AUBURN, Ala. – Auburn women’s basketball heads out on its second road trip of the season as the Tigers will face UCF Monday night in Orlando, Florida. Game time is 6 p.m. CT at Addition Financial Arena.
The Tigers (3-1) look to bounce back from a home loss to California Friday night. UCF (2-0) has not played since last Monday when the Knights earned a win over Division II Anderson.
ON THE AIR
›› Brit Bowen will have the radio call on AU100 (100.3 FM) beginning at 5:45 p.m. CT. The broadcast can also be heard on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app.
›› Monday’s game can be seen on Big12Now/ESPN+. The broadcast is available to subscribers on the ESPN app and WatchESPN.com.
LAST TIME OUT
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson led Auburn with 18 points and nine rebounds, but California claimed an early lead and never trailed again to win 67-53 Friday in a battle of unbeatens at Neville Arena, the Tigers’ first defeat after starting the season with three straight victories.
›› Trailing by a dozen after three quarters, Mar’Shaun Bostic’s steal and layup cut the Bears’ lead to 10 to start the fourth quarter but Auburn would get no closer.
›› Auburn outscored Cal 29-2 in bench points but a trio of Bears starters produced at a high enough level to negate the Tigers’ depth advantage. Kaitlyn Duhon scored nine points in 15 minutes on 4-of-5 shooting and JaMya Mingo-Young had five assists and zero turnovers in her Auburn debut to add to the Tigers’ bench production.
›› Scott-Grayson scored 13 points in the third quarter, hitting a 3-pointer and a reverse layup to pull the Tigers within nine but Cal drew a foul on a 3-pointer and hit all three free throws to lead 52-40 heading to the fourth quarter.
AN AUBURN WIN WOULD…
›› Be Auburn’s second road win of the season.
›› Improve the Tigers to 3-0 all-time against UCF.
›› Be Auburn’s third straight win over a Big 12 opponent.
LAST MEETING: Dec. 3, 2022 at Auburn
Auburn 86, UCF 46
›› Honesty Scott-Grayson scored 22 points, and the Auburn women’s basketball team steamrolled past previously unbeaten UCF 86-46 Saturday afternoon at Neville Arena.
›› The Tigers dominated all phases of the game, using a smothering defense to hold the Knights to their lowest scoring total of the season while securing its largest margin of victory in 2022-23.
›› Scott-Grayson led the Tigers in scoring for the fourth straight game, scoring 20-plus for the third time in those four contests. Mar’Shaun Bostic scored a career-high 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting; she also had two rebounds, one assist and one steal. Sydney Shaw and Jakayla Johnson came up just short of double-figures with nine and eight points, respectively. Sania Wells made her first start of the season and recorded a team-leading three blocks along with three assists and two steals.
›› Auburn shot 47.8 percent from the floor (33-69) and hit 6-of-13 3-point attempts (46.2%). Meanwhile, the Knights were held to a season-low 22.4 percent night and did not hit a 3-pointer; it’s the second straight opponent Auburn has held scoreless from long range. Auburn also controlled the boards, pulling down a season-high 51 rebounds to UCF’s 33, and the Tigers’ relentless ball pressure forced UCF into 18 turnovers while holding the Knights without a single assist on the day.
AUBURN-UCF SERIES
›› This is the third meeting between Auburn and UCF in women’s basketball. The Tigers have won the previous two meetings, both in Auburn. This will be the first meeting between the teams in Orlando.
SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS
›› UCF is 2-0 after wins over Bethune-Cookman and Division II Anderson the first two weeks of the season.
›› In those two games, UCF is averaging 98.5 points while allowing 68.0 per game.
›› Last season, UCF finished 14-15 overall and 4-11 in American Athletic Conference play. This is UCF’s first season as a member of the Big 12.
›› Indiana transfer Kaitlin Peterson leads UCF with 24.5 points/game. Achol Akot averages 10.5 points and 10.0 rebounds.
SCOUTING AUBURN
›› Auburn is 3-1 after wins over Jacksonville State and Louisiana-Lafayette at home, a road win at Rutgers, and a home loss to Cal to open the season.
›› Graduate student Honesty Scott-Grayson led the Tigers with 14 point in the opener vs. JSU, then hit two clutch 3-pointers late in the win over UL-Lafayette and finished with 15 points. Her season-high came in her “homecoming” game at Rutgers Nov. 12 when she scored 18 points. She leads the team with 16.3 points/game and also averages 6.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
›› Freshman Savannah Scott has been a force under the basket through the early part of the season, averaging 13.0 points and a team-high 7.3 rebounds. She led the Tigers with 16 points in the win over ULL, then posted her first career double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds in the win at Rutgers. At 6-4, she adds much-needed size in the post, as do fellow freshmen Timya Thurman (6-5) and Yakiya Milton (6-4) along with sophomore Oyindamola Akinbolawa (6-5).
›› Sophomore Sydney Shaw scored 10 points in the comeback win over UL-Lafayette last Thursday, then matched that with 10 at Rutgers Sunday. She is fourth on the team with 8.3 points/game. Shaw started 25 games last season, averaging 7.6 points, and 2.6 rebounds. Possibly the Tigers’ best pure shooter, she moves from playing significant minutes at point guard last year to mostly at the 2-guard spot this season, although she has run the point at times in the first four games.
›› Senior Taylen 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. She averages 6.8 points and 6.8 rebounds through three games. Collins, a transfer from Oklahoma State, was fourth in the Big 12 in rebounding last year with 9.5 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
›› Junior Mar’Shaun Bostic had a huge game in the opener with 12 points, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 rebounds. She was a breakout star in the Tigers’ final game of the season last year, scoring a career-high 23 points in the WNIT second round matchup at Clemson. She played in all 31 games last year, averaging 5.6 points and 1.9 rebounds. Bostic, one of the fastest players in the SEC, looks to play significant minutes at point guard and can be one of the SEC’s top defenders.
›› 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. In the two exhibition games, she had 6 steals in each and recorded a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double vs. Columbus State.
›› Celia Sumbane and McKenna Eddings, both JUCO All-Americans last season, have played significant minutes in the first three games. They both had their best games at Rutgers as Eddings had 4 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, a steal and a block in 24 minutes of action, and Sumbane was a beast at both ends of the floor with 5 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Eddings made her first Division I start vs. California.
›› JaMya Mingo-Young (Alabama/Mississippi State) averaged 5.4 points and 4.4 rebounds in 14 games at Alabama before missing the second half of the season with injury; in 2021-22, she started all 34 games and averaged 11.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists and finished second in the SEC with 80 steals. She made her Auburn debut with a team-leading 5 assists vs. Cal after missing the first three games with injury.
UP NEXT
›› Auburn will be back inside Neville Arena on the Sunday after the Iron Bowl when they take on Alabama A&M. Game time is 2 p.m. CT on Nov. 26.
