Auburn Sports Report: January 13

Brandy Montgomery (10) attempting a shot in Auburn's win over Ole Miss on January 8 (Photo: Auburn Athletics)

>> Auburn Women’s Basketball earned their third SEC win of the season on Thursday night, a 64-59 decision against Vanderbilt on the road. Down 32-24 at the half, and also finding themselves down by 17 in the third quarter, Auburn outscored the Commodores 22-10 in the final quarter to pull away for the five-point victory. Katie Frerking led the team in scoring and rebounding with 18 and 8 respectively. Janiah McKay had a hot start to the game, she ended with 13. Senior Brandy Montgomery provided clutch shots in the second half. Being shut out in the first half, Montgomery scored 16 second half points and was also responsible for both of Auburn’s successful three-point attempts. Auburn extended their winning streak over Vanderbilt to four games, and the win was also their third in a row inside the tough Memorial Gymnasium. Auburn moves to 12-5, 3-1 in the SEC. Their 3-1 start is the best start to conference play since the 2010-11 season when Auburn started their conference slate 5-1. The Tigers will play their next game on Thursday of next week, a home game against Tennessee. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 P.M. inside Auburn Arena. >> Auburn Gymnastics returns to the floor tonight to face the Gymdogs of Georgia at 6 P.M. inside Auburn Arena. Last time out, Auburn scored 195.275 in their meet with Oregon State last Friday. The #8 Tigers were led all-around by Abby Milliet’s 38.700 score in the 195.575-195.275 loss. Head Coach Jeff Graba said that he was not too affected by the result, considering that Auburn is a young team. “We had a lot of people in new positions going into tonight and we’re trying some new stuff. At the same time, our Auburn philosophy is to start a little bit slow, we do it on purpose. I’m happy we’re all walking away and we’re going to get better next week.” Auburn opens the conference portion of their schedule Friday night against Georgia tonight at 6 P.M. >> Auburn Men’s Basketball (11-5, 1-3 SEC) looks to add another victory to their conference record this Saturday on the road against a tough Kentucky team in Lexington’s Rupp Arena. The Tigers earned their first SEC win of the season Tuesday against Missouri, 77-72. In the absence of Danjel Purifoy, Auburn’s bench stepped up and recorded 43 points. Bryce Brown and Horace Spencer each found success, scoring in double-figures. Ronnie Johnson also had a solid night for the second game in a row, finishing with 13 points. As far as starters, Mustapha Heron scored 16 and was on the cusp of a double-double with 9 rebounds. Jared Harper scored 10. Kentucky enters the contest with a 14-2 record, with key wins over Michigan State, North Carolina, and Arizona State. Their two losses have been to powers in UCLA and rival Louisville. Malik Monk is the name that stands out for this season’s team. The freshman from Bentonville, Arkansas leads Kentucky in six major categories including points per game (21.7), three-pointers made per game (3.1), and field goals made per game (7.8). In most of those categories, point guard De’Aaron Fox is right behind Monk. Fox averages 16.7 points per game, 68 of 95 from the free throw line, and leads in assists with 6.4 per contest. As a team, Kentucky scores an average of 93.8 points per game, while only allowing 71.1. Both of their losses (UCLA and Louisville) were by a combined eight points. Auburn faces Kentucky Saturday inside Rupp Arena, tipoff is scheduled for 3 P.M.