STATESBORO, Ga. — Auburn senior Sherell Hobbs scored the 1,000th point of her career Wednesday as the 20th-ranked women’s basketball team cruised to a 71-45 win against Georgia Southern.

Auburn improves to 3-0 on the season, while the Eagles fall to 2-1.

The 3-0 start is the third in a row for the Auburn women’s basketball team under Nell Fortner as the Tigers prepare to face their first ranked opponent in No. 17 Ohio State. AU hosts the Buckeyes at 2 p.m., Sunday at the Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum.

Hobbs entered Wednesday’s game with 995 career points. At the 11:45 mark in the second half, Hobbs picked up a steal at mid-court and ran it in for the layup and No. 1,000. She becomes the 24th player all-time at Auburn to reach the mark.

Sophomore Alli Smalley led Auburn with 18 points, 12 of which came in the second half, and four steals.

Senior DeWanna Bonner followed with 11 points and freshman Chantel Hilliard rounded out the double-digit scorers with 10. Freshman
Parrisha Simmons was the only Tiger to go scoreless in the game, but led Auburn in rebounding with seven.

Georgia Southern kept the game close in the first half, cutting the Tiger lead to two at the 2:25 mark. AU finished the half on an 8-1 run to take a 36-27 lead into the locker room.

“We did not have our running game on track, I thought Georgia Southern did a really good job of getting back on transition defense, which is something you need to do against us,” said Fortner. “We tried to force some things, turned the ball over too many times and did not have a good offensive flow in the first half.”

After making adjustments at halftime, Auburn tore out on an 18-5 run to open the second period thanks to 10 points, including two 3-pointers from Smalley. Auburn fed off Smalley from there, rolling over the Eagles by a 35-18 margin in the second half en route to the 71-45 win.

“We slowed down a little bit in the second half, ran some set plays, had some good looks at the basket and started knocking down some shots and that gives you confidence,” said Fortner. “The team listened very well at halftime and I was very pleased with how the team came out in the second half and executed what we talked about in the locker room.”