On Friday, Auburn and Virginia-Lynchburg faced off and the result marked a historic performance by the Auburn Tigers, resulting in a resounding 128-36 victory.
The Tigers opened up the game with a 10-0 run before Virginia-Lynchburg called their first timeout of the night. Auburn’s offense was on fire, with 37 points off 74% shooting, 67% from distance, 88% from the free-throw line and 16 of those 37 points coming from inside the paint in the first quarter alone. Not only did Auburn score 37 points in the first ten minutes, but they also only allowed nine points from VU-Lynchburg.
Forward DeYona Gaston led the Tigers in the first quarter in almost every stat. She notched 13 points (35% of all first-quarter points), shot 100% from the floor and got an and-one, converting the free-throw for an extra point. 12 of her points came from inside the paint, accounting for 75% of the Tiger's total points in the paint.
The Dragons looked to pick things up in the second quarter, but unfortunately for them, it was more of the same. The Tigers continued their dominance, opening the second quarter with a layup from freshman forward Syriah Daniels. Shooting took a slight dip from 74% to 67%, but good results came regardless.
Instead of relying on just Gaston to get things done, Celia Sumbane, Audia Young and Taylen Collins all helped keep the flame burning for Auburn against the Dragons. The second quarter quartet was responsible for 22 of Auburn’s 31 points, seven of the 10 rebounds and four of the six assists. The Tigers were sitting comfortably at halftime with a 68-20 lead, and this would only get better from here.
The third quarter started slow, but the scoring drought ended after a free throw from Sumbane. That same free throw started a 19-0 run from the Tigers, pushing their lead to 57 points. Toward the end of the quarter, Syriah Daniels knocked down a free throw to give Auburn its largest lead of the night, 90 points. Auburn ended the 3rd quarter with 31 points, 15 rebounds and seven assists.
During the third, Gaston also scored her 1,000th career point, writing her name in Auburn history as one of the great players to break the 1,000-point mark.
Although the Tigers scored the least number of points in this quarter with 29, Gaston notched nine more points of her own, which put her total to 36 on the night. This put Gaston in the history books with the second-highest scoring game for a player, behind Consuela Sparrow’s 41-point game back in 1998.
A floater from Gaston in the fourth would put Auburn above the century mark and they scored 28 more after that. Auburn finished the game with seven players in double figures and one of the best games in Auburn University Women’s Basketball history.
The Tigers broke numerous records tonight, including the most points in a quarter (37), most in a half (68), the largest margin of victory (92) and the second-highest scoring performance from a single player (DeYona Gaston: 36). It marks the first time in 16 years that the Tigers cross the century mark in a regular season game. The last time this happened, the Tigers dropped 119 versus Sam Houston State on December 5, 2008.
The Tigers looks forward to playing Little Rock on Thursday, November 14th at 7 pm. This will be the last home game before their six-game road trip, in which they will play Oregon, California, Northern Iowa, Pittsburgh, Kansas and Virginia. Their next home game will be December 8th at 2 p.m. against UAB.
