INDIANAPOLIS — Perhaps Katie Gearlds needs to play with a chip on her shoulder — and a crick in her neck — more often.

The senior guard, who earlier in the day thought she might be unable to play because of a bizarre toothbrush incident, rallied the second-seeded Boilermakers (27-5) to a 64-61 victory over the third-seeded Spartans (23-8) Sunday, advancing them to the Big Ten Tournament finale.

At 8:15 a.m., however, it looked as though Gearlds day might come to an early end. While brushing her teeth, she felt a sharp pain in her neck, which at that time had a nearly debilitating affect on her movement.

"This morning at shoot around, I was in tears," said Gearlds, explaining the injury as a strained muscle. "I thought there was no way I was going to be able to play. I couldn't move my neck and I felt like I'd do nothing but hurt the team out there."

But after a day of treatment, Gearlds felt good enough to go at tipoff. And it's a good thing for the Boilermakers, as she spurred a 26-6 second-half run that turned a 12 point-deficit into an eight-point advantage 11 minutes later and sent Purdue to victory.

Gearlds, who had struggled to get untracked until Purdue's decisive run, was sparked by a couple of questionable calls, or lack thereof, by the officials. With Purdue trailing 48-38 at 13:50, she was slapped on the wrist on a missed jumper, a hit so hard that a reddened hand print remained 20 minutes after the game. Then, two seconds later, Jodi Howell was whistled for a foul when Gearlds stole the ball away from Spartan Aisha Jefferson.

"I said a few things that my mom would not appreciate," said Gearlds, who was visibly angered by the sequence of events, "and got a fire in my belly. Maybe just from that moment I laid it all on the line."

After a bucket by Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton, Gearlds hit two consecutive fade-away jumpers in the lane, the first over 6-foot-9 Spartan center Allyssa DeHaan, cutting Purdue's deficit to four.

"To shoot over a 6-9 girl, that's some guts," said Gearlds of the high-arcing shot, the first of five consecutive makes after her 2-of-8 start. "And I got the roll. It just got me really hyped and everything felt good after that."

Gearlds followed the two shots in the lane with back-to-back three-pointers, one from each wing, to give Purdue its first lead at 52-50 with 8:53 left. Her rebound bucket a minute-and-a-half later put the Boilers up two again, sending them in front for the final time.

Purdue stretched the lead to 62-54 at 4:51, but was unable to put Michigan State away, missing out on several attempts to do so.

Senior Erin Lawless, who otherwise delivered another solid performance, missed the front end of consecutive one-and-one free throw trips. Each of those, however, came after the forward had injured her back while being run over by a Spartan on a legal screen.

"I'm not going to sit there and make excuses for myself," said Lawless, who was 9-of-13 from the line, "but yeah, it didn't feel right and doesn't feel right right now. But I'll be OK."

A 7-0 run closed the Spartans to 62-61 on DeHaan's basket with 1:37 remaining. On Purdue's next possession, however, Wisdom-Hylton nailed a 17-foot jumper from the right corner with the shot clock running down, extending the lead back to three.

The Spartans had a couple opportunities to tie, but missed two three-point attempts in the final minute. On a mad scramble for the second rebound, Gearlds ended on her back with the ball in her hands, but an official's inadvertent whistle — TV replays appeared to show MSU coach Joanne P. McCallie calling timeout while Gearlds had possession — stopped play with 2.2 seconds remaining. After a long deliberation by the referees, the Boilers were given possession, allowing them to successfully run out the clock.

The game was reminiscent (in reverse) of the squads' meeting last month in Mackey Arena, in which Purdue led by 17 before Michigan State rallied for a win. In this one, the Boilers' biggest hole was 12.

"I thought we showed a lot of heart tonight, being down and battling back," said Gearlds, who finished with 17 points, three rebounds and two assists in 38 minutes. "… When it was gut-check time and reality set in, we laid it on the line."

Until Gearlds got going late, it was her classmate who carried the Boilermakers. Lawless scored a team-high 18 points, with seven rebounds, four assists and three steals in 38 minutes. She had seven points in the first half, as the Boilers were simply trying to stay above water. Purdue, with 11 turnovers, trailed 34-26 at the half.

"I thought Erin was our glue today," Coach Sharon Versyp said, "consistently, all the way through."

The Boilers came back in the second by slowing their carelessness — they had only five more turnovers — while continuing their domination on the boards. Purdue, which was drilled 47-34 on the boards in its home loss to MSU, held a 40-30 edge Sunday.

"Even since that game, we've cleaned it up," Versyp said. "We're a better rebounding team now. … We've just really, really committed to that."

Wisdom-Hylton led the way, collecting a career-high tying 14 boards, with 12 points, to notch her sixth double-double of the season. Kiki Freeman chipped in seven points, five rebounds and two steals off the bench.

Point guard FahKara Malone had eight assists, giving her 16 in the two tournament games, with four turnovers, in 36 minutes. But it was backup Lauren Mioton who was in when the Boilers started their second-half run.

"Lauren came in for four minutes and settled us down," Versyp said. "Those were four minutes that were the huge key for us to turn this around."

Notes: Versyp purchased 70 tickets for Monday's Big Ten Tournament title game for members of the Gold Mine, Purdue's student cheering section. ... Purdue is now 24-7 in the Big Ten Tournament. ... The Boilermakers are 7-2 as the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, winning one title.

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