The Auburn Tigers traveled to Little Rock to take on the Trojans Sunday afternoon, coming home with a 58-45 win. This win extends the Tigers' win streak to four, giving them an overall record of 7-2.
Head Coach Johnnie Harris, an Arkansas native, began her collegiate coaching career in Little Rock where she received her first full time coaching position in 2000 as an assistant.
Freshman Savannah Scott, also an Arkansas native, along with Harris, had more than 100 supporters filling a corner of the arena to support them in their return to their home state.
“Lots of family and friends,” Harris said. “Scottie had her family and her high school team, her church, my church, so just a lot. It was great.”
Offensively, graduate seniors Honesty Scott-Grayson and JaMya Mingo-Young led the team with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Sophomore Sydney Shaw followed close behind with eight points, followed by senior Taylen Collins and Scott with six points apiece. Mingo-Young also tallied up six rebounds and four assists.
“I thought (Mingo-Young) did a good job of running our team, getting the ball where it needed to be,” Harris said. “Just played her heart out. And Honesty’s just special. She got knocked around there a little bit, but I was glad to see her finish. And she finished with some toughness.”
Defensively, the Tigers forced 19 Trojan turnover and scored 20 points off turnovers alone. Auburn also outrebounded the home team 32-25.
Junior Celia Sumbane opened up the scoring this afternoon with a layup off a fast break. The first quarter would turn out to be a back-and-forth battle riddled with turnovers – including eight from the home team and six from the visitors. The quarter ended with the Tigers up 12-9.
Scott-Grayson kicked off the second quarter with a three-point jumper. The Trojans provided a quick response, bringing the score back to a one-possession game. Shaw extended Auburn’s lead with back-to-back three-point jumpers. Auburn maintained the lead, outscoring the Trojans 20-7 in the quarter and ending the half with a 16-point lead.
Collins, Scott-Grayson, and Mingo-Young led the Tigers to a 7-0 run to start the second half. Not backing down, the Trojans responded with a 10-0 run of their own; however, Auburn held on to the lead, ending the third quarter with a 48-28 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Little Rock attempted to fight its way back, cutting the deficit in half to single digits, but the Tigers had the advantage and were able to take the 58-45 win.
“My message to the team going into the fourth quarter was that they (Little Rock) are not going to quit,” Harris said. “They started driving, getting some fouls, but we hung in there and hung tough. We started not finishing our shots, but down the stretch, I put the ball in Honesty’s hands and she came through.”
Up next, the Tigers are back in Neville Arena to host Alabama State on Dec. 13th. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. CST, and the game will be televised on SEC Network+.
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Alexa Gardner is a junior at Auburn, majoring in exercise science. From Birmingham, Alabama, she started with The Plainsman in fall 2022.
Twitter: @alexagardner_
