GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Down by as many as 20 points late in the first half, the Auburn women’s basketball team (9-6, 0-2 SEC) rallied back in the second half, setting up a Nicolle Thomas 3-pointer with 3 seconds left to tie the game at 52 and send the Tigers to their first overtime game in more than a year.

After a 6-6 tie in the first overtime, it was Florida’s Steffi Sorensen hitting three 3-pointers in the second extra period that put the Gators (9-6, 2-0 SEC) up for good, leading to the 71-68 win.

Auburn’s KeKe Carrier tallied her fifth double-double of the season with a game-high 24 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman point guard Morgan Toles followed with a career-high 14 points and six rebounds in the loss.

“It was definitely a disappointing loss for us, a disappointing first half,” said Auburn head coach Nell Fortner. “It was just not a good way to come out and play a ballgame. I thought we fought back hard, but just could not finish it off.”

Florida held the Tigers to 15 first-half points, tying a season-low for Auburn. The Gators led by 20 points with 2:09 left to play in the first half, but Thomas hit a pair of free throws with 1:18 left in the period, giving Florida a 33-15 advantage heading into the locker room.

Auburn had two stretches of more than 7 minutes in the first half in which the Tigers went without a field goal. A rejuvenated Tiger squad came out in the second half and limited Florida to just eight field goals. Auburn out-scored the Gators 37-19 in the period to force its first overtime game since an 87-80 win over Ohio State on Nov. 23, 2008.

Carrier scored 13 points and pulled down six rebounds in the second half while Blanche Alverson scored eight, including two 3-pointers. The Tigers forced 13 turnovers and collected six steals in the half, turning into 14 points.

“That was a lot to overcome in one half. We have some limitations and there is not a lot of room for mistakes, not a big margin of error for us,” said Fortner. “We have eight players and everyone has to bring what they bring and we have to be consistent with that. In the second half, we some more of what we expect out of them but we have to get more consistency.”

Twice Auburn held a 4-point lead in the first overtime, but Sharielle Smith hit a layup with 2:13 to go and Azania Stewart connected on a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining to tie the game up.

Carrier scored 4 of Auburn’s 6 points in the first overtime period.

Sorensen, who had played more than 25 minutes of the game without a field goal, connected on a 3-pointer on Florida’s first possession of the second overtime. She hit another on the Gators’ second possession and another on the third possession, giving Florida a 67-60 lead with 2:07 left to play. Auburn outscored Florida 8-3 from that point on, but it was not enough as the Gators held on for the win.

Auburn shot just 18.5 percent from the field in the first half and 38.2 percent in the second half. The Tigers connected on 7-of-15 shots in the overtime period to finish the game on 33 percent shooting. The Auburn defense held the Gators to 36.4 percent shooting, including a 27.3 mark from 3-point range.

The Tigers outrebounded the Gators, 58-46, with seven Auburn players pulling down at least six. Redshirt junior Jordan Greenleaf followed Carrier’s 12 with 10 of her own.

Stewart led Florida with 21 points, followed by Lonnika Thompson with 12 and Sharielle Smith with 10. Stewart also finished with a double-double as she pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.

The game marked the first double overtime contest for the Tigers in almost 20 years. Auburn defeated Vanderbilt, 96-93, in double overtime in Nashville on Jan. 20, 1990.

Auburn will return to action at 2 p.m. Sunday as the Tigers travel to Baton Rouge, La., for a meeting with LSU.