AU WOMEN’S HOOPS: Tigers welcome date with Alabama A&M

Tonight’s opponent for the Auburn women’s basketball team served as a happy homecoming and a jumpstart to a historic season when the two teams met this time last year.

Now, Alabama A&M will likely provide a sense of relief for the Tigers, who are coming off a tough loss at Temple on Monday.

Tip off is set for 6 p.m. at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

The Tigers didn’t lose a game until late January last season on their way to a 20-0 start and 30-4 finish. They beat Temple by 19 points in the second game of that season — right after dismantling Alabama A&M, 91-53, in Huntsville, the home city of guards Reneisha and Sherell Hobbs.

Sherell Hobbs is gone, of course, and so are the majority of the major contributors from Auburn’s team of a year ago. And with them, so has gone the lightning-fast, dominating start to the season.

“We have a lot of work to do as far as discipline on both ends of the floor,” Fortner said after the Tigers’ 70-65 victory over Troy to start the season.

“These are young kids, we are young.”

That youth has made junior guard Alli Smalley the focus of Auburn’s offense. She’s taken 35 shots in the first two games, 14 of them coming from behind the arc.

The only other player that’s taken more than half that is freshman Nicolle Thomas, who is 6-of-20 from the field and averaging 8.5 points per game — second-best on the team behind Smalley, who is averaging 21 points to start the season.

“She knows she needs those shots and she’s going to have more good shooting nights than not, but we’ve got to spread those other ones out,” Fortner said. “That’s what you do with your veteran and Alli knows that’s her role this year. She’s the leader of this team and she’s the go-to player.”

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