Boilers hope to extend winning
streak
New Spartan coach poses
possible threat to
Boilermaker team
 By
Anne McLaren
Assistant Sports Editor
When a team incorporates a new coaching staff,
it is sometimes difficult to gauge what changes that coaching staff
will have made, even if the team has the same personnel as in years
past.
No. 6 Purdue faces Michigan State and first year
coach Joanne McCallie at 7 tonight in Mackey Arena. The Spartans (8-8,
2-3 Big Ten) enter on a two-game losing streak, falling at home to Wisconsin
72-56 and Illinois 72-59.
"They’ve got a lot of energy and enthusiasm,"
said Purdue All-American Katie Douglas. "They’ve got a new
coach so it’s always difficult at first to get used to the new
system. But I think they’re playing well as a team right now, so
it’s going to be a tough test for us (tonight)."
The Boilers (15-3, 5-0), on the other hand, enter
tonight’s contest on a seven-game winning streak and have won four
in a row at home. Purdue’s last home loss came to No. 8 Louisiana
Tech on Nov. 20 in the championship game of the preseason WNIT.
Last season, the Boilers and Spartans split the
two meetings with each team winning at home. Although Michigan State
boasts five seniors on its roster, assistant coach Kelly Curry feels
that this year’s Michigan State team will be quite different from
last season’s.
"They’re a very good team," said
Curry. "She’s come in and done a good job. They play a lot
of zone, which could always present problems. We haven’t seen a
lot of zone in our last couple of games. So we need to execute."
Curry said the Spartans have a good combination
of young, athletic players and talented, experienced players.
"Becky Cummings led the Big Ten in field goal
percentage last year and is a solid player," he said. "She’s
capable of putting up a double-double. They’ve got a talented point
guard in (Vnemina) Reese."
Purdue’s Camille Cooper said Cummings is tough.
"I played with her on the Big Ten All Stars,"
said Cooper. "She’s a post with good perimeter skills. So
she has a lot of versatility. I think she’s one of the players
we have to focus on shutting down."
Cummings leads the Spartans at 11.8 points per
game while Reese averages 10.8. Freshman Julie Pagel averages 11.0 points
per game.
"If (the Spartans) get on a roll they can
be very dangerous," said Curry. "They play very well at times.
So we’ll have our hands full. Every game from here on out is going
to be a challenge."
An area for concern for Curry is the assist/turnover
ratio. Purdue averages 14.2 assists per game as compared to 17.3 turnovers
per game, giving it an assist/turnover ratio of 0.8.
"That’s something that we struggled with
all year," he said. "It was better (against Northwestern).
I think we’re developing. It’s been a combination of things.
A lot of times it looks like we’re making a bad pass or forcing
something on the perimeter. When we go back and look at it on film,
maybe the post didn’t seal enough. It’s just taking care of
the basketball."
Another problem Curry outlined was opponents’
dribble penetration.
"When you allow people to penetrate your defense,
it breaks you down and then you have to rotate and it leaves people
open," he said.
Cooper said the team needs to work on boxing out,
keeping teams off the offensive boards and hitting free throws.
"Some games we’re up and some games we’re
down," she said. "We’re just looking for consistency
and coming out with a lot more intensity."
|
