Auburn overcomes slow start to secure second win

In its second game of the season, Auburn hosted the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns, stealing the game, 60-54, despite falling behind early. 

“It wasn’t a pretty game,” said head coach Johnnie Harris. “You know, we are probably gonna have some up-and-down games with this being a new group and trying to get our chemistry together. But just the way they fought down the stretch, I was really proud of them.”

The Tigers had a slow first half but during the half, Harris was able to regroup her team, giving the Tigers the momentum needed to steal the lead and fend off the visitors.

“I just thought we came out flat,” Harris said. “We were trying to force against their zone. We knew they were gonna play zone. We worked on it, but we just came out flat.”

After a rough beginning, Harris emphasized that starting with a strong first half will be a primary focus, and it all starts in practice. 

“We have to start better, but I’m trying to teach this team you start in practice,” Harris said. “You can’t wait till the game to play, and I felt like we were really flat in practice. I was really disappointed today in shoot around, and we brought that to the game. So, hopefully, they’ve learned their lesson, and you know, we’ll be better going forward.”

Louisiana held Auburn to four points in the first quarter and 12 points in the second, but the Tigers were able to generate some offense in the last half – scoring 21 points in the third quarter and 23 in the fourth.

“I thought we took some bad shots in the first half split, specifically that first quarter,” Harris said. “I thought the second half we kind of regrouped and bounced back a little bit, and then, you know, after halftime, we just battled.”

In the first half, Auburn went 7-for-30 in the paint, 2-for-13 beyond the arc and 0-for-4 at the free throw line – compared to Louisiana’s 8-for-24 on field goals, 1-for-5 on three-point field goals and 8-for-10 on free throws. 

However, in the second half, the Tigers looked like a completely different team, going 14-for-29 on field goals and 14-for-15 at the free-throw line, compared to the Ragin' Cajun’s 10-for-25 on field goals and 6-for-11 at the free-throw line. 

When asked about her halftime speech, Harris stated that she used a lot of tough love to help her players grow in the second half. 

“It’s tough love, but it’s all love, though,” Harris said. “You know, sometimes if you’re not rebounding, I’m probably not going to say, ‘Baby, you need to, you know, rebound.’ I can’t say it like that, so I had to get after them a little bit. This is a great group of women, and you know, I’m doing a lot of teaching right now, trying to make sure they understand what I need every possession.”

Savannah Scott led Auburn’s offense from inside the paint, going 6-for-9, and at the free-throw line, where she went 4-for-4, collecting 16 points. 

“Well, I worked on all this stuff during practice, so I really just got out there and do what I do,” Scott said. “I was put in a good position by my guards when they passed me the ball.”

Sydney Shaw and Honesty Scott-Grayson followed the young freshman’s lead. Shaw went 3-for-6 on field goals, 1-for-4 on 3-point field goals and 3-for-4 at the free-throw line. Scott-Grayson went 4-for-10 in the paint, 3-for-11 at the 3-point line and 2-for-2 at the free-throw line. 

Taylen Collins also came up big for Auburn with 14 rebounds – eight offensive and six defensive – while contributing nine points. 

“So coach was just telling me to just play my game and let it come to me,” Collins said. “I think in the second half, I started to relax a little bit more and just kind of let the game come to me. Once I started doing that, I felt like everything else just started.”

Next, the Tigers head to Rutgers for their first road game of the season. That matchup will start at 4 p.m. CST on Sunday, Nov. 12 and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.