Auburn, Ala - Thursday, Auburn (5-2) defeated Clemson (5-4) 83-53 in Neville Arena for the ACC v SEC Basketball Challenge, in a rematch from the 2023 postseason WNIT where Clemson beat Auburn 56-55 to knock Auburn out of the post-season tournament.
"Our kids came out and they played hard, normally we let up, but I didn't think we let up tonight.," said Auburn head coach Jonnie Harris.
Coach Harris is right in that Auburn came out playing hard which is evident by how well the Blue & Orange played on both offense and defense, and Auburn led nearly the whole game and prevented Clemson from ever having the lead.
On the defensive side of the game for Auburn, they had 29 defensive rebounds, 17 steals, and they forced Clemson to turn the ball over 29 times, which led to Auburn scoring 29 points off those turnovers, which goes to show how a team's defensive performance can positively impact their offensive performance, especially in basketball.
One of the stars of Thursday's game, was Kaitlyn Duhon who, "Is getting steals and being rewarded for it, and once she gets that steal you are not going to be able to catch her in transition," Harris said.
Duhon being so quick and able to convert her three steals, to points on offense, leading to her having ten points overall in the game, illustrates how basketball relies so much on being able to make plays on defense and convert on offense which Duhon did for Auburn against Clemson.
On the offensive side of the ball for Auburn, they scored 83 total points with 38 of their points coming from inside the paint, 18 of their points coming from behind the three-point line, and 39 points coming from the bench, which shows how deep and well-rounded the Auburn Tigers are on their offensive play.
Auburn's offensive efficiency was also helped due to having four players score in double digits, Kaitlyn Duhon, JaMya Mingo-Young, Honesty Scott-Grayson, and Sydney Shaw, but some of the most impactful and dominating ball play came from Mingo-Young and Scott-Grayson.
Mingo-Young had a total of 16 points, three rebounds, and three assists and she came off the bench, and despite being out for some of Auburn's more recent games tonight she came in ready to play.
"She pushed the ball when it needed to be pushed, she pulled it back when it needed to be, and she did what we needed to do," Harris said.
It just goes to show that in basketball even if a player comes off the bench, they can still have a massive impact on the game which is exactly what Mingo-Young did against Clemson.
In addition to Mingo-Young's dominating ball play, Scott-Grayson had 18 points, five assists, five steals and four rebounds, performing well on both sides of the ball.
"I was just doing what I could to help the team and just being patient and poised," Scott-Grayson said.
Scott-Grayson's patience certainly helped against Clemson, and she continues to be one of the staples of Auburn's offensive performance this season and as SEC conference play draws closer, Auburn needs Scott-Grayson to keep up the great performances if the Blue and Orange are to succeed in the SEC.
Overall, tonight was a great showing of Auburn women's basketball on both sides of the ball and the team will remain in "Sweet Home Alabama" as they travel to Birmingham to face UAB at 2:30 pm CT on Sunday, December 3, 2023.
