Johnnie Harris and the Auburn women’s basketball team are clicking at the perfect time.
With SEC play nearing, Auburn recorded its eighth straight win in a dominant 79-58 victory over in-state foe North Alabama in the Tigers’ final nonconference game of the season.
The Tigers had five players score in double figures as McKenna Eddings led the way with 14 points and was followed by JaMya Mingo-Young with 13, Sydney Shaw with 11, Honesty Scott-Grayson with 11 and Kaitlyn Duhon with 11.
For Eddings, her 14 points came by way of the three-point line. The junior guard hit four 3-pointers and set a new season high at Auburn in points.
“[Setting a new season high] felt really good honestly,” Eddings said. “I felt like that’s exactly what I needed as far as like getting my confidence up. This is exactly what I needed, honestly.”
The Tigers had a slow start with just 15 points in the first quarter, but it was Mingo-Young who set the tone early for the Tigers – scoring seven of Auburn’s first nine points.
Mingo-Young, who missed the first three games of the season with a knee injury, said her health is benefitting every day from practice, and that was evident Sunday afternoon as the transfer from Alabama nearly completed a triple-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.
“She’s doing a good job of running our team, taking what the defense has given her,” Harris said. “I believe she’ll get [a triple-double] because we’re gonna work on finishing better, and she’s doing a great job of delivering the ball and she’s taking good shots as well.”
While Harris had high praise for Mingo-Young, she did not feel the same about another slow start from the team. As Auburn shot just 6-of-22 from the field in the first quarter, the Tigers found themselves in a tie with North Alabama after one. The Tigers’ offense continued to struggle in the second quarter – making just five shots on 12 attempts and scoring 15 points in the second quarter.
Defensively in the first half, Auburn only allowed 27 points, but 16 of those points came inside the paint – a place where Auburn constantly was giving up easy looks through the first 20 minutes.
To eliminate those slow starts, Harris said she and her coaching staff plan to implement new defensive schemes into the team as SEC play begins.
“We’re gonna expand on our defense,” Harris said. “We’ve been working on putting in some new schemes, and just our toughness level. You have to be tough to come out and set the tone, and I don’t feel like we’ve done that.”
The good news for the Tigers was they turned it around in the second half. After scoring just 30 points in the first half, Auburn picked up the intensity and scored 49 in the final 20 minutes of play. Eddings had 11 second-half points, Shaw had eight after scoring just three in the first half and Duhon scored seven while corralling three rebounds.
Duhon, a sophomore and a Texas native, injured her ankle in the first quarter but returned to the game later and played a key role as Auburn pulled away in the second half to a 21-point victory.
“She’s really tough,” Harris said. “She’s one of the toughest kids on this team, and she plays hard… she’s taking good shots this year, and she’s playing within herself but she’s very important for what we’re doing both on the defensive end and offensively.”
With the conclusion of the nonconference schedule, Auburn now enters the SEC season. The Tigers (11-2) will be inside Neville Arena on Thursday, Jan. 4 as they host the Tennessee Lady Volunteers (7-5). The game will be televised on SEC Netowrk+.
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Jacob Waters is a senior majoring in journalism. From Leeds, Alabama, he started with The Plainsman in August, 2021.
Twitter: @JacobWaters_
