AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn got their first win of the season Monday night, beating Southern Illinois 65–31 behind a dominant defensive performance, causing 29 Saluki turnovers.
The Auburn Women’s basketball team came into their first game this regular season against Southern Illinois, following a preseason 106-26 beatdown of Lagrange College last Thursday night. Auburn also came in with only eight healthy players as Coach Harris said pregame that multiple players were out due to injury tonight but are hopeful to come back in the next few weeks. After the game, coach Harris said their goal in this game was to come out and set the tone early, especially on the defensive side. The Tigers did exactly did today limiting Southern Illinois to 20 percent from the field and a whole lot of defense.
Defense and three-point shooting were Auburn’s keys to this win as Auburn’s defense got 29 turnovers and hit 50 percent of their threes.
The opening of the first quarter was sloppy as there were multiple turnovers by both teams including two early travels by Auburn. The first points of the season went to DeYona Gaston in the paint, as she took advantage of one of many Southern Illinois turnovers early. Coach Harris went to her short bench early, putting in Jordan Hunter in relief of Mar'shaun Bostic but Bostic would come back only seconds later. Southern Illinois had four early fouls, all of those coming in one minute and three on one Auburn possession. A good corner three by Tyranny Brown would put the Salukis up 5-4 early heading into the media timeout, but the Tigers would hit two more shots after making it 8-7 after one quarter. Auburn couldn’t capitalize the rest of the quarter, even on their six first quarter offensive rebounds as they shot 20 percent from the field through 10 minutes, with Celia Sumbane scoring half of those points.
Heading into the second quarter, Auburn’s defense would start heating up after finally turning those turnovers into quick offense. Auburn’s offense started to look good even in the half-court set, moving the ball around leading to a Celia Sumbane three at the top of the key early in the second quarter. A couple minutes later, Oyindamola Akinbolawa made a huge and-one off an assist by Bostic increased Auburn’s offensive momentum in the second quarter forcing a Southern Illinois timeout. Defensive pressure, including a couple charge calls going Auburn’s way, provides Auburn multiple fastbreak opportunities at the other end of the court. Jeniah Thompson for Southern Illinois went out with a scary shoulder injury that left her on the ground for a couple minutes with 4:47 left in the second quarter. Southern Illinois would try to make it a tight game late in the second quarter as Uchenna had another three-point play opportunity after a hard foul but she missed. After a couple more Auburn baskets, Audia Young made a huge three with only a couple seconds left making it 27-15 going into halftime.
Auburn’s defense showed up with a great first half getting 14 total turnovers, seven total steals along with a block. These turnovers allowed Auburn’s offense to score four fast-break points pretty easily. Auburn also showed off their size with seven offensive rebounds but could not convert any of those second chances as they shot 34% from the field for the half. MVP early on had to be Celia Sumbane as she scored almost half of Auburn’s first half points on an efficient 5-8 from the field.
More Auburn defensive pressure early in the second half allowed Auburn to get out on the break; already tying their first quarter scoring amount two and a half minutes into the third quarter. A tough travel call on Auburn as the ball caught Gaston in the middle of a step before a basket lead to a turnover, but the Tigers extended their lead to 13 heading into a media timeout with 6:46 left in the third. Six more turnovers were forced by this aggressive Auburn defense pretty quickly into this second half. Ultimately Auburn’s offense really got going in this second half as Audia Young got the crowd to their highest volume of the night hitting a big three to go up 20 over Southern Illinois 41-21. Southern Illinois Timeout with 1:46 seconds left in the third 43-21 as Auburn's scrappy defense held them to a 4:26 minute scoring drought. Auburn gets some much needed breathing room after three outsourcing Southern Illinois 19-10 in the third quarter, pushing the lead to 21.
In the fourth quarter, it was all Auburn as Duhon and Gatson were making highlight plays throughout as Kaitlyn Duhon made multiple threes and Deyona Gatson blocked a shot back into the second row. More turnovers by Southern Illinois helped Auburn end the game on a 18-3 run, making eight of their last nine.
After the game, DeYona Gatson, a Texas transfer, highlighted the great team play even with the absence of several players.
Gaston said “It’s the next person that steps up, next person that shows up, and we had a lot of people show up today.”
The Tigers play their next game 6:00 PM Friday as they welcome Virginia University-Lynchburg to town. The game will be broadcasted on SECN+ or ESPN 106.7 on your radio dials.
