Feb. 8, 2009

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. The women's basketball team fell to Auburn 81-54 Sunday afternoon in Coleman Coliseum. With the loss, the Crimson Tide moves to 12-12 on the year and 0-9 in SEC play, while the Tigers improve to 23-1 on the season and 8-1 in conference play.

"We are playing hard, and that's all you can ask this team to do," said head coach Wendell Hudson. "Making plays is just a matter of having players that can step up and make plays and make them at the right time."

Alabama was led offensively by sophomore forward Tierney Jenkins and sophomore guard Varisia Raffington, both with 13 points. Freshman guard Ericka Russell also contributed 11 for the Tide. Jenkins led Alabama with seven rebounds and junior guard Dedrea Magee dished out five assists.

The Tigers got on the board first with a layup twenty seconds into the game and Jenkins responded with a layup of her own to tie the contest 2-2. Auburn then jumped out on a 7-2 run over the next two minutes to pull in front by five. Russell connected from long range and followed with a layup to get Alabama within two at 11-9. A Jenkins jumper at the 15 minute mark tied the game up at 11. The Tigers put together another short scoring run to take a five-point edge with 14:08 remaining. Raffington drained a jumper to cut into the Auburn lead at 20-16 before the Tigers went on a 12-0 run to make the score 32-16. Another productive run for Auburn to close out the half gave the Tigers a 26-point advantage heading into the locker room.

Auburn put up the first bucket of the second frame followed by a Jenkins layup setting the score at 49-23. The Tide cut the lead to 23 on two occasions over the next three minutes of play, but the Tigers would not back down. Auburn's largest lead of the contest came at the 9:05 mark when freshman Morgan Jennings connected on a pair of free throws to put the Tigers in front by 34. Alabama ended the game on a 9-5 run capped off by a layup from freshman Carmen McCoy with 22 seconds left.

For the game, the Tide shot 34 percent from the field and 28 percent from three-point range, while Auburn was 49 percent from the field and only 13 percent from behind the arc. The Tigers won the battle of the boards outrebounding Alabama 51-29.

"We will spend more time focusing on ourselves, regardless of what someone else will throw at us," added Hudson. We don't spend a lot of time focusing on the other team. We know this is a tough league. The assistant coaches have done an outstanding job all year of preparing the team, as far as scouting the other teams. We haven't had any surprises from anybody. It's just a matter of making plays. There are no surprises as far as somebody throwing something at us that we are not prepared for. At the same time, we have to make the plays."

Next up, the Tide will travel to Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday, Feb. 12 to face off with the Lady Vols. Tipoff is schedule for 6:00 p.m. (CST).