AUBURN, Ala. – It's wheels up for Europe next week as the Auburn women's basketball team departs on an 11-day international tour Sunday.
The Tigers will travel to France and Switzerland Aug. 6-16, a trip that includes three exhibition games and visits to historic places and tourist destinations in those countries.
"This is a really good opportunity," Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris said. "We're in a phase of our program to where we're building. This is the next step. We have eight new players, and I think it will be good for us to get them together, mesh, and just see what we've got.
"I think this team gets along really well, they work really well together. And so it will be really good to go and see how they do against some pros over there. I feel like this trip will help us by being together, being over there dependent on each other, and it starts off the court. I'm going to have to have some people to step up."
The team will depart from Atlanta Sunday evening, landing in Paris Monday morning. Auburn's travel party will spend three nights in Paris, three nights in Montreux, Switzerland, and three nights in Nice, France before returning stateside Aug. 16.
Auburn's first game of the trip will be Wednesday, Aug. 9, in Paris; tip is currently set for 7 p.m. local time (noon CT). The Tigers will play again in Monthey, Switzerland, on Saturday, Aug. 12 at 6 p.m. local time (11 a.m. CT). Game three of the trip is set for Monday, Aug. 14, in Nice at 7 p.m. local time (noon CT). All three games will be against local teams of select players from the area.
Efforts will be made to live stream all three games on the Auburn Women's Basketball Facebook page; however, access to WiFi and/or data will impact the ability to provide a live stream. Fans can check Auburn social media on gamedays for up-to-date information.
Highlights of the trip include a visit to the Eiffel Tower and a sunset cruise on the Seine River while in Paris, visits to Chillon Castle and the Olympic Museum in Switzerland, a brief stop in northern Italy, a bike tour of Nice and a visit to Monaco.
This will be the fourth international summer tour for Auburn women's basketball. The team previously took excursions to Czech Republic and Slovakia (2008), Australia (2012), and Italy (2019).
Fans can follow the Tigers' European tour via @AuburnWBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Recaps from each game and photo galleries throughout the trip will be available at AuburnTigers.com.
Auburn returns two starters and six letterwinners from the 2022-23 team that finished 16-15 overall and advanced to the second round of the WNIT. Graduate student Honesty Scott-Grayson and sophomore Sydney Shaw return as the top two scorers, and they are joined by senior Carsen McFadden, junior Mar'Shaun Bostic, sophomores Kaitlyn Duhon and Oyindamola Akinbolawa, and redshirt freshman Audia Young.
Eight newcomers are slated to see their first action as Tigers in Europe. Transfers Taylen Collins, McKenna Eddings, Kionna Gaines, JaMya Mingo-Young and Celia Sumbane join freshmen Yakiya Milton, Savannah Scott and Timya Thurman on the Auburn squad for 2023-24.