Boilers outscore Wildcats

By Kyle Charters
Senior Writer

The Purdue reserves outscored the entire Northwestern squad by nine points on Sunday. After adding in the contributions of the Boiler starters, though, the game wasn't that close.

The No. 6 Boilers (15-3, 5-0 Big Ten) beat the Wildcats (4-11, 0-5) 94-37 in front of a season-high 8,651 fans in Mackey Arena. It was Purdue's seventh straight victory.

Coach Kristy Curry said she was glad to get extended playing time for many of the Boiler bench players.

"It's really important," said Curry. "They practice so hard. I have faith and confidence in any of those kids to go to in any game situation. But I'm excited that we could get some game like minutes."

Freshman forward Shereka Wright came off the bench to lead Purdue with a career-high 19 points. She also had six rebounds and five assists with just one turnover.

"My parents have been getting on me a lot about just playing my game and being relaxed," said Wright. "I told myself that this is the time for me to come out and start playing."

Purdue started the game with a 10-0 run and never trailed to Northwestern. The Wildcats didn't score until the 15:37 mark of the first half. And it didn't get much easier for them. They shot just 28.6 percent (8-28) in the first half and trailed 48-21 at the intermission.

Junior guard Kelly Komara said it was important for the Boilers to get the lead early.

"Let's put them away early; let's not fiddle around, get up by 20 and then all the sudden we look at the scoreboard and we're four points up," said Komara, who had nine points, seven rebounds and four assists in the win.

While the Northwestern offense struggled, the Purdue offense thrived. The Boilers shot 50 percent (18-36) in the first half. They improved that to 63.6 percent (21-33) in the second half with the reserves getting a majority of the action. The solid shooting helped Purdue build its lead to the final 57-point margin.

"We're going to have games where you feel as if nothing you do is right," said Northwestern coach June Olkowski. "And that's how we felt (Sunday). Whenever we turned there was a Purdue player there."

Purdue's full-court press defense also caused Northwestern some problems. The Boilers forced a season-high 32 turnovers by the Wildcats.

"Our guards just took it upon themselves to create a lot of deflections," said Komara. "Not necessarily to get the steal from the perimeter, but make the deflection and let somebody else get the steal."

NOTES: Three Boilers set career scoring highs in the win. Along with Wright, freshman Lindsey Hicks scored a career-high 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and freshman guard Beth Jones scored a career-high six points … Freshman forward Shalicia Hurns started her first game of the season. She had 12 points, six rebounds and two steals … The Boilers had a season-high 22 steals, including five by freshman Erika Valek and four by Komara and senior Katie Douglas … Senior guard Shinika Parks missed the game because of a chest cold. She's expected to play in the Boilers' next game, which is at 7 p.m. Thursday vs. Michigan State in Mackey Arena.

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