Boilers fall to No. 19 Lions

By Anne McLaren
Assistant Sports Editor

Sometimes quick starts aren’t the best.

Purdue got off to a quick start against Penn State but faltered in the final 28 minutes and fell to the Nittany Lions, 75-65, in the Bryce-Jordan Center in State College, Pa., Thursday night.

"I thought at times we played uninspired," said Purdue coach Kristy Curry in her post-game radio interview. "I knew it was a challenge coming in."

With the Big Ten regular season title already won, the Boilers were playing for bragging rights and NCAA seeding.

"We need a different team and we just need to understand that it’s about us getting better," said Curry. "Tomorrow might be our last day. … Every day we need to play our game like it’s our last."

After Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante hit the first basket of the game, the No. 5 Boilers (24-5, 11-4 Big Ten) took an early 8-2 lead, thanks to six points from junior guard Kelly Komara.

No. 19 Penn State (19-7, 11-4) would later tie the score at 13 on a 3-pointer by Lisa Shepherd. After another 8-2 run, the Boilers had their largest lead — 23-15.

However, the Boilers would be stuck on 23. They had several opportunities to push their lead to 10 but never could.

Penn State then went on a 21-3 run over the next eight minutes. A lone basket by Douglas and a free throw by Crawford were Purdue’s only points in the run.

Penn State had a chance to push its 36-26 lead to 12 with approximately four seconds left in the half. But Douglas stole the ball — one of her four takeaways of the night — and made a layup. Then Purdue forced Shepherd into a turnover on the ensuing inbound pass and freshman point guard Erika Valek hit a shot at the buzzer, making the score 36-30.

Three minutes into the second half, a basket and a 3-pointer by Kelly Komara cut Penn State’s lead to 40-36. But Mazzante hit a 3-pointer on the Lions’ ensuing possession, which sparked a 20-7 run by the Lions. In that stretch, Purdue missed five consecutive free throws.

Down 60-43, the Boilers scored 11 unanswered points to cut the Nittany Lions’ lead to six. In that stretch, Purdue hit seven straight free throws, making the Boilers 11 for 19 up until that point.

But as Purdue tried to come back, poor shooting at the line continued. After Mazzante hit 1 of 2 free throws, Valek hit 1 of 2 from the line, followed by Douglas hitting 1 of 2. That made the score 61-56 and would equal the closest the Boilers would get.

Penn State hit 10 of 11 free throws over the final four minutes to secure the victory.

For the game, Penn State hit 24 of 29 foul shot attempts, including 14 of 17 by Shepherd. Purdue, on the other hand, hit just 13 of 23 from the line.

Turnovers and lack of rebounding also hurt Purdue. The Boilers turned the ball over 19 times and were outrebounded 40-28.

Douglas led Purdue with 25 points on 11 of 19 shooting. She was just 1 for 8 from behind the arc but 10 for 11 from within the arc.

"She really (kept us in the game)," said Curry. "We just really need everyone else to be around a little bit."

Komara added 11 for Purdue, which lost for just the second time in its last 18 games.

Mazzante led Penn State with 18 while Shepherd added 17 and Rashana Barnes 15.

• With a bye on the last day of conference play, the top-seeded Boilers must wait until next Friday for the Big Ten Tournament in Grand Rapids, Mich. Purdue will face the winner of the No. 8 seed/No. 9 seed, which is expected to be either Ohio State or Michigan State.

"I’m going to be as positive as I can," said Curry. "We need an inspired basketball team on the bus to Grand Rapids."

Purdue 78, Michigan 59

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Sports editor:
Paul Trembacki

Assistant sports editor:
Anne McLaren

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