AUBURN, Ala — The Auburn Tigers (2-0) celebrated Head Coach Johnnie Harris’ birthday with a 92-point win over the University of Virginia-Lynchburg Dragons (0-1).
The Tiger’s 128-36 win over the Dragons, showcased a lockdown performance by Auburn’s defense and a career-high scoring night for the Tigers' DeYona Gaston.
“We weren’t trying to give up anything,” Coach Harris said, “They’re going to score points, but we wanted to play hard and play our style of basketball.”
Auburn’s style of play this season features a strong defensive performance, which is consistent with how Auburn has played in previous seasons under Coach Harris and giving everyone the opportunity to have a chance to make big-time plays during the game.
After the game, Celia Sumbane said, “Taking pride in our defense helps us get ready for bigger teams, so that we know exactly what to do when anything breaks down.”
Auburn’s defense appears to be solid as against Virginia-Lynchburg, the Tigers had 25 steals, at least one from every Auburn player, forced 41 turnovers and scored 65 points off those turnovers. The Tiger’s had a dominant 92-point win because Auburn’s defense never allowed Virginia-Lynchburg to have the opportunity to get anything going.
“We’re in the passing lane,” Coach Harris said, “I thought our team was locked in defensively, and that’s what we wanted. Stay locked in and continue to do what you do.”
The Tiger’s were locked in on defense, and their ability to disrupt plays was what held Virgia-Lynchburg to 36 points, the same amount of points the DeYona Gaston scored over the course of the game.
Gaston’s 36 points was not only a career high for her personally but was also the most points scored by a Tiger inside of Neville Arena, and the most points scored by an Auburn player since 1998.
One of the most exciting moments of the game was when Gaston was on a break-away, and it looked like she wanted to go up for a dunk, she even said after the game, “I thought about it, you know, I thought about it.” In the end though Gaston went for the easy layup instead, to continue building Auburn’s lead.
Coach Harris had a very different reaction though to the play, as she said, “Absolutely not. A layup was fine with me. I’m just glad she made the layup.” Coach Harris then followed up with, “We’ll get that dunk,” so Auburn fans should watch out for a dunk by DeYona Gaston at some point during the season.
DeYona Gaston had a fantastic game tonight, and the entire team had a dominant defensive performance tonight against the Dragons, and it bodes well for what Auburn fans should expect for the rest of the season.
The Auburn Woman’s Basketball Team, has nearly a week off before the face off against the Little Rock Trojans, on November 14 at 7:00 p.m. on the SEC Network.
