EUGENE, Ore. - The Auburn Tigers Women’s Basketball team suffered their first loss of the season, dropping to 3-1 after a 70-68 defeat to the No. 23 Oregon Ducks (6-0) on Wednesday night.
Taliah Scott continued her outstanding Auburn career, scoring 28 points after previously scoring 26 against Little Rock. She led the Tigers with seven 3-pointers. Meanwhile, the Oregon Ducks, who average 20 three-point attempts per game, shot just 2-8 from deep as a team.
“Taliah Scott put us on her back,” Coach Johnnie Harris said. “I challenged her in the second half to keep it up, and she stepped up to the challenge.”
The biggest difference came in the paint, where Oregon dominated 40-28, with most of those points coming on the fast break. The Tigers struggled with turnovers in the second quarter and early in the third, allowing the Ducks to build a 13-point lead with 5:11 left in the third quarter. Although the Tigers battled back, they came up just short in the end.
“Turnovers were an issue,” Coach Harris emphasized. “Most of those turnovers were unforced. Our point guard had nine turnovers, and you can’t have that.” She expressed confidence that these issues can be addressed in practice, and she is optimistic her team will improve.
Another challenge for the Tigers was foul trouble. Four different Tigers, including key starters Taliah Scott and Taylen Collins, each had four fouls. As a result, Coach Harris had to rely more on the bench than originally planned. However, in the fourth quarter, the bench rallied to bring the game within reach.
On the Oregon side, Phillipina Kyei led the way with 14 points on 5-9 shooting and nearly grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds. Peyton Scott and Amin Muhammad also scored in double figures, contributing 13 and 10 points, respectively.
The Tigers’ next game will be on the West Coast, where they will face the California Golden Bears in Berkeley on Friday. Auburn will look to bounce back after this hard-fought loss.
Tipoff for the game will be at 8 p.m. Friday at Haas Pavilion. The game will be streamed live on ACCN+ and the ESPN app, and it will also be available for live listening on the Auburn Sports Network.
