Iron Bowl Blunder: Tigers Steamrolled by Tide

Auburn women's basketball is stumbling through its early SEC season, dropping its fourth consecutive conference matchup at the hands of rival Alabama.

Eric Starling/Auburn Daily

Second year head coach Johnnie Harris and the Auburn Tigers have stumbled out of the gate in the SEC season; between injuries to the likes of Honesty Scotty Grayson and Aicha Coulibaly and an being flat-out dominated in two of their first three conference showdowns, finding bright spots within the program has grown tougher by the game.

Unfortunately for fans of the orange and blue, Sunday's installment of the women's hoops Iron Bowl proved to be the same story, just a different chapter as the group fell 88-57 to Alabama.

From the opening tipoff, Kristy Curry's Crimson Tide asserted their dominance, wasting no time in getting on the board and jumping out to an early 7-0 lead; Auburn seemingly had no response.

Redshirt senior Honesty Scott-Grayson made her first appearance in SEC play; however, the standout guard's efforts were effectively limited and seemingly provided no spark. Auburn was outscored 47-26 in the first half, shooting south of 33 percent from the field, losing the battle on the boards and turning the ball over on eight occasions.

When the group returned to the court for the final 20 minutes of the contest, Auburn was able to better hang with its counterpart in the scoring department — going toe-to-toe with the Tide on the offensive end of the floor — but we was unable to chip away at the insurmountable deficit.

Coach Harris attributed her group's struggles to inconsistency in roster availability.

"We had a few lineup changes," Harris said. "We have had (Coulibaly), now we don't have (Coulibaly), we're playing players out of position, I just gotta simply things for them."

Auburn saw an forgettable lack of distribution in offensive production, with just three players in double figures: Sania Wells, Kharyssa Richardson and Mar'Shaun Bostic.

As for Alabama, the basket seemingly had no lid; the crimson and white shot north of 50 percent from the field and from three, creating offensive momentum and a lead that — barring a miracle — no team could overcome.

Coach J and company will have a week to heal up, re-evaluate and prepare for yet another uphill battle matchup with No. 7 LSU in Baton Rouge. Tipoff between the Tigers and bayou Bengals is set for 2 p.m. CT on SEC Network plus and the Auburn Radio Network.