Nov. 26, 2005

Box Score

Courtesy: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. - Auburn became the first team to advance to the championship game of the 2005 Duke Classic women's basketball tournament, overpowering George Mason, 77-36, Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Auburn, who improves to 3-1 this season, moves to the finals of the Duke Classic for the second time in three years. George Mason falls to 2-1 in the 2005-06 campaign, losing its first road match of the year.

Auburn and George Mason battled back and fourth through half of the first period. After George Mason's Tracy Ann Holness scored the first basket six seconds in, DeWanna Bonner of Auburn answered with a three-pointer to bring the Tigers ahead. Holness knotted the score at three on a free throw at 17:05, but the Patriots would not catch Auburn again. In the next six minutes, the two teams traded streaks, with Auburn outscoring George Mason 9-2 and the Patriots responding with an 8-2 run to come within a point of the Tigers, 14-13.

From there, Auburn took control. Freshman Whitney Boddie came off the bench to put up eight points for the Tigers in the last half of the first period, hitting 2-of-4 field goals and making all four of her free throws, leading Auburn to a 32-15 halftime advantage. George Mason's Holness contributed 13 of her team's 15 first-half points but was silenced in the second period.

Auburn's Marita Payne scored five points in the first minute of the second half, and a pair of free throws by Alexis Ogubie less than a minute later brought the Tigers' lead to 20. After only putting up two points in the second half, Ogubie laid in 11 in a six-and-a-half minute stretch in the second and started an 11-0 run by the Tigers from 12:29-8:30 that extended their lead to 28.

Auburn's biggest lead of the game came in the final six seconds on a three-pointer from Sherrell Hobbs to seal the 38-point win. Ogubie and Boddie both notched career-high point totals as two of four Tigers to put up double figures. Ogubie finished with 13, Payne with 11, Bonner with a game-high 14 and Boddie with 11. Joanna Clayden came off the bench to knock in three of four three-pointers for a career-high nine points.

The Tigers, who held more than a two-inch advantage in their starting lineup and boasted four bench players at least 6-0, out-rebounded the Patriots, 43-33.

Auburn will face the winner of the Duke-Arkansas State game Sunday at 3 p.m. The consolation game will be played at 1 p.m.