By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Humphrey leads Bulldogs past Auburn
Placeholder Image

ATHENS — Since being on the short side of a 30-point loss against Auburn, Georgia center Angel Robinson had been waiting for Sunday.

“You don’t know how long I have been waiting to play them,” said Robinson.

Try 42 days.

Robinson contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds Sunday as No. 24 Georgia held off pesky Auburn 68-56 in a Southeastern Conference game.

Tasha Humphrey led Georgia (20-7, 7-5 SEC) with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

“We gave Auburn a false sense of what Georgia basketball is about,” said Humphrey of the 82-52 loss Jan. 13 at Auburn. “We couldn’t have played any worse if we had tried.”

Coach Andy Landers agreed.

“We couldn’t have practiced any more poorly than we played there,” Landers said.

But except for about five minutes of Sunday’s win, he was delighted with the turnaround.

“We played well for 35 minutes,” he said. “But for about five or six minutes, we made very poor decisions, and they took advantage of them.”

Georgia led 53-32 with 9:06 to play, but the Lady Dogs went 9:23 between field goals. During that stretch, they made four free throws, missed four shots and turned the ball over seven times.

Auburn (18-9, 6-6 SEC) got as close as 57-51 on DeWanna Bonner’s turnaround jumper with 2:30 to play. Bonner finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds.

“Bonner is tough to guard,” said Landers. “At the point where you think you think you have stopped her, she then spins and jumps up over you and gets a shot off anyway.”

“We wanted to push the ball and attack today,” said Auburn coach Nell Fortner. “But early on we were tentative and didn’t attack the basket. We finally started doing that late in the game, but we just didn’t have enough time.”

Auburn led 6-4 after Bonner’s spin move with 17:12 showing. But the Lady Dogs came back strong, using Robinson’s jumper from the top of the lane to make it 22-6 Georgia with 9:38 remaining in the half.

“I don’t even know what to say about that,” said Fortner of Auburn’s scoring drought. “It’s disappointing. We have to go back and look at it and see how we can get better.”

Georgia led 34-15 with 3:02 left in the half after a Christy Marshall steal and layup but failed to score again in the half. The Lady Tigers managed one field goal and four free throws to close to within 34-21 at the half.

“We weren’t being smart with the basketball, and they capitalized,” said Humphrey.

“Tasha was a warrior down low.” praised Landers.

Humphrey’s 22 points moved her into second place on the career scoring chart at Georgia, four points ahead of Katrina McClain’s 2,195 points. Janet Harris holds the career scoring record with 2,641 points.

Friends to Follow social media