Purdue women's head coach details impact and cause of team's recent upswing
For 43 days, the Purdue women's basketball team went to work, with players putting in the four hours the NCAA allows for team activities and going beyond that in their free time. They did all that, played nine games, and yet their win total remained stagnant.
No success came from their grind. That is, until Feb. 2 when the Boilermakers toppled Wisconsin at home, charging ahead in the fourth quarter despite losing the second and third. Purdue has won another game since, keeping itself in the hunt for Big Ten Tournament qualification.
Here's head coach Katie Gearlds on the end of the losing streak and her team's upcoming rivalry game at Indiana Saturday afternoon:
Q: When you guys finally were able to break that slump and win one against Wisconsin, what did that feel like?
Just really happy for them, because they've been working, and it just hadn't matriculated into a win or success, you know, towards the win column. And so for them to find that and feel that was huge.
Q: There's been a sudden change in your opponent quality, not necessarily a sudden change in your team – or are there elements there too?
I think we've tried to make things a little bit less complicated for them. So maybe that has helped some of our youth, whether it's offensive game planning or scheming up, or what we do defensively. But I also think they're understanding a little bit more our ability to change ball screens, you know. (Freshman center Kendall Puryear), (Freshman center Lana McCarthy), like, they're understanding a little bit more why we would want to ice a ball screen or blitz a ball screen or drop coverage.
And then (senior forward Reagan Bass) and (graduate guard Destini Lombard), (graduate guard Mahri Petree) and (graduate guard Ella Collier), I think they're just understanding a little bit more. It's taken a while. But also, I do think I saw it happening against the teams from the other planets. It's just, you didn't see it successfully, but we were seeing it.
Q: Does that allow them to be more adaptable in-game, what does that give them?
In the first half against Northwestern, we were running ball screen coverages a certain way. Right before the half, not even in here in the locker room, I just went to Reagan, and I was like, "Hey, first ball screen, let's blitz it. And she did, and we got a steal and a bucket. That wasn't going to happen a month ago, you know. So just understanding little things, angles and whatnot. I think a lot of that goes with (McCarthy) and (Puryear's) growth.
And then on the flip side of it, (sophomore guards Sophie Swanson and Rashunda Jones) are out there playing a lot of minutes, and they're just sophomores. So, look at the kids scoring for us, right? It's our young kids, and everybody else is just trying to fill in. I've liked our growth, and now we're going into a tough spot against a team that's lost two games on the road in front of however many people are going to be there. But what a cool opportunity.
