Purdue holds Wisconsin scoreless for 13 minutes, wins
For more than 13 minutes on Sunday, it was all Purdue in Mackey Arena.
All Purdue.
The Boilermakers (10-6 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten) held Wisconsin (7-8, 0-2) scoreless for 13:33, the last 8:57 of the second quarter to the 5:24 mark of the third, while going on a 32-point run. Purdue won 57-35.
"I knew we were up and putting it on them,” senior Andreona Keys said.
Indeed.
The Badgers, playing without their leading scorer, were atrocious offensively at times, with their two points in the second tying opponent low for a quarter. Then, they hit only 1-of-9 field goals, an Abby Laszewski bank shot in the lane at 1:03 that brought them within 13-12, and had seven turnovers. Only when Suzanne Gilreath hit a three-pointer midway through the third did Wisconsin score again, and by then Purdue led 45-15.
Purdue hit four three-pointers during the run, plus Dominique Oden added to her two by making three free throws after she was fouled on another attempt. And the Boilermakers got into the lane, like when Miracle Gray took her own steal for a layup, then on the next possession when Lamina Cooper grabbed a handoff at the top of the key and drove hard to the hoop. Tam Farquhar's bucket at 5:52 gave the Boilermakers a 45-12 edge. The margin grew to as many as 34, before shrinking late.
“We were able to get a couple steals and just take off," said Keys, who scored 10, leaving her four short of 1,000 for her career. "Our transition wasn’t that great, but on offense we were trying to find the open person and dishing it off to ‘Nique because she was the one who was hot.”
Oden scored 15 by hitting four of her eight three-point attempts, plus the trio of free throws, helping to make the Badgers pay for their zone defense. Before Oden's explosion — and that of Karissa McLaughlin, who hit two long-balls — Purdue wasn't finding many openings. The Boilermakers scored only 12 first-quarter points, leading by a couple at the break.
But about 10 minutes later, Oden hit a triple to end an 18-0 second-quarter run and for a 31-12 halftime lead.
“We just really shared the ball, moved it from one side to the other, made the extra pass,” Coach Sharon Versyp said of a Purdue team that had 15 assists on 21 field goals. “It was inside-outside. It was beaufiful basketball. It wasn’t one person for themselves. They really connected.”
Purdue held the Badgers to 32-percent shooting, including 5-of-26 (19.2 percent) in the second and third quarters, and it forced 20 turnovers that it turned into 19 points. Four of the 20 turnovers were UW shot clock violations. The Boilermakers held a slight edge on the glass, including getting six rebounds from Oden. The sophomore guard thought it helped free her up offensively.
“It makes them actually look where I am, rather than just (me) rotating around the three-point line,” she said. “… Rebounding helps me get open.”
The Boilermakers, who shot 36.2 percent with 13 turnovers, got 10 points and seven rebounds from Cooper, while Ae'Rianna Harris added five points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals.
But it wasn't a perfect afternoon.
Purdue didn't score in the final 6:47, following Keys' free throw that put the Boilermakers up 57-23, matching the biggest margin.
“If we continue to do that," Versyp said, "we’re not going to be successful.”
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