Auburn University Women’s Basketball
Auburn University’s women’s basketball team played its inaugural season in 1971. In 1982, the program participated in the first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I women’s basketball tournament. The women’s basketball program has won regular-season championships and four Southeastern Conference (SEC) tournament championships and was a finalist in three consecutive NCAA tournaments among 24 total trips. Since its inception, the program has enjoyed successful eras featuring prominent coaches such as Joe Ciampi and Nell Fortner, and decorated players including Olympic gold medalist Ruthie Bolton, DeWanna Bonner, Carolyn Jones, and Olympic bronze medalist Vickie Orr. The Auburn Tigers women’s basketball team plays in Neville Arena in Auburn, Lee County.
Aletha Bond served as the team’s first head coach, from 1971 until 1973. During her two years, Auburn had a 24-5 record. Three years into the program, Susan “Nun” Nunnelly became the new head coach. New to coaching, Nunnelly sought out advice from Bill Lynn and Bob Davis, who coached Auburn’s men’s team. She led the team to three consecutive winning seasons between 1973 and 1975 and coached the first women’s basketball game at Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. She departed the head coach position to teach and later became the announcer for AU women’s basketball. Nunnelly was succeeded by Jan Pylant, who coached for three seasons and amassed a losing record of 29-44.
Auburn’s first stretch of successful basketball began with the 1979 hire of Joe Ciampi, who coached the team for the next 25 years and never had a losing regular season schedule. After a 17-13 overall record in 1979-80 and a 26-7 overall record in 1980-81, the team won the second ever women’s SEC tournament in 1981, against cross-state rival Alabama, 61-50, and went 24-3 in the 1981-82 regular season. Center Becky Jackson led the team in several categories for four seasons and became the program’s second All-American and was the SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP). The successful season resulted in the team earning a bid in the first-ever NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. On March 13, 1982, 7th regional seed Auburn lost to 2nd regional seed Cheyney State College (present-day Cheyney University of Pennsylvania), a historically Black college (HBCU), 75-64.
From 1982-84, Ciampi’s teams made the NCAA Tournament twice. The team reached the SEC tournament final in 1985, falling to ascendent SEC powerhouse Tennessee and future coaching icon Pat Summitt 63-60. During the 1985-86 season, forward Mae Ola Bolton was named SEC Freshman of the Year, and Auburn won its first NCAA tournament game in program history against Southern Illinois 61-39, but lost to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) 56-55 in the second round. Auburn finished with a 24-6 overall record. The next two seasons were even more successful. In the 1986-87 campaign, Auburn defeated Georgia in the 1987 SEC Tournament championship, 83-57. (It was the first of four straight SEC Tournament appearances, with three against Tennessee.) Center Vickie Orr earned SEC tournament MVP as well as being named an All-American. Auburn was a top regional seed in the 1987 NCAA Tournament, in which it defeated Illinois before besting Old Dominion in the second round. Auburn’s run ended in the third round, losing to eventual champion Tennessee, 77-61.
In 1988, guard Carolyn Jones was SEC Tournament MVP, but the Tigers lost to Tennessee 73-70 in the SEC final. In the 1988 NCAA tournament, Auburn bested Penn State, Georgia, and Maryland, but lost to Louisiana Tech 56-54 in that final. Ciampi’s teams returned to the SEC and NCCA tournament championships the next two years. In 1989, the Tigers again fell to Tennessee in the SEC championship, 66-51. They overcame Temple, Clemson, and Ole Miss before losing to Tennessee 76-60 in the NCAA final.
Into the 1990s, Auburn’s program continued to play well and win individual and team accolades. Carolyn Jones was an All-American in 1990 and 1991 for her scoring ability. She earned SEC Tournament MVP in 1990 as well, when the Tigers finally overcame Tennessee, 78-77, for their third SEC championship. In the 1990 NCAA Tournament, Auburn defeated Tennessee Tech, Vanderbilt, and Washington before falling to Stanford 88-81 in the final. In 1993, forward Lauretta Freeman was named All-American and SEC Player of the Year. During that season, guard Kristen Mulligan won SEC Freshman of the Year. The team returned to the NCAA Tournament twice more from 1990-1994 and made it to the 1993 regional semifinal (the Sweet Sixteen), losing to Iowa, 63-50.
During the next ten years, the team never had less than a .552 overall winning percentage during any season and postseason and made the NCAA Tournament five times. In 1996, Auburn advanced as far as the regional finals (the Elite Eight) where it lost to Stanford 71-57. The next year, Auburn defeated Florida in the SEC Tournament final 52-47, and forward Laticia Morris won the tournament MVP. Following mediocre seasons in 2000-01 and 2001-02, the team accepted a bid to the 2003 Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) and came away champions with a 64-63 win over Baylor. In the 2003-04 season, Auburn returned to form with a regular season record of 21-8. In the NCAA first round, Auburn defeated North Carolina State 79-59, but lost in the second round to eventual champion and perennial contender Connecticut 79-53. Ciampi left the program after the 2003-04 season with a 569-203 record.
Ciampi was replaced by Nell Fortner, who had previously played collegiate basketball at the University of Texas and had coached for Purdue University and for the Indiana Fever, a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) team. She also coached the U.S. National team that won gold in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Fortner’s teams had winning seasons in four of her first five seasons. Despite finishing with the 2006-07 regular season with a 19-11 record, Auburn did not make the NCAA tournament in 2007. The team accepted a bid to the WNIT and lost in the quarterfinals to Kansas State. In the 2007-08 season, Auburn lost in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals to Vanderbilt, and participated in the NCAA tournament again. Led by rising star guard DeWanna Bonner and guard Whitney Boddie, the Tigers led George Washington at the end of the first half, but were outscored in the second half and lost 66-56. Auburn finished the 2008-2009 regular season 29-3, one of the best in Auburn history, as Bonner and Boddie were named All-Americans, and Fortner won SEC Coach of the Year. The team was a number two regional seed in the NCAA Tournament, but was upset in the second round by seventh regional seed Rutgers 80-52.
Auburn’s program regressed during the next three seasons. Meanwhile, recent coaching changes at South Carolina would soon produce numerous SEC championships and several NCAA titles for that program during the next decade and a half. Fortner was replaced by Terri Williams-Flournoy as head coach after the 2011-2012 season. Prior to coaching for Auburn, Williams-Flournoy played NCAA basketball at Penn State and coached at Georgetown and Missouri State. In 2012-13 and 2013-14, Auburn won a total of 19 games each season. After taking a step back in 2014-15 with a 13-18 overall season, Williams-Flournoy’s team won 18 regular-season games in 2015-16 and returned to the NCAA Tournament. In the second round, Auburn lost to regional top seed Baylor University, 84-52. In the following season, Auburn made it to the NCAA Tournament again, but lost in the first round to North Carolina State 62-48.
Over the next several seasons, the program languished. From 2017-20, Auburn had one winning season, making the NCCA Tournament only once. In the 2020-21 season, the Tigers finished with the worst record in their team’s history, despite the contributions of All-American Unique Thompson. With a 5-18 regular season record and no wins in conference play, Auburn was defeated by Florida in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
Williams-Flournoy was fired after the season and was replaced by Johnnie Harris. Playing and coaching in college basketball since 1984, she posted a 10-17 record during her first season and improved to a 15-14 record the following year. But in 2023-24, Auburn went 19-10, split its SEC games, and lost to Arizona 69-59 in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018. In 2024-25, Auburn went 12-17, 3-13 against SEC opponents and again lost in the SEC first round. In March 2025, Auburn’s athletic director fired Johnnie Harris, replacing her with Larry Vickers, who previously had coached at Norfolk State. Vickers held a career record of 177-99, including an 83-18 record over the three seasons prior to his hiring at Auburn.
When the WNBA was created in 1997, Ruthie Bolton, Chantel Tremitiere, and Tara Williams were selected in the inaugural draft. In 1999, All-American Carolyn Jones was drafted by the New York Liberty, in 2000 Monique Morehouse was drafted by the Cleveland Rockers, and in 2006 Marita Payne was selected by the Connecticut Sun. After her stellar career at Auburn, DeWanna Bonner became a first-round pick of the Pheonix Mercury in 2009. Whitney Boddie was drafted that same year, and Unique Thompson joined the Indiana Fever in 2021.
On the international stage, Auburn’s women’s basketball program has had three players represent Team USA. In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, Carolyn Jones and Hartselle, Morgan County, native Vickie Orr won bronze for the United States. In the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Ruthie Bolton was on the undefeated team that won the gold medal over Brazil. Four years later, Bolton was once again on a gold medal-winning team in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Coached by future Auburn head coach Nell Fortner, Team USA went undefeated and routed Australia in the gold medal game 76-54.
