HARVEY VALENTINE
For the Opelika-Auburn News

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In her time at Auburn, DeWanna Bonner has been called a lot of things — a scorer and a rebounding chief among them. As her senior year evolves, there’s a new adjective being used to describe her —  leader.

Friday night with Auburn’s 2008 nemesis George Washington in the process of erasing most of what had been a 14-point, second-half lead,
Bonner took command at both ends of the court and scored 6 consecutive points as the No. 10 Tigers prevailed, 65-51. The win was the
Tigers’ (11-0)  first in four tries against the Colonials, with two loses coming in 2008.

Bonner finished with a season-high 30 points and 16 rebounds, her final 8 points coming after George Washington had pulled to within 54-51 with just under five minutes to play. Fellow senior Whitney Boddie added 14 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals.

“DeWanna Bonner was a huge leader tonight, and that has not been a role that she has embraced in her career at Auburn,” Auburn coach Nell Fortner said. “But I’ll tell you what, this year she is embracing it, and it is so nice to see and it makes a huge difference with the success of our team.

“She’s a great player and she’s so versatile. She knows what needs to be done and she gets in there and does her best to get it done.”

Auburn, which led by 19 early and 11 at halftime, enjoyed a 50-36 lead midway through the second half.

The Tigers went cold, however, and the Colonials’ Jessica Adair sparked a 13-2 run that cut the margin to 54-51.

“We had to make stops. It comes down to just a few defensive stops that turn the tide of the game,” Fortner said of the Colonial run.

Twice the Colonials had a chance to get within 1, but Adair’s short jumpers didn’t connect.

Bonner rebounded the second miss, eventually got fouled at the other end and made one of two frees throws. She added two more the next time down, then she added a putback to give the Tigers a 10-point lead with 1:38 left.

“DeWanna’s a go-to player and she stepped up big,” Boddie said. “They cut it to 3 and had a chance to cut it to 1 and that’s when big time players make plays.”

“We’ve got seniors on the court — people who’ve been there before,” Bonner said. “Last year, we kind of folded and let people run over us, but tonight we kept our composure, got some rebounds, made some baskets and we made some big throws. George Washington made a great
run at us, but we kept our composure.”

Antelia Parish led the Colonials with 13 points, while Jessica Adair added 11 and Jazmine Adair 10.