The Auburn Tigers (15-13 SEC: 5-11) clinched the 10th seed by defeating the Vanderbilt Commodores (12-18 SEC: 3-13) in a barn burner that nearly brought Neville Arena to ash as Auburn won 78-76.
“I thought our seniors came out and set the tone,” said Auburn head coach Johnie Harris.
Both teams fought tooth and nail, throughout the day, but finally, as it tied at 76-76, Auburn’s Honesty Scott-Grayson got fouled at the arc with four seconds to go, Scott-Grayson would miss the first free throw but made the last two, leading to an Auburn victory
Although senior Scott-Grayson, who scored the last points, was Auburn’s point leader with 15, it would be Sania Wells who scored the first points with an and-one to start the matchup and finished the game with 13 points of her own.
“I knew It was going to be a fun night,” said Sania Wells when asked about the and-one.
Another Tiger giving valuable stats to the game was Aicha Coulibaly. The Junior looks to help be a leader next regular season, and tonight contributed 14 points four rebounds, and four assists.
Auburn’s bench also came to play supplying 26 points, and Precious Johnson came in and got one of the Tiger's three blocks in this matchup.
The Tigers shot a total of 43.5 percent from the field and 66.7 percent from beyond the arc.
Auburn dominated the boards winning the rebounding battle 33-29, adding to that was Auburn forcing 17 turnovers and capitalizing by getting 20 points from those turnovers.
The Tiger's regular season ended but they still have basketball left to play as they will take on Georgia in the second round of the SEC tournament on March second at 6:00 pm.
“Georgia and Vandy play very similar so I’m happy to have those games back to back,” said Harris.
