Women’s Basketball: Purdue 62, Dayton 78.

After a 3-0 start to the season, Purdue women’s basketball has suffered their first setback of the season as they fall to the Dayton Flyers, 78-62.

Coming into the year, it was known that this team would be a work in progress. Even with the wins coming to begin the season, there is still a lot this team needs to work on before conference play rolls around. Those weaknesses most definitely showed this evening with a poor shooting night that bled into a subpar defensive performance as well.

It was tough sledding for the Boilermakers tonight, shooting just 38.5% from the field and connecting on only 3-12 three-point field goals. This team had a lot of success from downtown in their first three games but was unable to find other ways to win tonight. This team does not have the ability to create off the bounce like they want to at this time.

Purdue’s leader, Madison Layden, had a rare off night and that was a big reason the Boilermakers weren’t able to get back into the game. Layden finished with 10 points on a season-worst 2-11 shooting from the field. I think she did understand that it was not her night and put more of an emphasis on setting up her teammates as she also had 6 assists.

I had mentioned these previous games, but the supporting cast around Layden needs to step up. Aside from the main contributors, (Layden, Kyle, Ellis, and Moore) the rest of the team combined for only 11 points on the night. That number needs to be much higher if the team wants to be successful moving forward.

Ra’Shaya Kyle was the brightest spot in a bad night for the team as she led the squad in scoring with 20 points on 8-14 shooting and added another team-high 8 rebounds as well. Brook Moore and Abbey Ellis also turned in serviceable performances in their own right, as the guard duo combined for 21 points on 6-13 shooting. These ladies are more than capable of sharing the load on any given night.

As I previously said, this team is a work in progress and we knew it wouldn’t all be smooth sailing. These types of games will be very beneficial later on this season as they continue to grow and build with each other, which is something that could not be said for previous seasons for the program. The Boilermakers will look to bounce back on Monday at 7:00 pm when they host Marshall inside Mackey Arena.