Playing their fourth game in seven days, the Auburn Tigers looked to continue their momentum from Thursday night’s monumental home upset of Tennessee on the road against Vanderbilt. For the first couple minutes, it looked like the Tigers still had that same momentum as they built a 7-0 lead; however, from there, it went south in a hurry for Auburn. Vanderbilt used a 22-2 run in the first quarter to take a double-digit lead, stretched their lead to 25 by halftime, and cruised in the second half to an 81-66 win. The loss leaves Auburn with a 9-11 record overall and a 1-8 mark in league play. Meanwhile the Commodores improve to 12-10 (3-5 SEC).
Aicha Coulibaly overcame first half foul trouble to lead the Tigers with 21 points, five rebounds, and four steals. Honesty Scott-Grayson added 14 points and five rebounds. Freshman Amoura Graves tied her career high in both points (eight) and rebounds (four) while playing 23 minutes off the bench. Mar’Shaun Bostic and Annie Hughes shared the team lead with four assists apiece.
Vanderbilt simply could not miss from the field in the first half in route to 46 first half points. The Commodores shot 73% from the field and an absurd 83% from deep. By the time Vanderbilt’s shooting touch started cooling off in the second half, Auburn had dug too deep a hole to climb back into the game. The Tigers did briefly cut the Vanderbilt lead to 12 with less than five minutes to play, but Brinae Alexander put the game on ice for the home team by making all 10 of her free throw attempts. For the game, Vanderbilt shot 58.3% from the field and 70% from the three-point line.
Alexander led the Commodores with 24 points. Iyana Moore added 22 points and seven assists, and Jordyn Cambridge (Devan Cambridge’s sister) recorded a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Sacha Washington scored 11 points off the bench for Vanderbilt.
Auburn did force 27 turnovers and got 23 points from those turnovers, but the turnovers were not enough to offset Vanderbilt’s shooting touch. Additionally, the Tigers had 15 giveaways of their own. Auburn got outrebounded 38-23, including 20-5 in the first half.
The Tigers are back in action Thursday evening at 7 p.m. when they host Mississippi State in Auburn Arena.
