AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn women's basketball team is back on the road this weekend, traveling across the state for a Sunday afternoon contest against rival Alabama. Game time is 2 p.m. CT at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.
The Tigers (16-8, 5-6 SEC) have won two straight headed into Sunday, the last being a 78-50 rout of Kentucky at home Thursday night. Alabama (19-7, 6-5) had a break from action Thursday; they were beaten 85-66 at LSU last Sunday.
Auburn seeks a season sweep of the Crimson Tide for the first time since 2019; the Tigers defeated Alabama at home 78-65 on Jan. 21 to snap a nine-game skid against their in-state rivals.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on AU100 (100.3 FM) beginning at 1:45 p.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› Sunday's game can be seen on SEC Network + with Roger Hoover and Leah Drury calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn built a big early lead and never trailed against Kentucky, hammering the Wildcats 78-50 Thursday at Neville Arena behind Taylen Collins' double-double and another 20-point outing from Honesty Scott-Grayson.
›› Collins scored a season-high 19 points and recorded her third double-double of the season with 11 rebounds.
›› Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 22 points, scoring at least 20 for the fifth straight game while grabbing eight rebounds.
›› Kaitlyn Duhon and JaMya Mingo-Young added 10 points apiece for the Tigers. Mingo-Young filled the box score with eight rebounds and team highs of six assists and four steals. Auburn made 15 steals, forced 26 Kentucky turnovers and finished plus-23 in points off turnovers.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Give the Tigers a regular-season sweep of Alabama for the first time since 2019.
›› Be Auburn's fifth road win of the season.
›› Be the 994th win in program history.
›› Give Auburn a fourth top-30 win this season.
AUBURN-ALABAMA SERIES
›› This is the 103rd meeting between Auburn and Alabama in women's basketball, the second-most played series in the SEC behind only Ole Miss and MIssissippi State. Auburn is 54-48 all-time against the Crimson Tide in a series that dates back to 1973.
›› Auburn's and Alabama's records do not match because Alabama did not sponsor women's basketball as a varsity sport until the 1974-75 season. Two meetings in 1973 and 1974 were between Auburn's varsity team and Alabama's club team. Auburn lost to Alabama 33-29 in 1973, then defeated the Tide 69-31 on Jan. 11, 1974, in the first women's game at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum
LAST MEETING: Jan. 21, 2024, at Auburn
Auburn 78, Alabama 65
›› On the day Auburn retired the jersey of all-time scoring leader DeWanna Bonner, the Tigers used a stellar start and a fabulous finish to defeat Alabama 78-65 Sunday at Neville Arena.
›› In the first and fourth quarters, Auburn outscored Alabama 50-20, defeating their in-state rival for the first time in their past 10 meetings.
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 19 points, JaMya Mingo-Young scored 12 and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds, and Savannah Scott added 10.
SCOUTING THE CRIMSON TIDE
›› Alabama is 19-7 overall and 6-5 in SEC play. The Tide had Thursday off; they fell 85-66 at LSU in their last game.
›› The Tide averages 74.5 points per game while holding opponents to 59.3. Alabama is one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the SEC, hitting 35.7% from long range.
›› Sarah Ashlee Barker leads Alabama with 16.7 points/game. Aaliyah Nye averages 3.4 3-pointers per game, best in the SEC.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 16-8 overall, 5-6 in SEC play after picking two in a row against Missouri and Kentucky.
›› The Tigers have four road wins this season, the most since winning 10 times on the road in 2018-19.
›› Auburn has three top-30 wins this year, defeating NET No. 9 LSU, No. 24 Washington State and No. 28 Alabama, all at home.
›› The Tigers are 14-0 this season when shooting at least 40% from the field.
›› Graduate student Honesty Scott-Grayson has scored 15+ points in every SEC game this season and 20+ eight times overall, including the last five straight games. She matched a career-high with 31 points vs. No. 1 South Carolina on Feb. 1. It was the third 30+ point game of her career and her fifth game with at least 20 points this season. She followed that up with a 27-point performance at Arkansas, then a 24-point night at Missouri. She was named SEC Player of the Week after a 21-point performance in the win over LSU, then matched that output with 21 in the win over Georgia. She leads the team with 17.9 points/game and also averages 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists. She averages 20.6 points/game in SEC play (2nd in SEC), and has scored in double figures in 22 out of 23 games she has played this year.
›› JaMya Mingo-Young leads Auburn with 3.9 assists/game, and she is second on the team with 8.8 points/game. She is fifth in the SEC and 29th nationally in assist/turnover ratio (2.5). She is also second in the league in free-throw percentage (84.0%) and made 29 consecutive free throws from the UAB game Dec. 3 until finally missing at Texas A&M Jan. 7. Mingo-Young scored a season-high 16 points against Clemson, hitting 9-of-11 free throw attempts, then matched her scoring output with 16 against Norfolk State and tied an Auburn record going 12-for-12 at the free-throw line. She made the highlight-reel play of the season to clinch the win over LSU, stealing the ball from Angel Reese and drawing a foul with 10 seconds to play and Auburn leading by 2, then sinking both free throws to secure the win.
›› Senior Taylen Collins scored a season-best 19 points and had 11 rebounds in the win over Kentucky for her third double-double of the year. Collins had a huge second half to spark the comeback win over UL-Lafayette on Nov. 9 with all nine of her points and 8 of 14 rebounds coming after halftime, and she had a then-season high 17 points vs. Alabama State. She recorded her first Auburn double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds vs. Alabama A&M, then got her first in SEC play with 12 points and 11 rebounds at Arkansas. She averages 8.6 points and a team-leading 6.6 rebounds.
›› Junior Mar'Shaun Bostic scored a season-high 17 points on 7-11 shooting vs. Tennessee. She had a huge game in the opener vs. Jacksonville State with 12 points, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 rebounds. She then had another huge game agains Clemson with 7 points, 4 assists and a career-high 5 steals. Another big game for her came against Georgia when she had 4 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 5 steals.
›› Sophomore Sydney Shaw scored a career-high 17 points at UCF and has hit double-figures in six games. Shaw also led the Tigers with 15 points in the Alabama A&M win and scored 11 against Clemson. She is fourth on the team with 6.0 points/game.
›› Sophomore Kaitlyn Duhon started the season off with a bang, scoring 13 points along with 3 rebounds and 2 steals in the opener vs. JSU. She showed off her speed against Clemson, especially late in the first half, as she scored 10 points with 3 rebounds and 3 steals. She swiped a career-high 5 steals in just 10 minutes of action vs. Alabama State, and she has started seven games.
›› Freshman Savannah Scott has seen a resurgence since moving back into the starting lineup vs. Alabama, averaging 6.0 points and 4.3 rebounds over the last three games she has played. For the season, she averages 5.2 points and 3.7 rebounds, and she was SEC Freshman of the Week the opening week of the season after a double-double at Rutgers.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn plays its fourth road game in the last five Thursday night with a late tip in Baton Rouge against No. 13/11 LSU. Game time is 8 p.m. CT at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Auburn heads to Tuscaloosa for Sunday showdown at Alabama
