Auburn women’s basketball coach Nell Fortner can sympathize with Arkansas’ Tom Collen.

Both coaches enjoyed hot starts this season, only to lose a key player for the season. With the Southeastern Conference schedule at its midpoint, both teams are below .500 in conference play.

Fortner’s Tigers (15-7, 3-4 SEC) started 10-1 before starting point guard Whitney Boddie was declared academically ineligible in late December. The Tigers are 5-6 without Boddie.

Collen’s Razorbacks, meanwhile, were 15-0 at the start of SEC play, but lost star post player, Lauren Ervin, in their conference opener. Arkansas is now 17-6 and 2-6 in SEC play.

Fortner’s shorthanded Tigers travel to Fayetteville, Ark., today to face Collen’s diminished Razorbacks. Fortner believes the two team’s similarities outweigh their differences.

“You see two similar situations, in that each team lost a key player to the chemistry of their team,” she said. “It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.”

Fortner has one advantage Collen doesn’t have: Boddie wasn’t her team’s only star. The Tigers still have junior forward DeWanna Bonner, their best player.

Unfortunately for Auburn, Bonner isn’t getting much help lately.

The 6-foot-4 Bonner has topped 15 points five times in SEC play. Her teammates have combined for three such performances in conference play.

Bonner was especially in need of some backup Thursday at Florida. She scored 30 points in that game, a 73-67 loss; the seven other Tigers who played combined for 37.

“She didn’t get a lot of help, but she played very hard,” Fortner said. “I thought she was pretty worn out at the end of the game. (She) just needed some help, and we didn’t have that for her.”

Florida’s zone defense frustrated AU’s outside shooting, and the Tigers couldn’t counter with an inside game. Freshman center Cassie Moore didn’t attempt a shot in 11 minutes, and forwards Jordan Greenleaf and Trevesha Jackson combined for 10 points.

Avoiding a repeat of that performance is the task facing the Tigers today. AU likely needs to finish with at least seven SEC wins to qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Today’s game will begin at 2 p.m. at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.

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