BY NOAH GRIFFITH
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN —
Auburn High School girls basketball head coach Courtney Pritchett said growth and learning to play at a varsity speed was what he was looking for down the stretch from his young team.
Aided by 28 points from Auburn University commit Syriah Daniels, Auburn showed just how much its they’ve grown in a 65-57 win over Central on Friday night, a team it lost to by 27 the first time. At 10-4 and 3-1 in area play, Auburn surpassed Central for the first place spot in the region with three games remaining on the schedule.
“I think we’re at a good point as far as us peaking,” Pritchett said after the win over Central. “The girls are getting better. We’re doing things the right way. We’re playing as a team, and it showed tonight.”
Led by Daniels, 6-foot junior who transferred in from Macon, Georgia, the guard play is the strength of the team. Daniels’ toughness in the paint combatted with outside shooting from sophomore Brooke Hallman and senior Catherine Pearson, and skilled court vision and lockdown defense by sophomore point guard Kaleah Toles is a daunting back court for any team to deal with.
While the guards spread the floor out and demand speed from opponents, the part that Pritchett thinks his team is still learning to do at a varsity level is being more active on defense.
“I would like to see us be a better man defensive team,” Pritchett said. “That’s probably our biggest struggle right now. We’re working on our toughness a little bit and challenging some kids to be better in some positions.”
So far this season, Auburn has not lost a game when it has held its opponent under 50 points. The Tigers surrendered 72 in a loss to Central, 56 to CMHS, 60 to Oxford and 67 to Hardaway. However, it holds its opponents to an average of 38.7 points a game, just over twice as much as Daniels, the team’s leading scorer, averages at 19.1 points a game.
In fact, Daniels leads Auburn in all major statistical categories except for assists, which Hallman leads with 2.9 a game. Daniels’ 2.6 steals and one block each game makes it a tough task to reach the 50 mark on the Tigers.
Daniels also converts her defense into offense very efficiently. When she does miss (she shoots 55% from the field), she knows how to pick up the foul, where she converts at a 59% rate. With all that Daniels throws at her opponents, it opens things up for the rest of her team from the outside. This spread of the floor makes Auburn a tough team to game-plan for.
Auburn is currently on a four-game win streak with away games at Smiths Station and Loachapoka sandwiched around a home meeting with Opelika left on the schedule. Those are all three teams that Auburn has previously beaten, with Loachapoka putting up the best fight in a 47-42 game.
Heading toward the finish line, Auburn is in good position to win the region title and play host to open the playoffs.
“We’re a young team just trying to build; we’re renovating, ready to grow,” Pritchett said. “We’re getting over the hump and starting to show peaks of being a great team.”