Final Four bound!

Komara's big night puts Purdue in Final Four

By Kyle Charters

Senior Writer

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Kelly Komara knew she would have to play well in place of her injured teammate.

And during the NCAA tournament’s Mideast Regional Final on Monday, Komara responded. The junior, who was playing point guard in place of injured freshman Erika Valek, had 20 points, five assists, four steals, three rebounds and just one turnover to lead No. 3 seed Purdue (30-6) to an 88-78 win over No. 4 seed Xavier (31-3) in front of 4,092 fans in Birmingham-Jefferson Arena.

"Any time one of your teammates or friends goes down, you play for them," Komara said of Valek who is out for the season with a torn ligament in her right knee. "And I think looking over to the bench and seeing Erika screaming and cheering — it just made me play better."

Because of her solid all-around performance, Komara was named the regional’s Most Valuable Player.

"I thought she did a nice job of not only scoring tonight, but she ran our team like she'd been doing all year," said Purdue coach Kristy Curry. "I’m just really proud for her."

The Boilers move on to play Southwest Missouri State (29-5) in the Final Four in St. Louis on Friday. It’s Purdue’s second trip to the Final Four in the last three years. The Boilers won the national championship in 1999.

After trailing the Musketeers 58-52 at the 9:38 mark of the second half, the Boilers began their comeback with back-to-back 3-pointers by freshman Shereka Wright and senior Katie Douglas. The basket was just Douglas’ second of the game, but it seemed to spark the senior All-American.

"Any time I’m struggling offensively, I try to get a key stop or a big rebound," said Douglas, who finished with 19 points on just 3-of-13 shooting, but also had eight assists and seven rebounds.

After exchanging baskets with the Musketeers, the Boilers took the lead for good on two free throws by Wright, which made the score 64-63 with 6:55 left. Douglas hit her second 3-pointer after an official timeout. But a 3-pointer by Xavier’s Jennifer Parr again cut Purdue’s lead to one.

A 13-2 run by Purdue, however, extended the lead into double digits at 80-68 with 1:47 left, putting the game out of reach for Xavier.

"I expected them to do everything that they did well," said Xavier coach Melanie Balcomb. "We were just hoping to stop somebody."

Purdue hit 14 of 16 free throws during the last 2:39 to hold off Xavier and maintain a double-digit lead. The Boilers hit 28 of 32 free throws overall.

"At times throughout the year we struggled on our free throws," said Douglas, who made 11 of 12 free throws, 10 of which came in the game’s final minutes. "But tonight everybody stepped up big for us. It’s probably one of the best free throw percentages we’ve had all year."

The Boilers held the Musketeers to 44.3 percent shooting from the field, including just 33 percent (11-33) from 3-point range. Xavier also committed 19 turnovers.

"They had a great game plan," said Balcomb. "They did things to us that nobody has done to us this year and really took us out of our game.

The Boilers led 34-32 at halftime behind 14 points from Komara and eight from senior center Camille Cooper, who finished with 16 points. Purdue fell behind by as many as eight points early in the half, before rallying to take the slim lead.

Xavier started strong in the second half and reclaimed an advantage after a 15-7 run. The Musketeers held their lead at about six points until Purdue made its comeback.

"We didn’t come out the first five minutes (of the second half) with the enthusiasm and energy that we needed," said Curry. "Then we started to hit some 3-pointers and we really got after it. I’m just so very proud."

NOTES: The Mideast Regional tournament team included Purdue’s Komara (MVP) and Cooper, Xavier seniors Taru Tuukkanen and Nicole Levandusky and Texas Tech freshman Jia Perkins ... Purdue finished with a 37-34 rebounding advantage ... Senior Candi Crawford led the Boilers with six points off the bench, all of which came in the first half.

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