Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Auburn tied the school record with 17 wins two years ago and broke the marks for overall (20-7) and conference (11-5) records last year.

Now, with two of their top three scorers returning, the Knights no longer eye win records.

“It helped getting 20 wins,” coach Zay Hoover said. “They have a goal now. The goal is to get farther than 20 wins. They don’t care about the 20 wins anymore. They want to get a regional title. They’ve been pushing all summer to get it.”

Tierney Austin, a 5-foot-9 junior center, led the Knights in scoring as a sophomore, averaging 12.3 points, and 5-6 junior guard Atiya Roby added 10.0.

“Those two are the keys to what we are going to do this year,” Hoover said.

Austin and Roby should give the Knights consistent scoring. If, that is, the Knights can hold onto the ball long enough to get it to them.

Auburn’s quick and relentless swarming defense forced more turnovers than any team in the NIC-10 last year. But the Knights often threw it right back. Getting rattled on offense kept Auburn from competing with last year’s top three of Freeport, Boylan and Hononegah.

“The turnovers killed us last year,” Hoover said. “In the Boylan game, we had 36 turnovers. I don’t think Boylan was 30 points better than us. Our turnovers were. Hopefully, we can fix that this year.”

Auburn’s other concern is rebounding. The Knights have never been tall and must now replace Nikki Childress, their leading rebounder last year despite being only 5-7.

“All we’ve got, basically, is guards,” Hoover said. “Nikki grabbed a lot of rebounds for us. Now we’ve got to find somebody to fill that spot.”
-- Matt Trowbridge, rrstar.com

Knights at a glance
    Coach: Zay Hoover (3rd year, 37-20).
    Last season: 20-7 (11-5)
    Returning starters: Tierney Austin (5-9, Jr.); Atiya Roby (5-6, Jr.)
    Other key players: Seniors Tyesha Lambert and Deanna Sago and junior Lamika Sain.
    Strengths: Great quickness and pressure defense; two proven scorers in Austin and Roby, who combined for 22.3 points as sophomores; more summer experience than in the past.
    Weaknesses: Lack of height; prone to too many turnovers.
    Outlook: Auburn will have another winning season, but won’t move higher than last year’s fourth-place finish unless it cuts its turnovers almost in half.