Auburn women’s basketball is off to its strongest start in nearly a decade, moving to 5-0 after grinding out a 69-65 win over Georgia State on Monday night at Neville Arena. It was not always pretty, and it certainly was not easy, but the Tigers once again found ways to close out a tight game.
The spark came from freshman guard Harissoum Coulibaly, the lightning-quick freshman from France whose impact continues to grow game by game. She tied her career high with 19 points on an ultra-efficient 8-for-11 shooting night, and she consistently delivered when Auburn needed someone to steady the offense.
“Harissoum’s special,” said head coach Larry Vickers. “I don’t know if anybody’s faster, especially when she dips her shoulders. We want to keep getting better every possession. We’ve already been through overtime and a couple of close ones at home, and we’ve managed to buckle down and make free throws or get stops late. That’s going to pay off long term.”
The Tigers needed that resilience early. Auburn opened the game ice-cold, missing its first six shots and going nearly five minutes without scoring. Coulibaly checked in and immediately changed the energy, pushing the ball in transition for back-to-back buckets that snapped the drought and woke up the home crowd.
“I wasn’t thrilled with how we started,” Vickers admitted. “We looked slow, a little lackadaisical. I want to see more fight every possession.”
A’riel Jackson provided a boost at the end of the first quarter, drilling a buzzer-beater to give Auburn a 13–9 lead. In the second, Coulibaly kept the Tigers afloat, knocking down Auburn’s only first-half 3-pointer to tie the game at 18, at which point she had scored half of Auburn’s total points.
“She’s a special player and she’s going to score,” Vickers said. “I don’t want to overload her too soon. She’s playing starter minutes, which is what matters most. We’ll just call her our sixth starter.”
Kaitlyn “Downhill” Duhon lived up to her nickname with a steal and layup that sparked a 6–0 Auburn run, later adding a putback that helped the Tigers take a six-point lead into halftime. Auburn pushed the margin to 11 early in the third, but Georgia State punched back with a 12–0 run led by Crystal Henderson, who finished with a game-high 21 points.
“Some teams would’ve folded there,” Vickers said. “We’ve got to prevent those runs. It’s about attention to detail and having the right mentality every possession.”
Once again, Coulibaly steadied Auburn with two tough buckets, one slicing drive, one transition finish and Mya Petticord beat the third-quarter horn to put Auburn up 51–44.
Georgia State was not done, opening the fourth on a 6–0 run, but Coulibaly answered yet again, and she and Khady Leye fueled an 8–0 surge that built a nine-point cushion. Leye delivered her first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, while Duhon sealed the game at the line, finishing with 13 points and eight boards.
Auburn won the rebounding battle decisively, 41–30, and matched its best start since the 2016–17 season. The Tigers look to keep rolling as Rutgers comes to Neville Arena on Thursday at 6 p.m. CST for an SEC–Big Ten matchup.
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Sarah is a sophomore majoring in public relations. She started with The Plainsman in the spring of 2025.
