Jan. 13, 2017
By Jeff Shearer
AuburnTigers.com
AUBURN, Ala. - So focused was Auburn senior gymnast MJ Rott on having a party during her floor routine, she didn't realize one of the judges awarded her a perfect score until a teammate informed her.
"As I was sitting down for awards, Lucia (Scaglione) sat down next to me and said, `One judge threw you a 10.0,'" Rott said.
Rott tied her career high with a 9.95, delighting the sellout crowd of 7,424 at Auburn Arena.
"I'm really happy with a 9.95," Rott said. "It means that I've improved on what I was focused on improving since last Friday. I just said, `Let it hang.' It's my last routine. I'm the last routine. It paid. I didn't even see the score."
Georgia outscored No. 13 Auburn, 196.800 - 196.075. Auburn coach Jeff Graba said performing in front of the fourth home sellout in program history will benefit his team.
"It makes us better in the long run," he said. "These guys will be able to go on the road now in front of these huge crowds in the SEC and they're going to be able to handle it because I think it's tougher in front of our own crowd than on the road because you don't want to let your own people down. I think it's helping us and I can't thank the fans enough."
Another highlight for Auburn was freshman Katie Becker, who earned a 9.85 in her first collegiate floor routine, despite beginning the meet as an alternate.
"He (Coach Graba) pulled me aside and said, `You're second on floor,'" Becker said. "I was pretty excited when I heard that. There was shock, but I was ready."
Becker's performance earned her coach's trust for future meets.
"I'm starting to believe that she can handle adversity and still perform at a high level," Graba said. "I think she rose to the occasion and I was very happy with her performance."
Graba inserted Becker into the floor lineup after removing freshman Gracie Day for what he called a "precaution."
"I really wanted floor to do a better job this week, because I felt like we were in the right direction on the other events," Graba said. "I figured out a little bit more about my team tonight because of that. We ended up using a lot of people in spots that we weren't predicting. We got better tonight. In a lot of ways, it was positive."
Auburn's first away meet is Friday at Kentucky at 6 p.m. on SECN+.
"With a young team with a lot of new routines and people in new positions, that's the name of the game," Graba said. "This is not the team I see in practice. That's the difference. But we're growing, and to go 196, almost 196.1, with what I think we would all agree, a very poor performance, I think that shows that we're a quality team."
📺 Watch the highlights as Auburn scores a season high 196.075 in front of a sold-out Auburn Arena#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/akqarhr5Uu
-- Auburn Gymnastics (@AuburnGym) January 14, 2017
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: Follow @jeff_shearer