Auburn women’s basketball did what it needed to in order to survive against Southern Miss Thursday night.
Despite shooting just 33% from the field, the Tigers’ defense held its own again and led Auburn to a 56-48 victory over the Golden Eagles.
“Overall I felt like there were some positives and some negatives,” said Auburn head coach Larry Vickers. “Negatives, we don’t want to turn the ball over, ever. Positives, somehow we still managed to hold them under 50 scoring the basketball. So that game goal was met. Offensively, you can see we’re still learning each other.”
Auburn’s leading scorer for the second straight game was Miami transfer Danielle Osho, who matched her scoring total from the opener with 16 points.
Fellow Miami transfer Jessica Peterson finished second in scoring with 14 points, but did her damage on the glass — grabbing a team-high 19 rebounds for a double-double.
“Huge rebounding night from Jessica Peterson,” Vickers said. “That’s what we brought her here to do: be a senior, be a leader, somebody who’s been in these close games. She did a tremendous job.”
Peterson’s rebounding and the Tigers’ defense were just about the only bright spots for Auburn, which struggled to find offensive rhythm. The Tigers forced Southern Miss into 22% shooting from the field, and the Golden Eagles did not make a 3-point shot on 17 attempts.
All of it without all-SEC defender Kaitlyn Duhon, who missed the game after injuring her thigh in the opener.
“I thought we did a pretty good job overall for 90% of the game sticking to our scouts and understanding our closeouts,” Vickers said. “They had a couple that I felt were maybe a little too open late, but then I recognized who the shooter was and I was like ‘Okay, they kinda stuck to their scout.’ When we can grab the first rebound, we’re a pretty good defensive team. Early, we didn’t do that, but late, we did.”
Auburn moves to 2-0 with the win and returns to Neville Arena next Tuesday, Nov. 10, facing Furman at 11 a.m. CST.
