For the record, the Miles women's basketball team lost its exhibition contest Thursday night at Auburn 102-42. The Lady Bears never led. They were overpowered by a Division I team that was probably expecting the final result.

But the final score was not the most important part of the Lady Bears' historic first trip to one of the flagship public schools in Alabama. Head coach Phillip Wallace, Jr. saw something far bigger for his program.

"Overall, I'm very happy with the effort that they gave. I'm proud because we competed against a SEC team," Wallace said. "I think it also greatly assists our efforts to recruit top players to Miles College, showing that we have the opportunity to play games against big teams on big stages."

Camryn London, a transfer from Division I Grambling State, scored 15 points to lead the Lady Bears, who were playing without a few key expected contributors.

"I thought we played well in spurts without our starting point guard. We played a freshman at that critical position most of the game," Wallace said.

Auburn took advantage of Miles by forcing a lot of turnovers (23) and turning them into points (35). The Tigers also were strong in the paint, scoring 54 of their points on high percentage shot while dominating on the glass with a 57-32 edge in rebounds. Those numbers give the Lady Bears something to work on as they prepare for the Lady Bear Tip-Off Classic next week. But it did not dampen the spirits for what Wallace wants to see from his team this season.

"They made us play faster than we wanted, We also have to work more on our transition defense, which is where most of thir points came from. But I feel like this game gave us a blue print for success for the regular season."

Among the top performers for Miles: Alana Gibbs had seven points and two assists, Imani Williams had two points and seven rebounds, Breah McGrady added five points, Nuriyah Slaton had two points, four rebounds and two blocked shots, and Jakera Ellerbee finished with five points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.