Auburn’s women’s basketball team was defeated by Florida 61-53 on Thursday night at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville. The Tigers, now 13-12 overall and 2-8 in SEC play, led at halftime but were unable to maintain their advantage as Florida surged ahead in the third quarter.
Auburn head coach Larry Vickers commented on his team’s performance, stating, “With the foul trouble, we still went in at halftime up by one. But our effort was still good when we went to the bench. But in the third, though, our effort died down tremendously and they scored 22 points in that period. We’ve got to do a better job of playing for 40 minutes if we’re going to win on the road.”
Ja’Mia Harris led all scorers with 18 points—one shy of her season high—and also grabbed seven rebounds for Auburn. Vickers noted Harris’s offensive contribution: “Today was one of Ja’Mia’s better games offensively. Hopefully she can carry that over to LSU.”
Freshman Sania Richardson set a career high with six assists, marking the most by an Auburn player this season.
Both teams struggled with shooting accuracy; Auburn finished at 36.8 percent from the field while Florida shot 39.2 percent. However, Florida made more trips to the free-throw line, converting 18 of 28 attempts compared to Auburn’s seven makes on eight attempts.
The game began as a defensive contest with Auburn holding an 11-7 lead after one quarter and extending it early in the second period. Florida narrowed the gap through successful free throws and took its first lead late in the second quarter before Auburn regained a slim advantage at halftime.
Florida took control early in the third quarter and maintained its lead throughout the remainder of the game despite a late push from Auburn that brought them within four points inside the final minute.
Laila Reynolds led Florida with 17 points while Me’Arah O’Neal contributed a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Auburn will next face No. 5 LSU at Neville Arena on Sunday afternoon.
