On Friday, the Auburn Tigers played the Pittsburgh Panthers for their second game in the Paradise Jam tournament. The Tigers dominated the Panthers, resulting in a final score of 82-50.
The Tigers were led by DeYona Gaston, who notched her 12th career double-double with 28 points and 10 rebounds. Makayla Elmore was the biggest contributor for the Panthers with 10 points.
In the first quarter, scoring was dead even for the first three and a half minutes with a score of 6-6. After that, the Tigers went on an 11-2 run to finish the quarter 17-8.
Gaston, who alone outscored the Panthers and started the 11-2 run with an and-one, led the attack with nine points, three rebounds and two assists. Despite Gaston's performance, the Tigers and Panthers struggled with shooting. The Tigers shot 36.8% overall, and the Panthers shot 27.3% overall in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, there was an uproar in the action for the Tigers. The Tigers started the first three minutes with a 9-2 run and finished the final four minutes with a 15-3 run. This resulted in a 24-11 score total for the second quarter.
DeYona Gaston led the second-quarter standoff with 11 points, four rebounds and two assists. She tied Pitt in scoring and had more rebounds and assists than the Panthers. The score to end the first half was 41-19.
The Tiger's trio of DeYona Gaston, Celia Sumbane, and Mar'shaun Bostic led the Tigers with 17 of the 19 total points in the third quarter, while the Panthers dropped a quiet 13.
The fourth quarter was the most entertaining of all despite the wide gap in the score. The Tigers barely outscored the Panthers this quarter, with the split being 22-18, but they had more rebounds, assists, and fewer turnovers.
The fourth-quarter fiasco was led by Audia Young, who not only had 11 points but led an 11-4 run singlehandedly in the final 10 minutes. She collected half of the team's points for herself this quarter, pushing the lead to grow even more than before, resulting in a final score of 82-50.
This win improves the Tiger's record to 5-2 and comes right after Thursday's win against Northern Iowa, which gave Coach Johnnie Harris 50 wins at Auburn.
