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A spirit that is not afraid

Crystal Primm shining with clutch, versatile play for Auburn

Crystal Primm (23) lays up the ball during Auburn Women's Basketball vs. Mississippi State on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, in Auburn, Ala.
Crystal Primm (23) lays up the ball during Auburn Women's Basketball vs. Mississippi State on Monday, Jan. 14, 2019, in Auburn, Ala.

Sunday's Super Bowl may not have featured many highlight-worthy moments, but the Auburn women's game against Georgia earlier in the day sure did. 

Auburn had made another fourth-quarter comeback to tie it up against Georgia to force overtime — this one from 13 down. In the waning moments of overtime, Auburn junior Crystal Primm had been fouled with six seconds left in the game and with Auburn down 58-57, Primm needed to make both free throws to give Auburn the lead. 

Primm, who had scored on the driving layup to tie it up in the fourth and eventually send it to overtime, wasn't phased.

“You have to make it,” Primm said. “The word 'miss' was not going through my head when I was going up there.”

Primm would go on to make both free throws, the second ultimately becoming the game-winning basket for the Tigers in their 59-58 overtime win against Georgia. 

For Primm, a thrilling victory inside an SEC arena was a moment unlikely to have occurred earlier in her basketball career. 

Primm originally signed with Duke and spent two seasons with the Blue Devils before transferring to the Tigers last season. She sat out 2017-18 per NCAA transfer rules. 

Primm was highly recruited, ranking as the No. 10 guard out of high school in 2015 and the third-best in Florida, according to ESPN. Primm was considering a plethora of schools including Auburn, USC and Ohio State before signing with Duke.  

At Duke, Primm struggled to receive consistent playing time and only started in 14 games out of 65 games during her two seasons with the Blue Devils. Following her sophomore season, she informed Duke head coach and former Auburn assistant coach Joanne McCallie she planned to transfer.

Auburn coach Terri Williams-Flournoy had high expectations for Primm after choosing the Tigers.

"Crystal Primm will be a great addition to our program," Williams-Flournoy said. "She is a superb player we recruited a few years ago, and we are very happy to have her join our Auburn family."

In Primm's first season with the Tigers, she has lived up to Coach Flo's expectations, averaging 11.6 points a game, 1.4 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals. Primm has started all 22 games thus far at forward. 

Primm, along with teammates Janiah McKay and Daisa Alexander, are ranked in the top 5 in SEC steals per game for Williams-Flournoy's aggressive, scrappy coaching scheme.

The junior immediate impact on the team has been crucial to the team's success so far, especially with the season-ending injury to fellow junior guard, Emari Jones, who tore her ACL earlier in the season. 

The Tigers will look to continue their winning ways on Thursday as they play host to No.19 Kentucky at 7 p.m. CST on SEC Network Plus.  

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