The MSU Lady Bulldogs (11-8, 2-3 SEC) will continue their three-game homestand Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. against the Auburn Tigers (15-7, 2-4 SEC). The Lady Bulldogs are on a pretty good stretch, which includes last week’s buzzer-beating victory over No. 22-ranked Ole Miss and a win over a very good Kentucky team in Lexington.
The Tigers are on a stretch of their own, though, albeit a bad one.
Auburn has lost two games in a row, the last being a 45-65 loss to the No. 7 LSU Lady Tigers.
Despite the fact that State is through the worst of its schedule and Auburn may not be Tennessee or LSU, make no mistake about it, there are no easy games in the Southeastern Conference.
The Auburn Tigers are led by sophomore guards Sherell Hobbs and DeWanna Bonner.
Hobbs is averaging 11.7 points a game, while Bonner is leading the team with 15.6 points and 8.8 rebounds per contest.
Auburn is a very young team.
Of their 13 players, nine are sophomores or below, and only one is a senior.
One Tiger that will be a must-see on the court is 6-foot-7-inch sophomore KeKe Carrier.
In fact the entire Auburn team has size. All their players are 5-feet-9-inches tall or above, and they have eight players above 6-feet, which could make for a very interesting battle for the Lady Bulldogs in the paint.
The last time the Lady Bulldogs met Auburn it was a 74-44 blowout in favor of the Tigers. But that was last year, and this is a completely different Bulldog team. Coach Fanning says this team is still “learning how to play together.”
State is also riding a six-game winning streak against Auburn at Humphrey Coliseum, a streak they have no intention of ending Sunday evening.
Of course, Fanning will go ahead with her coveted game plan of “defense, rebounding, limiting second shots and fundamentals.”
Just because this AU squad doesn’t have the prominence of the last few programs State has faced, Fanning’s approach is not going to change.
The final game in the homestand will be against non-conference foe Savannah State Thursday.