MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – A pair of 20-plus point scorers and a double-double for Coastal Carolina were not enough as the Chanticleers fell to Auburn, 84-78, in a hard-fought battle in the opening game of the Carolinas Challenge at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

The game featured seven ties and 17 lead changes, and neither team led by more than seven points until the final two minutes of the game.

Both Coastal (7-2) and Auburn (9-1) entered Tuesday’s contest having won their last five games. The Chants saw their winning streak come to an end, but the 7-2 mark ties the program record for the best season start through the first nine games.

Caitlin Roche scored a game-high 26 points for Coastal. It was a career effort for the junior guard, and her fourth time surpassing the 20-point plateau in her last six games.

DJ Williams followed with 25 points, and posted game highs of five steals and five assists. Naheria Hamilton tallied her first double-double of the season with 17 points and 14 rebounds.

Auburn had four players score in double figures, led by the 21 points of Janiah McKay. Emari Jones (16 points), Crystal Primm (14 points) and Unique Thompson (11 points) followed.

The two teams were similarly matched, with neither side gaining a sizable advantage. Coastal shot 45 percent to Auburn’s 41 percent and pulled down five more rebounds, but turned the ball over 23 times leading to 30 Tiger points.

Coastal and Auburn traded runs in an opening half that featured 10 lead changes, with neither side leading by more than seven points. The Tigers took the advantage early before the Chants answered back with a 10-2 run over nearly four minutes to go ahead by four. Auburn then knocked down a flurry of baskets in the closing minute of the first quarter to regain the lead, 17-16.

Coastal outscored Auburn 12-4 over the first half of the second quarter, leading to the largest lead of the half at seven points. The Tigers owned the second half of the quarter, however, clawing back over the final minutes to cut Coastal’s lead to just one, 39-38, going into halftime.

The game tightened even more in the third quarter as neither team led by more than three points, and the score was tied six times over the 10 minutes. Roche scored 10 of her 26 points in the third frame, while Williams tallied all eight of Coastal’s points over the final three minutes of the quarter.

Auburn scored seven straight points over the span of a minute early in the fourth quarter to go in front by five points. Though Coastal managed to trim the Tigers’ lead to one point twice in the following minutes, Auburn never relinquished its lead.

Coastal closes the Carolinas Challenge on Thursday when its takes on Rice at 8:30 p.m. at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.