Nell Fortner admits it.

She knows it’s not really conventional to schedule two top-25 teams in a four-day stretch for the second and third games of the season.

But that’s OK with her. She knows it’ll help her up-and-coming Auburn women’s squad in March, when and if it gets there.

That’s why the Tigers played No. 16 Florida State on Monday and will host No. 6 Duke at 6 p.m. today at Auburn Arena.

“As crazy as this sounds, sure, we want wins. We want to win, win, win. But we’ve gotten better after the Florida State game in practice,” Fortner said. “We learned a lot from it. If we would have beaten a team by 30 or 40, I’m not so sure we would have learned a lot. Maybe we would have given some more kids playing time, but we need to learn how to fight and use the talent that we have to really capitalize on what we do well.

“We’ve got some nice players, and we’ve got to learn how to win against that talent.”

And the Tigers almost did against the Seminoles on Monday, leading with just more than a minute to play, before falling, 67-61.

Now, Auburn gets to try its hand against another Elite Eight team from last year’s NCAA Tournament. One the Tigers can’t wait for.

“Getting the opportunity to play top-25 teams like that, that are outside of your conference, don’t come very often,” senior guard Alli Smalley said. “And I haven’t had the opportunity to play them since I’ve been here, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Duke (2-0) enters tonight’s game with season-opening wins against BYU and Southern Cal. The last win gave Blue Devils’ head coach Joanne P. McCallie her 400th career win.

McCallie heads back to the Plains for the first time since she was an assistant under Auburn legend Joe Ciampi from 1988-92.

Duke is led by senior guard Jasmine Thomas, a national player of the year candidate, who is averaging 14 points in the first two games of the season. Senior Karima Christmas comes in scoring 12.5points per game.

Junior Jordan Greenleaf leads the Tigers after two games, averaging 15.5 points per contest.

Smalley, who’s averaging 11 points per game, is of the same mind of her coach when it comes to playing tough teams early.

“We definitely want that tough schedule,” the senior said. “These are big games for us, that if we can compete with these teams and get wins against them, that puts us in the NCAA Tournament and prepares us for the NCAA Tournament, as well as our SEC season. So, we definitely need that preparation and that experience.”

| 737-2513