SC – Greenville – March 07, 2019 McKenna Eddings (3) of Auburn plays during Thursday, March 7, 2024, at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, during the game between the (7) Auburn Tigers and the (10) Arkansas Razorbacks.
Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers imageAaron Bland/Tigers of Auburn
Although Auburn and LSU had split their regular-season series in two close games going into the game, there was nothing close about their third meeting of the season as LSU easily defeated Auburn 78-48 in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday night in Greenville, South Caroli
After the Tigers had a nightmare start, going scoreless in the first 6:52 of the game on 0-for-13 shooting from the field, it didn’t take long for the game to get away from Johnnie Harris and Auburn.
Taylen Collins scored Auburn’s opening three points of the game with three successful free throws.
LSU was able to hit every time it had the ball, going 8 for 9 from the field in its run to start the game.
In the first few minutes of the game on Friday, Flau-jae Johnson, a sophomore from LSU, went 5-for-5 from the field, making three layups and two 3-pointers.
She would not be stopped. After three quarters, Johnson had already scored thirteen points.
By the end of the brutal first quarter, however, Auburn had managed just five points thanks to one field goal from Kaitlyn Duhon and three made free throws.
Auburn was in a big hole after the first ten minutes of play, and even if the next three quarters were much less lopsided than the first, the damage had already been done.
On Friday night, all of LSU’s starters scored in double figures, with Johnson setting the standard with a game-high 25 points. Meanwhile, junior Angel Reese ended with a double-double after scoring 18 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Reese was voted the SEC’s Player of the Year on Tuesday.
McKenna Eddings, a junior, led the way for Auburn, scoring a season-high 15 points versus LSU. Eddings was the only player from Auburn to finish in double figures; Sydney Shaw and Ja’Mya Mingo-Young tied for second place on the team with eight points apiece.
In the quarterfinal game on Friday night, Auburn’s top scorer of the year, Honesty Scott-Grayson, failed to get going for the second straight game. Scott-Grayson had only six points in Auburn’s victory over Arkansas the night before, and he finished with just four points against LSU.
After Auburn’s elimination from the SEC Tournament on Friday night, Harris and the Tigers will have to wait to find out if their name is called on Selection Sunday, which is scheduled for March 17.
Charlie Creme, the women’s basketball bracketologist for ESPN, had Auburn as one of the final four teams to secure a first-round bye in the NCAA Tournament, hours before Auburn’s defeat by LSU.
According to Creme, Auburn will start as the 11th seed in the NCAA Tournament.
