03/06 at 12:24 AM

One of Auburn coach Nell Fortner’s main concerns going into the SEC Tournament was the inconsistency of her Tigers’ offense.

Auburn had ace spot-up shooters in Alli Smalley and Blanche Alverson and a bevy of players to hold down the post, but the Tigers lacked a little in players who could create shots for themselves when teams tightened up man-to-man coverage.

“We haven’t been scoring the ball well,” Fortner said prior to the SEC Tournament. “We haven’t been a high-scoring team most of the year. We’ve had a couple of offensive outbursts, but for the most part, points have been hard to come by.”

Those deficiencies sprouted up again in Auburn’s 49-47 loss to Mississippi State in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday night.

The Tigers alternated between Smalley on the outside and Chantel Hilliard down low to build a double-digit lead on the Bulldogs in the second half.

A lob down low to Peyton Davis for an easy lay-in — Auburn’s third in as many trips down the court —gave the Tigers a 41-30 lead with 9:48 to go.

But the Bulldogs started hounding Smalley on the perimeter, doubling Hilliard down low and forcing other Tiger players — most of them freshmen and sophomores— to try and beat them.

Smalley and Hilliard combined for 32 points on 15-of-33 (45.5 percent shooting). The rest of the team managed 15 points and was 5-for-25 (20.0 percent) from the floor.

“We wanted to get the ball inside, that was what Coach wanted us to do,” Hilliard said Thursday. “When they started double-teaming me, it was my job to decide whether to shoot the ball, or kick it out.

“I just had to take what they were giving me. Shoot the ball or find my outlet. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes I forced the shot, sometimes I didn’t.”

Auburn was largely able to fight through its offensive shortcomings in the first half of the conference season, scoring 62.5 points per game, shooting 41.3 percent and posting a 6-2 record.

Over the final eight regular-season games, against stronger competition, the points (53.0) and shooting (38.3 percent) went down, turnovers went up from 16.3 to 21.6 per game, and the record flipped to 2-6.

“Our offense is not good right now,” Fortner said after the Tigers’ 57-45 loss to Mississippi State on Feb. 6. “We’re not shooting the ball well, and we’re not getting enough shots on the floor. We’ve got to figure out how to get better shots on the floor and make a few of them.”

It only got more difficult from that point, with the departure of senior Jordan Greenleaf, who could play in the post and stretch the floor with her jumper, and the concussion suffered by point guard Morgan Toles, forcing her to sit out the final two games of the regular season and the SEC Tournament loss.

Smalley picked up some of the slack, averaging 15.4 points in Greenleaf’s absence and shooting 48.2 percent from the field. Greenleaf averaged 12.1 points in her season.

But the Tigers struggled finding consistent sources of scoring, which ultimately led to their first one-and-done at the SEC Tournament since 2007.

At 15-15, with an 8-8 record in the SEC and an RPI in the low 100s, Auburn has a realistic chance at continuing its season in the NIT.

But the Tigers’ chances of hearing their names called for the NCAA Tournament field, in a year in which a berth would have meant playing at home for the first two rounds, are gone.

And, if their offensive ills crop up again, an NIT stay may not last very long either.

“We had a lot of breakdowns, and that was just something we had to clean up,” Hilliard said after Thursday’s loss. “By the time we started doing it, it was just too late.”

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Auburn’s first 8 SEC games

Record: 6-2

Points Per Game: 62.5

Field Goal Percentage: 41.3

Turnovers Per Game: 16.3

Auburn’s last 9 SEC games (including SEC Tournament)

Record: 2-7

Points Per Game: 52.3

Field Goal Percentage: 37.9

Turnovers Per Game: 20.9