After reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, Auburn women’s basketball enters the 2024-2025 season looking to build on its success.

“We’re getting a little bit better every year, just chipping away at it,” head coach Johnnie Harris said Monday before the team’s first practice.

The team is losing last season’s leading scorer and team leader Honesty Scott-Grayson, but returns key contributors such as Taylen Collins, Kaitlyn Duhon Savannah Scott and others.

Collins, who is Auburn’s leading returning scorer, is someone Harris pointed to as a leader on the team going into her second season at Auburn and fifth in college basketball.

“I would say Taylen has always been a leader. She’s kind of the same type of leader as Honesty,” Harris said. “She leads by example and if she has to speak up she will.”

Collins, Duhon and Scott are all members of a returning core that Harris hopes can continue to move the program forward in her fourth season at Auburn.

While those returning are important to the team’s foundation, one of the biggest stories of the offseason was the addition of Arkansas transfer Taliah Scott.

A standout freshman guard last season, Scott was a McDonalds All-American coming out of high school and averaged 22.3 points per game for Arkansas during the 2023-2024 season.

She averaged more points per game than any other player in the Southeastern Conference last season but didn’t meet playing minimums to qualify for the SEC scoring title.

Scott led Arkansas in minutes per game, averaging 36.4, but only played in 20 games due to a back injury at the start of SEC play and a “serious family emergency” that forced her to miss the final five regular season games and SEC Tournament.

Scott isn’t the only impact transfer Auburn added this offseason either. Veteran forward DeYona Gaston transferred in from Texas during the offseason, where she earned first team All-Big 12 honors in 2023.

She averaged 12.1 points per game that season in 32 starts and was named Big 12 Sixth Player of the Year in 2024 after averaging 8.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in 18.4 minutes per game.

With the combination of impact transfers and a core of returning players, Harris hopes to see continued growth in the program this season.

With an NCAA Tournament berth and regular season upset win over LSU in 2024, the progression is evident, and as the program’s popularity continues to rise, the Tigers have a chance to take the next step in 2024-2025.

“We put a good product out on the floor, and we have really good young ladies that love Auburn and are good representatives of Auburn, so I think that has translated with the fans as well,” Harris said.

Auburn women’s basketball will play an exhibition game against LaGrange College on Oct. 31 and will begin the regular season at home against Southern Illinois on Nov. 4.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m