AUBURN, Ala. – After a week off from competition, the Auburn women’s basketball team is back in action Sunday when they take on No. 2 South Carolina on the road. Game time is 11 a.m. CT/noon ET at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
The Tigers (11-10, 2-6 SEC) hit the halfway point of SEC play last Sunday with a 74-51 win over Florida. The Gamecocks (20-1, 8-0) have won 14 straight games, including a road win at Tennessee Monday night in their last outing.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on ESPN 106.7 FM beginning at 10:45 a.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› The game can be seen on SEC Network with Roy Philpott and Tamika Catchings calling the action.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Auburn started fast and never trailed, capitalizing on four 3-pointers and a career-high 16 points from freshman Yuting Deng to defeat Florida 74-51 Sunday at Neville Arena.
›› Deyona Gaston led Auburn with 18 points. Celia Sumbane added 12. Mar’Shaun Bostic had a career-high 11 assists, scored nine points and was a staggering plus-35 in more than 32 minutes of playing time. Taylen Collins led Auburn with 12 rebounds while adding eight points.
›› The Tigers scored the game’s first 10 points, shutting out the Gators for nearly seven and a half minutes while forcing nine early turnovers and six missed shots. The Tigers scored 15 consecutive points, capping the run on Bostic’s and-one layup to lead by 22 late in the half.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD...
›› Snap a 15-game skid against the Gamecocks.
›› Be the Tigers’ first road SEC win this year.
›› Give Auburn a top-5 road win for the first time since Feb. 25, 1989 (86-76 at #5 Georgia).
›› Snap South Carolina’s 69-game home winning streak and 55-game SEC winning streak.
›› Be the first win by an SEC opponent in Colonial Life Arena since March 3, 2019, when #5 Mississippi State - and assistant coach Johnnie Harris - defeated Carolina 68-64.
SERIES HISTORY VS. SOUTH CAROLINA
›› Auburn is 21-30 in the 51 previous meetings with South Carolina. The Gamecocks have won 15 straight in the series, dating back to 2013. The Tigers’ last win in Columbia came in 2009.
LAST MEETING: Feb. 1, 2024, in Auburn
#1 South Carolina 76, Auburn 54
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson equaled her career high with 31 points and Auburn held No. 1 South Carolina to its lowest-scoring half of the SEC season but the Gamecocks defeated the Tigers 76-54 at Neville Arena.
›› The Tigers held the top-ranked Gamecocks to 27 points in the first half, limiting the visitors to 28.6-percent shooting through the first two quarters. Auburn held the nation’s top long-distance shooter, Te-Hina Paopao, to just one 3-pointer on four attempts.
›› South Carolina pulled away early in the fourth quarter, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 20-point lead and pushing its lead to 25 before a pair of late 3-pointers for the Tigers.
›› Throughout the first half, the crowd remained engaged and the home team stayed within striking distance of the top-ranked Gamecocks. After an Auburn steal, Timya Thurman’s layup pulled the Tigers within one point at the end of the opening period, despite Auburn’s six turnovers.
SCOUTING THE GAMECOCKS
›› South Carolina is 20-1 overall, 8-0 in SEC play. The Gamecocks’ lone loss this year came on the road at No. 1 UCLA.
›› The Gamecocks average 81.3 points per game and hold opponents to 55.5. One of the nation’s deepest teams, Carolina leads the country in bench scoring with 42.0 bench points per game. They are also top-10 nationally in blocks per game (4th - 6.2), field goal defense (6th - 33.7%), rebounds (8th - 43.5) and scoring margin (7th - +25.8).
›› Freshman Joyce Edwards leads three players in double figures with 12.4 points per game. MiLaysia Fulwiley adds 11.0 and Te-Hina Paopao scores 10.8. Nine Gamecocks average at least 5.5 points per game.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 11-10 overall, 2-6 in SEC play. After a stretch of three straight games against unranked opponents, five of the Tigers’ next six will come against top-25 foes with four of those on the road.
›› Auburn has held 17 of 20 Division I opponents below their season scoring average. Eleven of those opponents have scored more than 10 points below their season average.
›› Graduate student DeYona Gaston is the nation’s ninth-leading scorer and third in the SEC. She leads the Tigers with 21.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, ranking in the SEC’s top 10 in both categories. She has 10 games this season with 20 or more points and three with 30-plus. She set a Neville Arena record for an Auburn player with 36 points in the win over VUL, then nearly matched that with 35 points vs. Alabama State. She has five double-doubles so far this season, including a 29-point, 12-rebound performance vs. Norfolk State on Dec. 29. For her efforts against ULL (29 points)and Alabama State, she was named SEC Player of the Week. Gaston also hit a corner 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to beat Northern Iowa on Nov. 28; it was just the second 3-pointer of her five-year collegiate career. She added 30 points in the Jan. 2 game vs. Ole Miss, going 14-for-17 at the free throw line. Her 14 made free throws and 17 attempts both tied Auburn program records.
›› Freshman Yuting Deng turned heads in her first two extended appearances, scoring 13 points in the win over Missouri Jan. 19, then knocking down four 3-pointers en route to a 16-point night against Florida Jan. 26. She arrived from China Jan. 11, made her debut vs. Texas five days later, then missed the game at Mississippi State with an injury suffered in practice the day before.
›› Sophomore Taliah Scott, a transfer from Arkansas, made a splash in her Auburn debut, tying the program record for single-game 3-pointers with eight in the Tigers’ win over Little Rock Nov. 14. She scored 26 points in the game along with a career-high 9 rebounds. She followed that up with a 28-point night at Oregon where she knocked down seven 3-pointers. She has missed the last 16 games with an injury suffered at Cal on Nov. 22.
›› Graduate student Taylen Collins averages 8.5 points and 5.6 rebounds. She recorded her first double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the win over UAB Dec. 8. Collins hit double-digit scoring twice at the Paradise Jam and had 10 rebounds in the win over Pitt, then scored a then-season high 14 in the win at Virginia. She missed two recent games (Alabama State-illness, Norfolk State-injury) but returned to the lineup vs. Ole Miss. Collins pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds in the win over Florida Jan. 26.
›› Senior Mar’Shaun Bostic has been the Tigers’ starting point guard most of the season, currently ranking fourth in the SEC with 5.1 assists per game. She’s had five or more assists in 14 of 21 games. Her best game so far this season came at Kentucky on Jan. 12 when she scored a season-high 18 points along with 7 assists, then she matched that with another 18-point, 6-assist, 5-steal performance vs. Texas on Jan. 16. She then recorded a career-high 11 assists along with nine points in the win over Florida Jan. 26. One of the fastest players and top defenders in the SEC, she leads the team with 2.0 steals per game this year (9th SEC).
›› Senior Celia Sumbane scored a career-high 19 points with 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals vs. VUL. She was then named to the Paradise Jam all-tournament team after averaging 10.2 points in the tournament, including 16 in the final game vs. Kansas. She started the first 18 games, then recorded her first career double-double off the bench with 13 points and 11 rebounds vs. Missouri on Jan. 19.
›› Sophomore Audia Young opened the season with a bang, scoring a career-high 11 points on 3-4 3FG along with four steals vs. SIU. She then set another career high vs. VUL with 18 points, 4 assists and 5 steals. She hit double-digits a third time with 11 points in the win over Pitt, which included three 3-pointers. Young set a new career high at LSU with 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.
›› True freshmen Jordan Hunter and Syriah Daniels - two of the top high school players in Alabama a year ago - saw their first collegiate action vs. SIU. Hunter had 6 assists and 4 rebounds off the bench in the opener, then went 7-for-7 from the field for 15 points along with 6 assists vs. VUL. Daniels had 12 points and 4 steals in the VUL win, then scored a career-high 14 points in her first career start to help the Tigers come from behind to beat UAB Dec. 8.
›› Junior Oyindamola Akinbolawa has made 11 starts in the post, averaging 4.0 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. She played her best career game vs. Northern Iowa at the Paradise Jam, finishing with 7 points and 10 rebounds, including her first career 3-pointer. She then scored a career-high 10 points at UL-Lafayette Dec. 18 and just missed her first career double-double with nine rebounds.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn is back home Thursday night, Feb. 6, to take on Texas A&M. Game time is 6 p.m. at Neville Arena.