Feb. 16, 2006
Auburn, Ala. – The South Carolina women’s basketball team claimed a 58-46 win over Auburn Thursday night at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum, marking the Gamecocks’ fourth straight road win in the Southeastern Conference.
With the win, Carolina improved to 14-9 overall and 5-6 in the SEC, while Auburn dipped to 12-12 overall and 3-8 in the league. The victory also marked the Gamecocks’ first win at Auburn since 1994.
In a very slow-paced game littered with fouls, the Gamecocks got key buckets from Shannel Harris in the second half and a back-breaking layup from Ilona Burgrova with 1:33 remaining to put the game out of reach.
Lea Fabbri’s hot shooting from three-point range anchored her team-high 13-point effort, with Iva Sliskovic adding 10 points and five rebounds. Only four Auburn players scored in the game, led by Nitasha Brown’s 13 points.
Following a strong defensive performance in the first half, Carolina kept the clamps on Auburn in the second half as well, holding the Tigers to a season-low 46 points on a season-low 12-of-42 shooting in the game (28.6 percent). The Gamecocks kept Auburn without a field goal for an 8:10 stretch of the second half and were able to overcome the Tigers’ height and size advantage, holding a 39-38 edge in rebounds.
Though the Gamecocks were effective on the defensive end of the floor in the first half, limiting Auburn to 33.3 percent shooting from the field, Carolina turnovers on the offensive end hampered the Gamecocks’ chances at pulling away, as Carolina gave the ball away 10 times in the first half.
The Gamecocks held Auburn scoreless for a span of five minutes and 45 seconds during the opening stanza, but were not able to capitalize, scoring only four points of their own during the Tigers’ scoreless drought. Auburn returned the favor by holding Carolina scoreless for the final 5:18 of the first half.
Thursday’s match-up pitted two of the tallest teams in the country against each other. Entering the game, Auburn led the country with 7.8 blocked shots per game, with South Carolina ranking third in the nation with 7.1 rejections per contest.
The Gamecocks return to action when they host Ole Miss at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Colonial Center. The game will be broadcast live on WISW 1320-AM Radio with Andy Demetra handling play-by-play and Robin Muller providing analysis.
