Auburn women’s basketball defeated Texas A&M 57-41 on Sunday at Neville Arena, picking up its sixth conference win and 18th regular season win this season.
“I thought it was a good team effort,” said Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris. “I thought our team was really tough, to hold (Texas A&M) to 41 points and to outrebound them. It was just a good, tough and physical battle.”
Three Tigers– JaMya Mingo-Young, Taylen Collins and Sydney Shaw– led Auburn with 10 points apiece. Auburn’s season-leading scorer Honesty Scott-Grayson followed the trio with nine points, marking her first single-digit scoring game since November.
Auburn’s offense started slow in the first quarter, only scoring six points while picking up seven turnovers. All six of the Tigers’ first quarter points came from Kaitlyn Duhon who went 3-for-4 from the field in the quarter.
The Aggies also had a slow first quarter, scoring 10 points and picking up six turnovers. Texas A&M shot 4-for-14 (28.6%) from the field in the first quarter and would go on to shoot 33.3% from the field the entire contest.
The Tigers’ slow first quarter offense eventually picked up, but the Aggies’ did not. Auburn outscored the Aggies in every quarter but the first, putting up 17 points to A&M’s six in the second quarter alone.
Turnovers continued to be a problem for the Aggies into the second quarter and second half of the game. In the second quarter alone, Texas A&M picked up 12 turnovers compared to Auburn’s four. Overall, the Aggies totaled 29 turnovers while the Tigers totaled 20.
The Tigers picked up 14 steals, claiming 18 fast break points and making 12 of their 23 layups. Auburn outrebounded the Aggies 41-30, and Collins and Scott-Grayson led the Tigers with five rebounds apiece.
Texas A&M was ranked seventh in the country in rebounds per game (44.4) coming into Sunday's game.
“Our coaches put a lot of emphasis on how important it was going to be to grab boards and out rebound them,” Collins said. “I kind of put it in my mind going into the game that was what I was going to do. And so I was glad that my team came out and we out rebounded them.”
Auburn’s offensive success largely came from its ability to capitalize off of Aggie turnovers. Twenty-two of the Tigers’ 57 points came from turnovers while Texas A&M had more turnovers than it did defensive rebounds (20).
“Honestly, that’s our best offense anyways,” Harris said. “So we were locked into getting stops, and we work on this every day.”
Some key 3-pointers added to the Tigers’ dominant offensive performance, including a made bucket from beyond from Scott-Grayson late in the second quarter to give Auburn a 17-14 lead of the Aggies– a lead it would hold for the rest of the contest.
Auburn secured its victory in the final quarter, outscoring the Aggies 21-15, shooting 5-for-11 from the field and 10-for-10 from the charity stripe.
Looking to make a statement in their final matchups, the Tigers face Mississippi State at home on Thursday, Feb. 29. Auburn’s final home game begins at 7 p.m. CST and will be televised on SEC Network+.
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Grace Heim is a junior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in English Literature. She started with The Plainsman in January 2023.
