Indiana University
4-2
Auburn
6-1
Fourth Quarter Costs Indiana Women’s Basketball At Auburn
11/27/2016 4:41:00 PM | Women's Basketball
AUBURN, Ala. – Leading by as many as 17 in the third quarter, a tough Auburn fourth-quarter rally was too much for IU Women's Basketball to handle as it fell 71-67 on Sunday afternoon in Auburn Arena.
Junior guard Tyra Buss led Indiana with 23 points on 7-for-15 shooting as she paced a trio of Hoosiers in double figures. Senior guard Karlee McBride came in off the bench to score 11 points as she connected on three 3-pointers while junior forward Amanda Cahill added 10 points and a team-high eight rebounds.
IU (4-2) shot a season-low 39.6 percent from the field on the afternoon and committed a season-high 19 turnovers in the road loss. Senior forward Jenn Anderson came off the bench to add nine points and grab six boards while senior guard Alexis Gassion chipped in seven points and six rebounds in the loss.
Indiana opened the game up to a 5-0 lead after a triple by Buss and a pair at the line by Cahill, but the Tigers would use an 8-0 lead of their own to go up 8-5 at the media timeout. Buss ended the run with a three from the right wing following the timeout and three straight at the line extended the IU lead to 11-8.
IU took another five-point advantage late in the first quarter after Buss completed the and-one with 1:55 to play, but Auburn would close the frame with a 7-2 run as IU held the narrow 17-15 lead after the first quarter.
In the second, Auburn took a quick lead before Buss connected on a floater in the lane with 8:57 to play. Royster converted on and and-one while Gassion found Anderson underneath 24-19 lead with 6:10 remaining.
It was the same duo of Gassion and Anderson who broke the Auburn press before McBride connected from long range with just under two minutes to play and helped IU take its largest lead of the half, 30-24. The Tigers would take the momentum in to the locker room at the half, as they completed the 6-1 run including a buzzer-beating layup to keep IU's lead at one, 31-30.
The third quarter belonged to the Hoosiers, who outscored the Tigers 22-9 in the frame. IU propelled its lead on a 14-0 run late in the third quarter, which was capped off by a pair at the line by Cahill.
Sitting with a 14-point advantage after the third, Indiana would go up by as many as 17 with just under a minute played in the quarter. Backed by what would be a 64.3 percent clip from the floor in the final quarter, Auburn went on a 16-4 run to cut the IU lead to eight with 5:44 remaining. Indiana failed to score a field goal in the final 4:44 of the game as Auburn took advantage, securing the 71-67 victory at home.
The Big Ten/ACC Challenge awaits the Hoosiers on Thursday when they travel to North Carolina State. Tipoff inside the Reynolds Coliseum is set for 7 p.m. ET and will be live on the ACC Network Extra.
Indiana Women's Basketball Head Coach Teri Moren
On the outcome of the game…
"Obviously we're bitterly disappointed. you know, you have a 17-point lead with 9:41 in the 4th quarter, and I'm just trying to figure out as a coach if we just relaxed, or got a little passive going down the stretch, and stopped being aggressive. We had some turnovers that were uncharacteristic of our veteran group, so just disappointed."
On what Auburn did that changed the game…
"We knew going in that they were going to try to speed the game up with their pressure and I thought we handled their press fine. It was the half-court turnover that I thought in the first half that were uncharacteristic. Tyra Buss had four of those at our point guard and we didn't take advantage of that. They play relentless and hard, so defensively there's a reason that their top ten in the country in their defense, and we probably won't see another team quite like this in the rest of our non-conference, and also in the Big Ten play so it was really good experience for our kids to have to go up and I think our veterans, in Lex (Alexis Gassion) and Cahill and Tyra, got a little fatigued down the stretch, and that had a lot to do with Auburn."
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