Purdue rallies for win in opener at Central Michigan
For a half, it looked as though Purdue's offense might never get going.
The Boilermakers scored 25 in the first half, trailing Central Michigan by 12 at the break. But then, they came alive.
Freshman Karissa McLaughlin scored a team-high 21 points, while Andreona Keys and Tiara Murphy scored 19 each as Purdue (1-0) ran away to a 79-69 win at McGuirk Arena in the season opener Friday night.
"We have 10 freshmen and sophomores and we were really jittery," Coach Sharon Versyp told ESPN after the win . "We thought Central Michigan was going to come out and light it up and they did. They just outplayed us."
The Boilermakers, though, reversed the roles in the second half. Purdue blew up in the third quarter, scoring 36 points while getting 17 off CMU turnovers. The Boilermakers, who had trailed 42-26 a minute into the second half, used a 16-2 run to climb back in.
McLaughlin hit two three-pointers in the run, then a layup that pulled the Boilermakers within two. But it was Murphy, who had six three-pointers in scoring her career-high, who gave Purdue the lead then extended it; the sophomore, coming off ACL surgery last year, hit back-to-back triples, part of a late third-quarter 15-0 run that turned a five-point deficit into a 10-point lead.
CMU rallied to within six with 2:41 remaining but could get no closer.
The Boilermakers shot 75 percent in the decisive third quarter, making 12-of-16 shots. It made up for the frigid start, when they scored only 25 points in the first 20 minutes, making only four of their first 15 field goal attempts.
In her debut, McLaughlin had five assists and four steals to go with her 21 points.
The Boilermakers were beaten soundly on the glass, 40-24, but Keys had a team-high eight rebounds. Purdue made up for the issues on the boards by turning the Chippewas over 24 times, converting those into 27 points.
Reyna Frost had 23 for CMU (0-1) to lead all scorers.
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