NOAH GRIFFITH
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN –– Auburn University women’s basketball is headed to its 22nd NCAA Tournament and its first under third-year head coach Johnnie Harris.
The Tigers were selected as an 11 seed to compete in a play-in match before the Round of 62 against Arizona on Thursday, March 21. The winner of the play-in will advance to face 6-seed Syracuse.
The Tigers travelled to Storrs, Connecticut, on Tuesday in preparation for their first appearance in the “Big Dance” since 2019. They will be going for their first NCAA Tournament win since 2016.
“We’re excited to be in, and we’ll just prepare to play that play-in game and that’s just another opportunity for our team to play,” Harris said. “It’s never been easy for us, so we don’t expect that. I expect our team to come out ready to play.”
After making the WNIT last year, an NCAA Tournament bid marks a huge step forward for Harris and the Tigers. From year one to year three under Harris, Auburn has gone from a 10-win season to 20 wins, along with winning six more SEC games this year and notching an SEC Tournament win.
Despite getting blown out in the second round of the SEC Tournament by 2-seed LSU, Auburn defeated 10-seed Arkansas, 67-48, for its first win in the conference tournament since 2020.
It played through a cold spurt from its top scorer, Honesty Scott-Grayson.
Picking up the slack, junior Mar’Shaun Bostic stepped up against Arkansas and delivered 11 points and three steals off the bench. McKenna Eddings led the way with 15 points against LSU, but an early 21-0 deficit was too much to overcome.
Auburn will need Scott-Grayson to come to life in the NCAA Tournament after its leader shot just 5-for-17 for 10 points in the SEC Tournament.
“This is what Honesty came back for. She wanted to help this team get back to the tournament, where she felt like it should be,” Harris said. “I’m really grateful for her and for [JaMya Mingo-Young], for Carsen (McFadden) — all those [seniors] coming in and buying into a system in this program… That is why we’re here right now.”
Its first opponent, Arizona, went 17-15 this season in a tough Pac-12 conference. It was defeated in the second round of the Pac-12 Tournament by No. 3 USC, 65-62. However, it stole monumental regular-season wins over No. 4 Stanford and No. 20 Utah that got the Wildcats their fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament bid.
Under eight-year head coach Adia Barnes, the Wildcats are 3-0 in first-round tournament games. They have exited in the second round the past two years, but Arizona made the National Championship Game in 2021 before losing to Stanford.
From the start, Auburn’s NCAA Tournament journey won’t be easy. The opponents will only get tougher the further they go, but Harris and the Tigers are eager to accept the next challenge that comes their way.
“I like our team’s resilience,” Harris said. “I think we bounce back really well. I think our team has some toughness, so we’ll put all that together and take it on the road to Connecticut and put our best foot forward.”
Auburn is looking for its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2016, but firsts don’t scare Harris and the Tigers. The resurging program will look to notch another milestone against Arizona on Thursday at 6 p.m CST, and the winner of that game goes on to face Syracuse on either March 22 or 23.