The call was debatable.

How it even came to that, coach Nell Fortner said, was inexcusable, and served as the reason why Auburn lost to South Carolina, 61-58, Thursday night at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

With her team trailing by 1 and just 30 seconds to play, South Carolina’s Kelsey Bone sent up a hook shot over KeKe Carrier that was wide left from the start. The ball clanged out toward the 3-point line and bounced between Morgan Toles and chasing Gamecocks forward Jewel May.

The two collided and the whistles blew. Toles, who gives up at least 4 inches to May, was ruled the guilty party.

“There was a loose ball and we both went for it,” Toles said. “It was a toss up and they called the foul on me.”

Fortner focused less on the subjectivity of the call and more on why the ball even sprung loose in the first place.

“That’s just a hustle play right there,” Fortner said. “We didn’t get the ball.”

One game after picking up nine more offensive rebounds than No. 9 Georgia in its 67-53 victory over the Bulldogs, Auburn had just 11 compared to South
Carolina’s 16. Eleven of those came during Thursday’s back-and-forth second half, which featured four ties and eight lead changes.

Auburn came into Thursday’s game averaging a SEC-best 17.3 offensive rebounds in conference play. The Tigers’ best offensive rebounder Jordan Greenleaf, who missed time in the second half after suffering a scary ankle injury, finished with just one defensive rebound.

“You get maybe two defensive rebounds in that series toward the end of the game and you give yourself a shot to win the game,” Fortner said. “You don’t get those boards and that was the difference.”

South Carolina’s young phenom was Auburn’s biggest bugaboo in that department.

Bone, who came to the Gamecocks as one of the nation’s highest touted high school players, grabbed eight offensive rebounds on her way to 14 overall.
Her 24 points led all scorers, as she showed little fear taking it right at Carrier with dribble penetration.

Carrier notched her sixth double-double of the season with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

“Both big girls were going at it,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said. “KeKe and Kelsey both had their way sometimes. I think Kelsey got the edge only because we got the win.”

Both players did their part to rejuvenate their respective teams late, as they each picked up key and-ones to turn deficits into ties or leads.

Ironically, an offensive rebound by Carrier set up Alli Smalley’s floating layup with 45 seconds to play, giving Auburn a 58-57 lead.

Auburn tried to get the ball in Smalley’s hands on both of its final possessions, but only succeeded once.

Trailing by 1, Smalley, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, had a good look from the elbow when she curled off a screen set up by Carrier, but the shot hit the back of the rim and hopped over the backboard. After Valerie Nainima hit two free throws, Auburn looked for Smalley again, but she couldn’t find an opening, forcing Toles to take a 3 on the run.

“I took the shot too early,” said Toles, who finished with 14 points and five assists.

Finishing, though, hasn’t been a strong suit for this freshman-heavy team.

“We tried to use our confidence coming off the win against Georgia,” Carrier said. “I felt like we were not focused for 40 minutes completely. We lost focus at times and they hit us hard.”

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