First-year head coach Johnnie Harris has the Auburn Lady Tigers are off to a hot start in what looks like the beginning of a comeback season for Auburn Women’s basketball. Just a year after a five-win season, Auburn has tallied seven wins before conference play has begun.
With its 82-58 victory over Grambling State on Saturday, the team improves its record to 7-3 and it has won five consecutive games.
Coach Harris was not fully satisfied with the team’s performance.
“I didn’t particularly think we played a good game today, but we are getting better,” Harris said.
It was an evenly matched contest throughout the first quarter that ended in a 19-15 Auburn advantage. It was not the Coulibaly show early, as has been the case in previous games. There was even scoring distribution within the Tiger squad, as five different Auburn players got on the board. Kiyae’ White led the way in scoring for Auburn after a quarter with five points.
Auburn got off to fast start in second quarter as it held a 31-20 lead going into a timeout. Jala Jordan came up big, shooting 4-for-4 with nine points off the bench in the first half. The team finished the half 8-of-12 from the free throw line.
It was a 38-30 Auburn lead going into the half. After giving up several offensive rebounds to Grambling State early, the Tigers dominated off the glass. They hauled in 18 rebounds to Grambling’s 12 at the halfway mark.
The deciding factor in this game was ball control. Auburn was able to win the turnover battle as well as the rebounding battle. Rebounding went in Auburn’s favor 39-27. Grambling turned the ball over 19 times resulting in 16 Auburn points. The Tigers in white added 12 offensive boards as opposed to Grambling’s nine.
Auburn was also efficient from the free throw line. The squad shot 20-of-30 (67%) from the stripe.
Jordan had a game to remember. She tallied 23 points, which is her career high. She also put up her first double-double. She finished with 23 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and an assist in her remarkable performance. She was a bully in the paint, as she led Auburn’s team in points and rebounds in the contest. The forward did all this off the bench.
“Jala really stepped up for us today… Right now what we need her to do is to score inside, and we put her in pretty good positions to where she can get her shots off… She can put up the three every once in a while, but what she does best is create inside and finish,” coach Harris said.
Honesty Scott-Grayson also turned in a strong performance. She led the team with five assists along with scoring 13 points going 4-for-5 from the field.
“She is very unselfish. We go as she goes,” Harris said of her point guard.
Scott-Grayson took several hard hits from Grambling today.
“If I don’t get a foul call or they’re just being physical, that’s part of the game," she said.
She said they are taught in practice to deal with those things calmly.
Auburn topped not only 70 points in the contest, but put up 82 in the impressive 24-point victory. When the team reaches the 70 mark, it seems to be a lock to win, as they have put up at least that many in all but one of their wins, and were held under 70 in each of their 3 losses. 82 is their second highest this season.
Junior guard, Sania Wells, was not suited up for this one. She limped off the court with an apparent injury in Auburn’s last game against Belmont.
“Well, she stepped on a foot at Belmont," Harris said. "It’s getting better, it just wasn’t worth putting her out there today. Hopefully she’ll be better, we’ll need her for the next game.”
Auburn has one final matchup before it starts Southeastern Conference play. They match up with Kennesaw State in Auburn Arena. Tipoff for that matchup is at noon CST on Monday.
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