Purdue Women Take Down Northwestern

When Purdue faced Northwestern two weeks ago they dropped a close contest that went down to the last second. Thursday night, though, there was no doubt who would take home the victory. The Boilers won 90-65 to move to 14-5 and 4-3 in conference.

Northwestern started the game with the lead but Purdue quickly tied it up and then claimed the lead for good. Northwestern stayed with us for most of the first half even drawing within two a few times, but the Boilermakers squashed any chance of a comeback with a 13-4 run at the end of the half to go up 45-34.

Purdue picked up right where they left off going on a 11-3 run to open the half.  The closest the Wildcats would get the rest of the way was nine. Purdue kept pouring it on til the end closing out the game on a 19-8 run.

Thursday night the front court came to play. Liza Clemons put up a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Whitney Bays contributed 14 and 7. Camille Redmon was productive on the boards pulling down nine rebounds to go with her nine points, and in only five minutes of play Torrie Thornton managed to score seven points and grab four rebounds. Overall Purdue scored 42 points in the paint and outrebounded Northwestern 53-26.

Free throw shooting was another bright spot for the Boilers as they converted 23-27 (84%). In the previous match-up Purdue only shot 54% from the line. Purdue shot 45% from the floor.

After only having one game last week the team they will play three games this week. Monday night they take on Illinois. Next they'll host Penn State on Thursday night. Then finish the week in East Lansing against Michigan State on Sunday.

Illinois is currently ninth in conference. The Illini are led by guards Ivory Crawford and Amber Moore who are both averaging 15 ppg. Illinois has struggled this season, their roster features eight girls who are new to the program. No. 12 Penn State will be looking for a little revenge after we knocked them off on their court. Like last time Purdue will have to limit turnovers and get to the free throw line in order to win. Maggie Lucas will score but we will need to contain everyone else. Since we faced them on the 12th Penn State has not dropped a game; we are their only conference loss. MSU is tied for second in the conference at 5-2. State is balanced but not very deep. Three Spartans average double digit points.

This week Purdue moved up from 22 in the rankings to 19.