Auburn (12-6,1-4) fell just short in their second upset bid of the week as they visited Nashville for a showdown with the Commodores (17-2,4-1). Auburn hot off a win at home against the seventh-ranked LSU Tigers went to the Commodores who, coming into the day were 10-1 at home and they improved to 11-1 as they sweated out a 53-50 win in a tough game.
Auburn now sits at the bottom of the SEC standings but seems to be trending in the right direction, with the top-off time being moved up to 2 pm Central time the game was always going to be a tough one with the schedule thrown together.
“We came out and made mistakes but we were still in the ball game," Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris said." We had a lot thrown at us – had to change the game time, got in late, had to get up early for shootaround – those are not excuses. Our kids handled that. We have to control what we can control. We were driving it to the hole, and things just didn't go our way.”
The back-and-forth affair saw Auburn take the lead eight times and even left the first quarter with the lead. Auburn ended the game with four turnovers in the last 4:31 of the game
Honesty Scott-Grayson again was a bright spot for the Tigers, she led the team in points with 15 and led the game in assists with six. Despite a difficult game shooting only going 6-23 Scott-Grayson was a big reason the Tigers were in the game late.
Other contributors for the Tigers included Tayle Collins who led the team with nine rebounds which led the contest.
Auburn's shooting woes continued as they shot only 1-9 from three and 35.6 percent from the field. The Auburn interior attack continued as they took 30 layups in the matchup.
Despite offensive struggles, Auburn’s defense was good enough to keep them in the game, tied in with 1:21 left in the game. Auburn held Vanderbilt to 38 percent from the field and 21 percent from beyond the arc.
“Our defense was good, we held a good offensive team to 53 points.” Said head Coach Johhnie Harris said “But it was not a good shooting night for us. But that's life on the road in the SEC, we've got to be able to finish."
Jamya Mingo-Young led the team with three steals; she also had five points in her 33 minutes on the court.
Auburn's bench and ability to play fast through their deep rotation was snuffed by the Commodores who outscored the Tiger's bench and held them to just 11 points.
Khamil Pierce led the game in scoring putting up an impressive 17 points in the unorthodox game she went 6-9 front the field and completed her double-double with 10 rebounds on the afternoon
The Tigers are back in action Sunday when the Crimson Tide rolls into town for a showdown at Neville Arena that will tip off at 2 pm Central and will stream on ESPN+ in conjunction with the Auburn Sports network.
