Auburn’s women’s basketball team suffered a lopsided 96-56 defeat to Mississippi State on Thursday night, as the Bulldogs dominated both ends of the floor in the SEC matchup at Humphrey Coliseum.
The Tigers got production predominantly from one player in DeYona Gaston who had 26 points on the night while taking most of the shots for the team. The only other player for Auburn in double figures was Celia Sumbane with 10.
Where Auburn really struggled was on the defensive end of the floor, where the team was outscored in the paint 56-26 and outrebounded 44-23. The Bulldogs were able to knock down almost every shot they took shooting 62.3% from the floor.
State did most of its damage in the 1st half where the Bulldogs led at the half 48-17. Thanks in part to a 24-0 run in the second quarter that the Tigers finally broke with two minutes left to play in the half. The Tigers only scored four points in that quarter.
Auburn led for only 3:34, where all of it was in the first quarter and never took back the lead after the five-minute mark in that same quarter.
It got a little bit better in the second half for the Tigers, but never enough to cut down the lead to where they could come back. Auburn scored 25 points in the third quarter, tying its most in a quarter this season.
The fourth quarter didn’t have much happen because both teams didn’t knock down many shots and produced a low number of points between one another, as the Bulldogs wrapped up the game with a blowout win.
The Bulldogs bench outscored the Tigers bench 34-8 giving State a huge boost to extend its lead even more throughout the game. Both teams had a good number of turnovers with State leading this category with 19 compared to Auburn’s 17 and both teams scored 15 points off turnovers.
The Tigers are now 1-6 in conference games and 0-3 on the road. Auburn’s next game is this Sunday against the Florida Gators. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CST in Neville Arena and will be broadcast on SECN+.
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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
