Georgia ralllies to overtake Auburn

Tiaria Griffin scored 16 points and Shacobia Barbee added 15 points and 11 rebounds as No. 20 Georgia overcame an 11-point first-half deficit to top Auburn 57-52 at Auburn Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Griffin scored seven points in the final 3:16 as the Bulldogs (15-2, 3-1 SEC) outscored the Tigers 11-5 down the stretch.

Auburn (9-8, 0-4 SEC) went up 47-46 on a Hasina Muhammad jumper with 3:44 remaining. Griffin answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to put Georgia ahead 52-47 just 1:23 later.

“I thought defensively we stayed the course,” UGA coach Andy Landers said. “We were very good changing from one to other, 2-3 (zone) to man.”

Though outrebounded 37-33, the Bulldogs owned a 19-7 advantage on second-chance points and were 24-of-31 at the free throw line. Auburn was just 6-of-10 on free throws.

“It is very frustrating,” Auburn coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. “This is a very winnable game, but it is a game where you have to know Georgia is a ranked team, they are a good team and they are not going to sit back and relax. When they went to that 2-3 zone, it really hurt us because we couldn’t knock down shots.”