Auburn women knock off Troy

AUBURN — The Tigers simply don’t have the bodies to bog themselves down with foul trouble.
Fortunately for them, Troy didn’t either.

The Trojans put a scare into the defending SEC Champions on Friday, holding leads and hanging within striking distance all the way to the end of the Tigers’ 70-65 season-opening victory at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

The teams combined for 54 fouls and 65 free throws, and three starters fouled out.

“Kids just have to grow up and learn how to play at this level and come to play every night,” coach Nell Fortner said. “That’s just something that, as we have a young team, it’s just going to take us a while.”

All four of Fortner’s freshmen logged significant minutes in their collegiate debuts. Not that she had a choice in the matter.

Junior guard Reneisha Hobbs is out for the season with a freshly torn ACL. Point guard Morgan Jennings tore hers during the summer, and she’s out for the foreseeable future.

Center KeKe Carrier, Auburn’s only senior, played just four minutes because of a bruised tailbone she suffered in practice last week. Carrier sat on a raised stool when she was on the bench and grimaced with pain as she ambled up and down the court during her two brief appearances.

Freshman Pascale West, a 6-foot-8 center, played two minutes in the first half and picked up four fouls. Starters Jordan Greenleaf and Morgan Toles, Auburn’s starting freshman point guard, each had four fouls before the midway point of the second half.

Greenleaf fouled out with 4:13 to play.

“We just have to pay attention to our mistakes and not repeat them over and over again,” said forward Chantel Hilliard, who had 13 points. “When the refs are calling fouls like that, you just have to not lay off, but play harder still and know what you can do in order to not get that foul called on you again.”

Alli Smalley, Auburn’s lone returning starter, didn’t have any on her way to a game-high 23 points. She took 21 shots from the field, nine of which came from beyond the arc — an obvious first glimpse that she will be the focal point of Auburn’s retooled offense.

Freshman Nicolle Thomas was 4-of-16 off the bench to finish with 13 points.

Thomas and Smalley combined to take 37 of Auburn’s 64 shots from the field.

“I’m not ready for Nicole to take 16,” Fortner said. “That was not in the plan, but Alli needs 21 shots, at least, a game. I don’t even mind if she gets 25.”

A Greenleaf free throw with 13:04 to play gave Auburn a lead it would never relinquish, ending a string of seven ties and eight lead changes through the first 27 minutes.

“We are far from being the team we’re going to be,” Fortner said. “We have tremendous potential but we’re just not there yet.”