The Purdue Exponent


03/04/02	Previous Edition 3/1

Hoosiers defeat Boilers in Big Ten semifinals

Liz Nicol/Photo Editor

STEP OFF: Indiana's Erin McGinnis and Iowa's Beatrice Bullock fight for a loose ball during Friday's match. The Hoosiers beat the Hawkeye's 78-76 in overtime. IU will play Purdue in the first semi-final on Sunday at 3:30 p.m.

By Greg Doddridge
and Liz Nicol

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana's seniors finally got a victory over Purdue and it came during the semifinals of the 2002 Big Ten Tournament on Sunday.

The Hoosiers (16-13) defeated the No. 7 Boilers, 55-41, in front of a tournament record 9,358 fans at Conseco Fieldhouse to advance to Monday night's final. The Hoosiers will play Penn State, which defeated Wisconsin, 76-62, during the other semifinal Sunday. This is the first time the Hoosiers have advanced to the finals of the Big Ten Tournament.

Indiana's win over Purdue was the first victory over the Boilers for the Hoosiers' five seniors. Purdue had won nine straight games over the Hoosiers. The last time Indiana beat Purdue was on Jan. 25, 1998.

Indiana senior forward Erin McGinnis, who transferred to Indiana from Auburn two years ago, was beginning to wonder if Indiana would ever beat Purdue.

"I haven't been here four years, but the two years I have been, I don't think we ever honestly, truly, really all, the whole team down the line, really believed we could beat them," said McGinnis.

Liz Nicol/Photo Editor

DISBEILIEF: Purdue's Emily Heikes, Erika Valek and Kelly Komara watch the Indiana team create a pile of jubilation on the court after they defeated the Boilers 55-41 Sunday afternoon.

"They are always a very confident team and they always think that they can just walk all over us. I think they overlooked us. I think they thought it would be an easy game and it wasn't."

Purdue sophomore forward Shereka Wright took issue with McGinnis' comment after the game.

"I disagree with her comment," said Wright. "I think we take every opponent seriously and we always respect teams. They came out and they played and we didn't, point blank."

The Boilers were definitely the team that did not come out to play. They scored just 41 points in the game. The last time Purdue scored under 41 points in a game was on Feb. 10, 1984, when it lost to Iowa, 40-78.

"I think anytime you score 41 points you just aren't going to beat very many people," said Purdue coach Kristy Curry. "Give Indiana credit. It was their day today and they deserved to win and we didn't."

The Boilers shot a season-low 25 percent (13-52) from the field and they were outrebounded, 32-43. They went one of nine (11.1 percent) from behind the arc. They also had troubles at the free-throw line as they went 14 of 22 (63.6 percent). And in a sign of poor post defense, they were outscored in the paint, 16-24.

Indiana coach Kathi Bennett said she was happy with her team's performance on Sunday.

"We felt one of the keys to the game was how we limited them to one offensive shot (per possession)," said Bennett. "We needed to take care of the cleanup, the defensive boards, and I thought we did a great job on that."

The best example of Purdue's struggles in the game came during a stretch of 8:02 in the second half that contained turnovers, fouls and missed shots.

From 12:35 to 4:33 in the second half, the Boilers missed every field goal they attempted. Their only points came from three free throws.

In two consecutive possessions, the Hoosiers fed the ball to center Jill Chapman on passes that where lobbed right over the head of Purdue's Mary Jo Noon. Noon was caught the wrong way on Chapman's cuts from the left side of the lane and Chapman made both of the baskets to give Indiana the 44-33 lead.

Indiana assistant coach Trish Betthauser said the Hoosiers made some halftime adjustments to get Chapman some looks on the left block.

"We felt that with Jill going over her left shoulder, we felt that Mary Jo might not slide as easily that way and Jill might be able to come back with her right hand," said Betthauser.

There were turnovers, fouls and missed shots during that 8:02 stretch. By the time it was over, Indiana had gone on an 11-3 run to lead 51-36 with 4:33 to go in the game. Purdue had just five points, all from Laura Meadows, in the last 7:58 of the game.

Wright led Purdue with 16 points, Meadows had seven and Noon finished with five. Komara was guarded by Heather Cassady and Komara shot just 2 of 14 (14.3 percent) from the field and finished with five points.

Chapman led the Hoosiers with 17 points, Cassady had 13 and McGinnis finished with nine.

The Boilers will have almost two weeks off until the NCAA tournament and Curry wants her players to turn the loss to Indiana into a positive.

"The bottom line is a year ago we were in the same spot (after losing to Iowa 70-75 in the Big Ten Tournament finals) and we ended up playing for a national championship," said Curry. "I think our kids will learn and grow."

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