65 points is how many points the Auburn women’s team scored in its first game of the season. However, in the second game, that’s how many they scored off turnovers.
It was a completely different night for the Tigers, as the team dismantled its opponent the Verginia Lynchburg Dragons 138-36. It was a game that was over by halftime, and saw an overmatched opponent have no answer for a stifling defense that turned to offense.
“The one thing I told them is, I don't care what the score is,” said Auburn women’s head coach Johni Harris. “I wanted them to play hard. I thought they did that. We're still going to play Auburn women's basketball. We weren't trying to give up anything, you know, they're going to score points, but we wanted to play hard and play our style of basketball. So, I thought we did that.”
The Tigers had 25 steals on the night that helped lead to 35 fast break points. Forcing 41 turnovers and being able to understand where the right spot is to play defense is what helped Auburn in its winning effort.
“Just staying up the line and helping my teammates on help side,” said starting forward Celia Sumbane.
Auburn really only allowed one of the Dragons players to score. That was Aalyssa Rogers, who scored 15 on the night and seemed to be the only player on VUL’s roster that could score on the Tigers defense.
Limiting the Dragons field goal percentage below 40%, and three-point percentage to 22%, also aided in its efforts of keeping the game close.
Not one player on the Dragons squad had a positive plus/minus score, with the best being a –27 by starting guard Emily Bennet.
Auburn made sure not to allow many second chance points for VUL, giving up four offensive rebounds and only two second chance points.
The Tigers game plan was to be aggressive in pushing the ball down the court, but not at the expense of not capitalizing on an offensive possession.
“It was really important, because I just didn't want to go down and slop it up,” said Coach Harris. So, I thought we did a better job in this game of taking what the defense gave us. So, if we had to transition, we ran and scored or got fouled. If we didn't, we pulled it out and ran something. So, I wanted to see our point guards manage that. And I thought they did good without me yelling at them.”
Auburn’s ability to create points off its defense will be helpful when conference play gets started up in the next month or so. The execution of a good defense is a good sign for the Tigers given that it travels well.
“Like I said, taking pride in our defense,” said starting forward Diana Gatson. “It helps us get ready for bigger teams. So, when we do match up to bigger teams, we know exactly what to do when anything breaks down.
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William Halliday is a junior journalism major from Memphis, Tennessee. He started with the Plainsman in fall 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @wphalliday3
