Nov. 14, 2008
Final Stats
The Alabama A&M women's basketball team dropped its 2008 season opener to visiting Auburn University, 91-53. This marks the first time A&M women's basketball has ever hosted an SEC team. Katrich Williams led the Bulldogs with a team-high 19 points, including 3-for-6 behind the arc and 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. Freshman Gabrielle Williams chipped in with nine points on 4-for-5 shooting in her Bulldog debut. A&M will host Miles College on Wed. Nov. 19 beginning at 5:30 p.m.
For Auburn, DeWanna Bonner led all scorers with a game-best 25 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the floor. Keke Carrier had 11 points off the bench in 16 minutes of action. Trevesha Jackson, Sherell Hobbs, and Reneisha Hobbs all recorded 10 points.
In the first half, Auburn jumped out to an 8-0 lead, capped by a Bonner layup. A jumper by Erica Thompson at the 17:49 mark put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard. The Tigers then responded with an 18-4 run over a span of five plus minutes to hand A&M its largest deficit of the game, 26-6. The Bulldogs trailed by as many as 29, 40-11, with 5:58 remaining in the half, before two treys by Chelsea Marshall chipped into the Tiger advantage to cut it back down to 23. Auburn outscored A&M 3-2 in the last 2:51 to head into the lockerroom with the 43-19 advantage.
At the end of the first period, Marshall lead A&M with six points off the bench on 2-of-3 shooting from behind the arc. The Tigers were led by Bonner's 14 points on 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) shooting from the field. Both teams were 3-for-6 from the foul line. The Tigers out rebounded the Bulldogs 26-16, and scored 36 total points in the paint.
The Bulldogs could never recover from the first half deficit as the Tigers pushed their advantage to as many as 42 with just under two minutes remaining in regulation. Four free throws from Williams within the last couple minutes of play ended ended scoring for the 91-53 final.
For the game, the Bulldogs scored 12 points off 24 Tiger turnovers. A&M also had 21 bench points. Auburn, however, held a 50-31 edge on the glass over the Bulldogs.
A&M is back in action at home on Nov. 19 to face Miles College. The game is slated for 5:30 p.m.
