Down 19-8 one minute into the second quarter, Florida needed a spark. It had only hit 3 of 13 shots to open the game and had committed seven turnovers, allowing Auburn to take an early lead.
But then it all began to click for the Gators. From 8:58 remaining to 57 seconds on the clock, the Gators embarked on a 19-0 run. Both sophomore Liv McGill and freshman Nyadieng Yiech combined for 10 points on the run, with both players connecting from downtown.
Meanwhile, the Florida defense stifled the Tiger attack, forcing 10 straight misses from Auburn, including five missed three-pointers. At the conclusion of the run, the Gators were up eight.
The Tigers bit back, though. As the Gators struggled with turnovers and fouls in the second half, Auburn embarked on multiple scoring runs, including a 9-0 run in the fourth quarter that put the game out of reach.
Florida (12-7, 0-4 SEC) lost to Auburn (12-6, 1-3) 58-50 Sunday on the road, failing to clinch its first Southeastern Conference win of the season. Despite the 19-0 run, it was Florida that was on the receiving end of a 14-5 run to cap off the contest.
McGill once again paced the Gators in scoring, finishing the contest with 14 points on 6-for-20 shooting while going 1-for-8 from downtown. She also hit the 1,000 career point mark with a two-point jumper in the second quarter, becoming the 30th player in program history to achieve the feat.
Behind McGill, sophomore Me’Arah O’Neal scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Meanwhile, the Gators bench contributed on the scoring front as Yiech added nine points and freshman guard Emilija Dakic added seven points.
The depth scoring was even more crucial for Florida as junior Laila Reynolds was held to one point on 0-for-4 shooting in the contest. She fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Three Auburn players scored in the double-digits. Freshman Harissoum Coulibaly, the Tigers’ leading scorer on the season, had a team-high 14 points. Junior Kaitlyn Duhon added 12 points of her own, while senior Mya Petticord scored 11 points.
The Gators’ ice-cold start included misses on the team’s first six three-point attempts, as well as conversions on only two of their first five free throw attempts. But the Tigers started strong, making seven of their first 12 shots, including two three-pointers. However, both teams cooled off later in the quarter, with neither team finding the back of the basket in the final 2:05.
In the strong second-quarter effort by UF, the Gators forced three turnovers while keeping their possessions clean. Florida only missed four shots in the entirety of the run, three of which came from beyond the arc.
Auburn’s 7-0 run in the third quarter put it up five, but for the third consecutive quarter, the Tiger offense got cold near the end of the quarter. At the same time, the Florida offense heated up, led by Dakic, who scored five points in an 8-0 run that put UF back on top heading into the fourth quarter.
With McGill in foul trouble, the two teams continued to trade shots in the fourth quarter until the Tigers’ efficiency kicked up a notch. Auburn made five consecutive field goals and forced multiple Gator turnovers in a 9-0 scoring run that put the game out of reach.
Ultimately, the Gators finished the game with 19 turnovers, and Auburn added 23 points off of those turnovers.
Florida continues its road stretch with Kentucky (15-2, 2-1 SEC) on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Historic Memorial Coliseum.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X @avadicecca24.
Ava is a sophomore sports journalism student and the Spring 2026 sports editor. Previously for The Alligator, she covered volleyball and did sports enterprise. Ava enjoys watching and playing sports in her free time and has been a Boston sports fan all her life. (Brad Marchand is still everything.)
Max is a junior sports journalism student in his seventh semester at The Alligator. He serves as The Alligator's assistant sports editor and football beat coordinator. He previously served as The Alligator's sports editor and as a reporter for football, women's tennis, volleyball, lacrosse and sports enterprise. He also has made multiple appearances on the Paul Finebaum Show. Max wants to shoutout his cats, Scooter and Zoe, and niche former Florida Panthers players (shoutout Maxim Mamin).
