Jan. 9, 2014
AUBURN, Ala. – It has become a tradition for Vanderbilt to beat Auburn, and seniors Christina Foggie and Jasmine Lister made sure the Commodores continued the custom Thursday night.
Foggie scored a team-high 26 points, including going 6-of-11 from 3-point range, and Lister had a double-double with 23 points and 10 assists to lead Vanderbilt to a 74-65 road victory over Auburn.
It was Vanderbilt’s 21st straight win over the Tigers, and head coach Melanie Balcomb improved to 18-0 against Auburn since her arrival at Vanderbilt in 2002.
“I don’t know what it is (about Auburn),” said head coach Melanie Balcomb. “It’s all about match-ups. (And) we do look at the history and tradition, and that gives us confidence against them.”
Vanderbilt (13-3, 2-1) used a 17-2 run late in the first half to build a 43-30 lead at the half, and the Commodores maintained a double-digit lead against the Tigers (10-5, 1-1) until the final 90 seconds.
Auburn made it interesting by cutting Vanderbilt’s lead to 70-63 with less than a minute to play, but Lister hit four straight free throws to help Vanderbilt hang on.
Kady Schrann scored a season-high 14 points, and Morgan Batey had nine rebounds. Foggie finished 6-of-11 from 3-point range.
Lister was 8-of-15 from the floor and 6-of-7 from the foul line while playing 39 minutes.
Vanderbilt, the SEC’s best 3-point shooting team, was 8-of-17 from long range. The Commodores were also 20-of-24 from the foul line.
Auburn — which hasn’t beaten Vanderbilt since posting a 55-54 win in Nashville on Jan. 16, 2000 — came into Thursday’s game with a 6-0 record at home but saw that run end after shooting just 41 percent against the Commodores. Vanderbilt didn’t shoot it well, either, finishing at 43 percent.
Vanderbilt produced two big scoring runs in the first half — one at the beginning and at near the end — while building a 43-30 halftime lead.
After falling into a quick 4-0 hole, Vanderbilt reeled off a 20-2 spurt that was fueled by three 3-pointers by Foggie to take a 20-6 lead. After Auburn battled back to trim Vanderbilt’s lead to 21-19, the Commodores ripped off a 17-2 spurt to rebuild a comfortable lead, 38-21, late in the first half.
Foggie was 5-of-10 from the floor in the first half, including 4-of-7 from 3-point range. Lister added nine points and five assists in the first 20 minutes.
Vanderbilt limited Auburn to 28 percent shooting in the first half (11-of-28) and the Tigers were 0-of-4 from 3-point range.
NOTE: Thursday’s game was the fourth consecutive road game that Vanderbilt had faced a team with an undefeated record at home: James Madison was 2-0 at home before losing to Vanderbilt on Dec. 21; UAB was 5-0 at home before losing to the Commodores on Dec. 30; and South Carolina improved to 9-0 at home after beating Vanderbilt last Sunday.
