ATHENS, Ga. — Auburn could not come back from a 13-point halftime deficit, and fell at Georgia, 68-56, in a conference game Sunday at Stegeman Coliseum.

Auburn fell to 18-9 on the season and 6-6 in the SEC, while Georgia improved to 20-7 and 7-5 in the SEC.

The Bulldogs took their biggest lead of the game with nine minutes to play, up 53-32. But the Tigers did not go down without a fight, going on an 18-4 run, led by DeWanna Bonner and Sherell Hobbs.

The Tigers’ run cut the lead to 7 at 61-54 with just over one minute left in the game, but Georgia used excellent free throw shooting down the stretch by Angela Puleo and Tasha Humphrey to push the final margin to 12 points.

“We made a great effort to come back in the second half,” Auburn head coach Nell Fortner said. “All of the sudden something clicked, and we started to attack the basket. When we did that, we were able to make things happen.”

Bonner picked up her 12th double-double of the season with 20 points and 11 rebounds to lead Auburn. Hobbs scored in double figures for the 15th straight game with 14 points.

Humphrey, who was held to only 9 points the last time the two teams met, led Georgia with 22 points and 14 rebounds.

It was all Georgia in the first half. What was once a 6-4 Auburn lead quickly turned into a 16-point Auburn deficit courtesy of a 16-0 Bulldog run, and later grew as large as 19 points.

Auburn shot only 8-of-29 from the field and made just 2-of-6 free throws in the first half. The Tigers did find a little momentum going into locker room, finishing the half on 6-0 run to close to gap the 13 at 34-21.

Auburn returns to Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum on Thursday to take on another SEC rival, Vanderbilt, at 8 p.m. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net.