Johnnie Harris has her first win as a head coach.
Auburn defeated Alabama State 74-45 from Auburn Arena on Tuesday night, behind key performances from Honesty Scott-Grayson and Kiyae' White.
"It does really feel good to get this win for [the team]," Harris said. "They put in a lot of work and we've been asking them to do a lot. We're introducing them to a whole new system. To get them to do what we ask them to do and see it pay off just really felt good."
The Tigers are now 6-0 all-time against Alabama State.
Scott-Grayson continues to be Auburn's leading player on offense. She recorded her second-straight game with a double-double, after snagging her 10th rebound with 12 seconds remaining in the game.
"My teammates and my coaches were telling me that I had one rebound left, so they were trying to put me in a position to grab it," Scott-Grayson said. "I just appreciate them. I appreciate the coaching staff for staying on us as a team. Our hard work led to a win."
Meanwhile, White was the second-highest contributor on offense, with 15 points.
After scoring just 44 points the entire game against Old Dominion, the Tigers put up 35 in the first half alone.
Alabama State scored the first basket of the game, but Auburn went on a 19-3 run to close out the first quarter. During that quarter, the Tigers shot 64% from the field, led by Scott-Grayson, who tallied nine points in the first 10 minutes.
Scott-Grayson finished the night with 21 points and 10 rebounds.
"We came together as a team, talked some things out, trying to figure out how we're gonna get more wins," Scott-Grayson said. "We just stuck with it, stayed together, didn't fall apart and the result was a win."
It was the best defensive quarter of the season for Auburn, which held Alabama State to five points in the first. Meanwhile, the Auburn offense was clicking like never before.
Auburn made 38.5% percent of its shots by the end of the night, a season-best. Nearly half of the points came down low in the paint, where the Tigers had 32 total points.
Alabama State closed the first half on an 11-3 run that brought the deficit down to 10 at halftime. Eight of those points happened in just over a minute, where the Hornets brought a fast-paced swarm of offense and defensive pressure to interrupt Auburn's pace of play.
Auburn went 0-for-2 from the field and had two turnovers during that span. Turnovers have been an issue for the Tigers this season, who turned the ball over 20-plus times for the second time this season.
"I wasn't pleased with our turnovers, 21 turnovers is way too many," Harris said. "We turned the ball over against their press a couple of times there, late in the second quarter, and they made a little run."
Even with the run that the Hornets made, Auburn took a 35-25 lead into halftime.
The third quarter was the most balanced quarter of the game, with Auburn outscoring Alabama State 15-13 to take a 50-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Tigers continued to add to their lead in the fourth quarter, extending it to as large as 29, the eventual final difference. They did so by having a season-high 17 assists, led by Aicha Coulibaly with seven. Coming into the game, Auburn had only recorded 16 assists through two games.
"Being one unit, sharing the ball, not being selfish. That led to our assists," Scott-Grayson said. "Sharing the ball just gets us more points."
After Old Dominion closed its victory over Auburn on Sunday with a 34-19 run, the Tigers were not outplayed in the second half against the Hornets. Auburn closed the game on a 39-20 run, including a 13-0 run to finish the game in the fourth quarter.
"That's what our coaches made an emphasis on, finishing," Scott-Grayson said. "In all reality, we haven't been finishing like we want to. So to just be able to go out there and stay on top of our game and just finish the game, that was really big for us."
Auburn will head on the road for its next game, taking on No. 17 Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Sunday, Nov. 21 at 3 p.m. CST.
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Originally from Helena, Ala., Caleb Jones is a senior studying journalism at Auburn University. He has been on staff with The Plainsman since 2019.
You can follow him here on Twitter: @calebjsports
