AUBURN, Ala. — The Auburn women's basketball team didn't start its week out well with a 67-61 loss to No. 18 Florida State Monday.

With No. 6 Duke coming to town Thursday, it left head coach Nell Fortner wondering just what she was thinking when she made the Tigers' schedule.

"I guess I was pretty crazy at that point in time," she joked. "I will say this, this is a very competitive bunch of players. They don't want to play anything less than this. This is what makes at team better. Win or lose, it makes you better.

"We want to be an NCAA tournament team, and this is the only way you do that."

Auburn (1-1) used a hounding defense to spark an 18-0 run through halftime that gave it a nine-point lead.

But Florida State (2-0) scrapped back, shooting 48 percent in the second half and eventually tying the game at 61 with 1:48 to go.

The Seminoles made six free throws the rest of the game while the Tigers went 0-for-5 from the field. FSU made 17 free throws in the second half to Auburn's six.

Alexa Deluzio scored a career-high 23 points for Florida State. Natasha Howard added 14 points and nine rebounds and Cierra Bravard had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Auburn got a career-best 16 points from Blanche Alverson and 15 apiece from Jordan Greenleaf and Morgan Toles. Greenleaf had nine rebounds and Toles seven assists.

The difference came on the boards. FSU had a commanding 47-29 rebounding advantage, enough to offset 29 turnovers.

"They're pretty physical inside," Greenleaf said. "They are tough, but I'm not going to say we backed down from that. But yeah, they're huge inside."

The Seminoles played a physical brand of defense to shut down sharp-shooting Tigers guard Alli Smalley, who struggled to a 2-for-15 night from the field and finished with six points.

"I thought they were very physical with Alli," Fortner said. "We talked to the officials about it. The rule is you can't impede her progress. Well, they impeded her progress.

"But that's the way the game is called and she has to make the adjustments to that. She's going to see that kind of defense all year long. They're not going to leave her open to shoot the ball."