March 28, 2015

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 1 South Carolina lost back-to-back meets for just the second time this season, as the Gamecocks lost, 13-6, to Auburn on Saturday in the third place meet at the SEC Championship. The Gamecocks fall to 9-5 on the season, while Auburn improves to 7-7.

“We just did not show up today,” South Carolina head coach Boo Major said. “I thought we were prepared and we had some good conversations among the team but it hasn’t been our weekend. Some folks rode well, and some folks had some mistakes, and you can’t have mistakes against a quality team like Auburn. I take the blame for this because I thought we prepared the girls extremely well for this weekend and I guess we didn’t. We’ll get back to work when we get home and start getting ready for nationals.”

South Carolina lost all four events on Saturday. The hunt seat team lost, 6-3, while the western team lost, 7-3.

In reining, senior Cody McMillion and freshman Paisley Roberts both won their points. McMillion posted an event-high score 148 to defeat Auburn’s Katsy Leeman by 2.5 points. Roberts posted South Carolina’s second-highest reining score to knock off the Tigers’ Alexa Rivard, 144.5-138.

Auburn won 4-of-5 points in horsemanship, as Gamecock junior Abigail Pait was the only Gamecock rider to win her point in the event. She posted the second-highest horsemanship score of the meet to beat Auburn’s Hannah Stephens, 149.5-0.

In equitation over fences, South Carolina got a pair of victories from junior Samantha Smith and senior Katherine Schmidt. Smith posted a 158-130 win over Jacqueline Shilen, and Schmidt followed with a 175-158 win over Auburn’s Peyton Smith to win her 97th career point.

Auburn closed out the meet by winning equitation on the flat by a score of 3-1. After senior Adele Norton and Auburn’s Jennifer Delman rode to a 148-148 tie, senior Amber Henter defeated Demi Stiegler, 149-137.

The Gamecocks return to action April 16-18 at the NCEA National Championship in Waco.