RIVALRY UPSET: How Auburn women’s basketball toppled ranked Alabama, and picked up the Tigers’ first signature win under Larry Vickers
Syriah Daniels came up with the heads-up, game-sealing play, but here's a deeper look at how Auburn managed to get in position to pull of an electric win.
Syriah Daniels was on Karly Weathers like glue.
She jumped and stretched her frame as far as she could, trying to get a piece of Weathers’ inbound. The game was on the line on Thursday night: Daniels and Auburn led No. 21 Alabama and Weathers by two points with just 15.3 seconds left. Weathers got the inbound in, but Daniels didn’t leave her. Weathers weaved across the court to the opposite wing, and Daniels curved her way around an off-ball screen to keep up with her. When the ball got back to Weathers, Daniels was still there. Daniels was on her left hip as Weathers drove to the basket, eventually forcing her under the rim, forcing her to pass. Weathers passed to Alabama’s leading scorer Jessica Timmons. Daniels put her back to Weathers. Timmons drove. That’s when Daniels made the split-second decision that won the game:
After sticking to Weathers, sticking to Weathers, and sticking to Weathers, Daniels left Weathers — for just long enough — in an excellent defensive rotation, switching to Timmons to move into her path to the basket and planting her feet, drawing a charge with just 3.6 seconds left. Auburn got the ball going the other way, hit free throws on the other end, and won 58-54.
“She did an excellent job of being low, sliding over and taking the charge,” Auburn head coach Larry Vickers said of Daniels in a release from the university. He added: “She’s one of our better defenders.”
It was an epic win for Auburn over a nationally ranked Crimson Tide. Alabama entered 17-1 overall on the season, boasting a victory over top-10 Kentucky and with its only loss coming shamelessly to South Carolina.
It was a signature win for new Auburn head coach Larry Vickers, which instantly energizes his Year 1 campaign.
As for Daniels, it’ll be up to her to define what the moment meant for her, winning the game with her dad in the stands, and proudly wearing her mom’s colors.
Here’s a deeper look at how it happened: