Purdue Defeats Michigan State In OT

Purdue (8-1) walks out of East Lansing and can breathe a sigh of relief as they defeated Michigan State 76-71 in OT. Lasha Petree continued her phenomenal play and led the Boilers with 18 points and 8 rebounds while Abbey Ellis chipped in 13. Jeanae Terry had 6 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds for the Boilers.

It felt like it was going to be a long night for Purdue as they just could not take care of the basketball to start the game. Michigan State forced five turnovers in the first quarter and their tight defense in the paint left Purdue looking rattled. The Boilers never could find any offensive rhythm and the Spartans ended the quarter with a 19-14 lead.

Roles reversed in the second quarter as Purdue started to heat up. Petree went 4/4 and the Boilers shot 70% from the floor. Back-to-back 3’s gave Purdue a 28-22 lead with five minutes to play in the half. Michigan State hit some open shots to close out the half but Purdue held the lead 33-30.

The Boilers came out strong in the second half and took control of the game. Purdue went on a 14-2 scoring run in 6 minutes and outscored Michigan state 22-11. The Boilers closed out the third up 51-39.

Purdue took the lead to as much as 16 before some forced turnovers and buckets off transition cut the lead to 9. Janae Terry was then called for a questionable technical foul and MSU hit both free throws to come within 7. Continuous turnovers continued to haunt Purdue as Michigan State roared back tying the game. Michigan State closed out the quarter on 22-8 run forcing the game into overtime.

Purdue grinded it out in crunch time and scored 9 of their 13 points from the line. Despite a whopping 30 turnovers Purdues survives this one and returns home 1-0 in conference play.

Purdue returns to Mackey where they host #20 Maryland on Thursday at 6:30 pm