 Purdue
freshmen exhibit 'Elite' play in Boiler win
By Anne McLaren
Assistant Sports Editor
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Though they didn't have
any Elite Eight experience, Purdue's Shalicia Hurns and Shereka Wright
didn't play like freshmen in the Boilers' 88-78 victory over Xavier
Monday night in Birmingham-Jefferson Arena.
"Shalicia and Shereka are just tremendous players,"
said junior guard Kelly Komara, who led the Boilers (30-6) with 20 points.
"They come out and play hard every day. What they did for us, I can't
really even put it in words. You can look on the (stat) sheet and see
how well they did. But I think they put a fire in our team that no one
can replace."
Hurns, a 6-foot-3 forward and Wright a 5-10 forward,
played 37 and 32 minutes for Purdue, respectively. Wright, who normally
comes off the bench, started in place of freshman point guard Erika
Valek, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee against
Texas Tech on Saturday.
Wright scored 14 points for Purdue, all in the
second half. She also had four rebounds and three steals.
"I didn't play a very good first half as everybody
could see," said Wright. "Mary Jo (Noon) was very inspirational to me.
She said, 'This is your half, you need to come up and step up for your
team.' I knew I wasn't playing very well. I just told myself, play like
you know how to play. Step up for your team."
Thus, Wright scored 11 of Purdue's 16 points in
a stretch that turned a 54-48 deficit into a 64-63 lead.
"There was a point in time in the second half when
I thought Shereka Wright took over," said Purdue coach Kristy Curry.
"She looked like, 'I'm going to step up if no one else is.'"
Xavier (31-3) guard Nicole Levandusky said Wright
was hard to defend.
"We knew she liked to drive," said Levandusky.
"She was beating us on the baseline in our zone, which was something
we needed to cut her off. We knew she liked to go right but she just
kept beating us."
Hurns said that she and Wright were nervous at
the start of the game.
"I think it just showed in the first half," said
Hurns. "In the second half, we got it under control. We knew what we
had to do. All year we've been contributing. Today was a big part of
us contributing and playing well for the team. I'm just glad that we
both came out and played well for the team."
Hurns had a double-double with 10 points and a
team-high 12 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.
"We've been working on that for the last couple
of days," she said. "They spread so far out in their zone so that the
backside was really open. They kept going away from me so the back side
was open so I was taking advantage of that, realizing my jumping ability
would work to our advantage."
Purdue advances to play Southwest Missouri State
(29-5) Friday in St. Louis in the Final Four.
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