The Auburn women’s basketball team’s season came to an end on Thursday night after losing 69-59 to Arizona in the NCAA First Four.
The Tigers were plagued by early turnovers, committing 17 in the first half that allowed Arizona to build a significant lead. The Wildcats led 27-19 at the end of the first half, and five additional turnovers in the third quarter from the Tigers gave Arizona a 17-point lead midway through the third quarter.
A late surge from Auburn saw the Tigers close the gap to within five points in the fourth quarter, but their early turnovers prevented them from making the comeback as the Wildcats scored 23 points off Auburn’s 23 turnovers.
"We had more energy down the stretch," said Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris. "We had a bad second quarter where we gave up too many drives down the paint. Our guards weren’t hedging, and they were able to get down the lane. We had to help, and they kicked it back out for 3s. And we turned the ball over."
The Tigers outscored the Wildcats in the paint 38-24 but struggled to contain the Wildcats' perimeter shooting. Arizona made five 3-pointers, with four of them knocked down in the third quarter. Auburn managed 19 second-chance points from 17 offensive rebounds, and the Tigers shot 39.7% from the field, contrasting with Arizona's 47.8%.
Auburn narrowed its deficit to five points with 4:37 left to play after a steal-and-score from Honesty Scott-Grayson. Over the next three minutes, Arizona kept the margin at five points at 64-59 with two minutes to play, and Auburn would not score again.
Scott-Grayson battled foul trouble throughout her last collegiate game but still led Auburn with 13 points, three steals and four rebounds. Scott-Grayson ends her time as a Tiger as the 11th all-time scorer with 1600 career points at Auburn.
“Honesty has grown. She has grown every single year she’s been here,” Harris said. “She came in (during the offseason) and told us she wanted to get us back to the NCAA Tournament. We rode her back for most of this season. I think she gave everything she had. That kid played to exhaustion.”
Taylen Collins grabbed her 1000th career point with her first point of the contest, and she finished the night with six points, four rebounds and two steals.
Yakiya Milton also had a career night, scoring a caree-high eight points and making her NCAA Tournament debut. Milton added three blocked shots and three rebounds.
With the loss, Auburn's season ends at 20-12, marking its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.
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Grace Heim is a junior from Enterprise, Alabama, majoring in English Literature. She started with The Plainsman in January 2023.
