Women’s Basketball: Indiana 66, Purdue 45
Well, this was certainly not the outcome that Sharon Versyp and the Boilermakers wanted as they were outmatched against the Hoosiers and lost by a score of 66 to 45.
This was the third consecutive loss for Purdue, as they dropped a game against Michigan State but they did fight til the end to make it a good game. The last two games have been a completely different story for Purdue as they lost their previous outing against Maryland 83-45 and now take a 21 point defeated against their arch rival.
It was largely back and forth contest between the two Indiana schools with Purdue actually leading for a few minutes in the first quarter. The score was knotted up at 15 with 8:53 left in the second quarter, then Purdue did not score a single point for 11 straight minutes. Yes, if you missed the game you are reading that correctly. The Hoosiers went on a 20-0 run that bled into the third quarter before Fatou Diagne made a layup with 7:31 left in the quarter.
Purdue just could not get anything going all game, and played sloppy on both sides of the ball. As a team, they shot 34% from the floor, hit just 5 three point baskets on 16 attempts and turned the ball over 16 times. Kayana Traylor led Purdue in scoring with just 8 points on 3-13 shooting, while Holmes and Berger almost combined to outscored Purdue alone as they teamed up for 42 of Indiana’s 66 points.
It has been tough sledding for Purdue as of late after starting the season 5-2, they now fall to 5-5 overall and 2-4 during conference play thus far. It does not get much easier for the Boilermakers as they take on an 8-3 Iowa squad and 13th ranked Michigan in two of their next three games with Wisconsin sandwiched in between them. The Boilermakers need to hit their stride if they want to return to the NCAA Tournament in March.
Purdue will travel to Iowa on January 18th to take on the Hawkeyes at 4:30pm EST.
