Strong at the start and again at the finish, the Georgia Tech women’s basketball team earned a road win over a power conference opponent Wednesday night, defeating Auburn 57-51. The Yellow Jackets held the Tigers to 26.3% shooting from the field and were led by guard Cameron Swartz’s 16 points in the win.
Tech (3-0) avenged a loss to the Tigers from last season as coach Nell Fortner made her return to Auburn, where she coached 2004-12. The Jackets’ harassing defense enabled them to overcome the Tigers taking 76 shots to Tech’s 50 as they accumulated 29 offensive rebounds. Few Auburn shots went unchallenged as Tech continued its superior defensive form.
Even after having lost two-time ACC defensive player of the year Lorela Cubaj to graduation, Tech entered the game fifth in Division I in scoring defense (40.5 points per game) and sixth in field-goal percentage defense (25.9%).
The Jackets’ defensive pressure overwhelmed the Tigers from the start, as they missed 17 of their first 18 shots from the field and fell behind 19-5 early in the second quarter. Auburn (2-1) slowly got back in the picture, reducing the lead to one four different times in the second half before finally taking the lead at 44-43 with 7:44 left in the fourth quarter on a pair of free throws by Aicha Coulibaly.
However, baskets by Tonie Morgan, Swartz and Eylia Love returned the lead to five points at 49-44. The Jackets’ defense again turned up, allowing seven points over the final 7½ minutes. Tech wasn’t much more proficient at its end, but was carried to the end by four free throws by Morgan in the final 3:19, the second set of which gave Jackets a 55-48 lead with 2:07 to play.
Besides Swartz’s 16, guards Bianca Jackson and Love added 12 and Morgan scored 10. Center Nerea Hermosa led with 10 rebounds.
Swartz was 6-for-13 from the field, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range, with six rebounds while playing the full 40 minutes. After three games, Swartz is averaging 16.3 points while shooting 10-for-21 from 3-point range.
The Jackets shot 40% from the field (20-for-50). In addition to giving up the 29 offensive rebounds to Auburn – while securing 28 defensive rebounds – the Jackets also turned the ball over 22 times to Auburn’s 19.
The Jackets face archrival Georgia Sunday at McCamish Pavilion at 2 p.m.
