Johnnie Harris lsu post game presser

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‘We knew how big it was’: Auburn capitalizes on spotlight, stuns Kim Mulkey and No. 7 LSU

Published: Jan. 14, 2024, 6:33 p.m.

5–7 minutes

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LSU head coach Kim Mulkey went to her All-American.

Trailing by two points, Angel Reese – LSU’s junior forward and last season’s Final Four Most Outstanding Player – dribbled the basketball down the floor with 15 seconds to play while her four teammates stood parallel to the baseline.

It was LSU’s last resort.

“I wasn’t getting anything out of every other thing we tried to do for 40 minutes,” Mulkey said when asked about isolating Reese with the game on the line. “So what the heck? Just do a 1-4 flat and let’s see.”

Reese made her move to the rim, looking to sink the game-tying layup from the right block. But before she could collect the ball to move into her shot, she was greeted by Auburn’s JaMya Mingo Young, who was ready for the moment and stripped Reese of the ball.

“I knew I had a clean shot at the ball,” Mingo-Young said. “So I just went for it.”

After picking Reese’s pocket, Mingo-Young was tagged – first with a foul as Reese tried to reach back in and recover the ball, and then with celebratory punches from Auburn’s Honesty Scott-Grayson.

Mingo-Young and Scott-Grayson tacked on a combined three free throws in the final 10 seconds of play, paving the way for Auburn to knock off the seventh-ranked LSU Tigers 67-62

With Sunday’s win at Auburn’s Neville Arena, Auburn (12-5, 1-3 SEC) notched its first SEC victory of the season, while No. 7 LSU (16-2, 3-1 SEC) saw it’s nation-leading 16-game win streak snapped.

The line to get into Sunday’s matchup wrapped around the corners of Neville Arena with over an hour before tipoff.

Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris and her team knew they’d be playing in front of a sizeable crowd when Mulkey and LSU’s star-studded roster came to town.

However, Harris admitted telling her team she didn’t know who fans would be coming to see.

“We knew how big it was,” Harris said of the matchup against LSU, which was the first time since 2004 that an Auburn women’s basketball game was televised on ESPN’s flagship network. “We knew it was going to be a big crowd. We wasn’t sure how much of the crowd was coming to see us, or how much was coming to see LSU.”

All Harris and her squad knew was they wanted to give Sunday’s record crowd for a women’s basketball game in Neville Arena a reason to come back.

And by all accounts, knocking off the defending national champions is a way to do that.

Right out the gate, Auburn came out with defensive intensity, holding LSU to just 15 first-quarter points, which put the Bayou Bengals on pace for a 60-point game – a remarkable feat considering LSU entered the afternoon with the nation’s best scoring offense at 93.8 points per game.

“We knew Auburn would get into passing lanes and pressure you and make it very difficult to just make a pass,” LSU’s Mulkey said. “And we didn’t handle that very well.”

At the close of the first quarter, Auburn maintained a 23-15 lead over LSU.

Come the second quarter, however, LSU appeared to have settled in and was looking more like the seventh-ranked team in the country as it went on a 10-0 run in the opening minutes.

LSU went on to outscore Auburn 22-11 in the second quarter, which gave the defending national champions a three-point lead at halftime. And while still a one-possession game, for a team as talented as LSU’s any advantage feels dangerous.

“We wanted to come back out, just like in the first quarter, and get them on their heels,” Auburn’s Harris said of her halftime message. “We wanted to come back out and get a stop the first possession. We wanted to come out and score and then get a stop. We just kind of broke it down there – right there.”

Evidently, Harris’ squad heard the message loud and clear as Auburn’s Kaitlyn Duhon scored the opening points of the second half and Auburn’s defense forced a quick turnover on the opposite end of the floor. Scoring off the turnover was Scott-Grayson, who made a jumper to put Auburn back out in front.

Scott-Grayson went on to lead Auburn’s scorers with 21 points in a game that was “super personal” for her.

“Coach Mulkey, I played for her my freshman year. Things didn’t go well. I don’t want to get too much into it,” said Scott-Grayson, who played for Mulkey at Baylor during the 2018-19 season. “But I’ve been waiting for this moment. And it came.”

Leading LSU’s scoring efforts was Reese with 24 points.

And while some of the folks in attendance might’ve decided to spend their Sunday afternoon at Auburn’s Neville Arena to put their eyes on some of the sport’s stars in Reese and Mulkey, Harris and her squad were going to make sure they left with reason to return -- regardless of what team is sitting on the opposing bench.

Before the arena could clear and Harris went to be with her team in the locker room, Auburn’s rather soft-spoken head coach asked for a microphone.

“You guys showed up and you guys showed out,” Harris said. “We appreciate you. Y’all come and support these ladies. They work their butts off and they’re getting better and better.”

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