pointers.
Coming into the game, the Bulldogs made an average of two 3-pointers a game, ranked last in the league.
“There were a few times we just let them get away,” Williams-Flournoy said. “We’d cut it to 10, then we give up a 3. That just hurts, it drains you. It takes a lot out of you.”
The Tigers did win the turnover battle forcing 28 while only committing 14 in the game. It was something improved on from the last matchup, where they turned the ball over 27 times. The Tigers may have scored nearly half of their points off of turnovers, but they struggled offensively and shot a mere 28.1% from the field.
Following the loss, Auburn is 5-14 and 0-11 in conference play.
The Tigers will host in-state rival Alabama on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. CST with the game airing on the SEC Network.
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