Auburn’s women’s basketball squad secured bragging rights on Thursday night in Neville Arena in Auburn, playing their most complete game of the season to take down rival No. 21 Alabama 58-54.
The Lady Tigers handed the Crimson Tide their second loss of the season. The win marked Auburn’s second straight at home over Alabama.
“I’m super proud of my team,” said Auburn head coach Larry Vickers. “They came out from the top with a different level of intensity and did a tremendous job of making Alabama work for everything they got. Defensively, I thought we were pretty amazing today. This is by far our most complete game.”
Postgame, Vickers relived a moment from when he was hired – a meeting with program legend DeWanna Bonner, who told him, “I don’t care what you do, just beat Alabama.”
That he did.
The Lady Tigers held on to a 2-point lead with 31 seconds left to play. An Auburn turnover with 15 seconds to go gave Alabama one more shot to tie or win, but the Crimson Tide was called for a charge in the lane, ultimately sealing the deal on Auburn’s first win against a ranked opponent since 2024.
Khady Leye led Auburn with 16 points, going 7-of-15 from the field with nine rebounds.
“We were all focused on getting this W,” Leye said. “We worked for it. This is a great feeling.”
Kaitlyn Duhon put Auburn ahead 43-37 heading into the fourth quarter. She went to the bench with her fourth foul, and Alabama went on an 8-0 run. She recorded 10 points, six rebounds, two steals, and a blocked shot for a plus-9 outing before fouling out with 5:19 left to play.
“Next-man-up mentality,” Vickers said. “Our group did a good job of rebounding together. After that, everybody picked up off that energy. I’m proud of that group.”
The Tigers went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line with under two minutes to play and netted all 10 of their attempts in the final quarter.
Auburn will travel to Memorial Gymnasium next Thursday take on No. 5 Vanderbilt. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m CT on SECN+. TG
