Purdue holds off St. Mary's charge
Purdue swept its three-game series this week in Mackey Arena, playing its most complete game of the trio in beating St. Mary's Wednesday afternoon to win the Basketball Travelers Inc. Invitational.
The Boilermakers (9-5) had to fight off the Gaels (7-4), doing so by playing solid defense that helped give them an early lead, then hitting big shots down the stretch that sustained it.
“I think you’re just building confidence,” Coach Sharon Versyp said following Purdue's 70-60 win. “When players have confidence, they tend to do things better and feed off one another. They really bought into the team defense, sharing the basketball, going inside out.
"The last four minutes, they executed every play we called and that has not happened all year. It happened today. You’re always going to have some mistakes, but they executed and we scored on a majority of them.”
Purdue got big buckets from guards Karissa McLaughlin and Dominique Oden, as the two combined for 31 points and eight three-pointers, to hold off St. Mary's second-half charges. After scoring only 20 in the first half — Purdue led by 11 after forcing 15 first-half turnovers — the Gaels rallied in the third quarter by hitting 12-of-14 shots with only one turnover to get within 50-46.
But Purdue maintained the lead through the fourth, getting a couple baskets by Oden, a triple then a jumper early in the quarter. But a layup by Stella Beck, plus a free throw, brought the visitors to within two, 55-53, with 4:52 remaining. Purdue got the points back almost immediately, though, on a McLaughlin three-pointer, then extended the edge to 60-53 on Andreona Keys' layup the next possession. A minute later, it was 65-56 on McLaughlin's transition jumper, followed shortly after by a triple that beat the shot clock, putting Purdue up 12 at the end of an 8-0 run with 1:45 left.
McLaughlin and Oden scored 13 of Purdue's 20 in the fourth quarter.
“It really adds to our energy,” forward Ae'Rianna Harris said of Purdue's solid guard play. “Once our energy goes up, everything goes up. Shots starting knocking down, we get steals, get stops.”
Purdue built a 31-20 lead at halftime, thanks to a defensive effort that forced the Gaels into 15 turnovers and only 36.4 percent shooting.
McLaughlin and Oden led the Boilermakers with 17 and 14 points, respectively, as Purdue shot 44 percent with only 10 turnovers. McLaughlin, a rookie, was particularly solid, hitting 6-of-10, including five of her nine three-pointers, with five assists and no turnovers. She had committed seven turnovers on Monday.
“My teammates were out there helping me and it was easy to find the open man,” McLaughlin said.
St. Mary's, which got 14 points from Sydney Raggio, shot 53 percent for the game, but had 20 turnovers.
Harris was named the tournament's MVP — and she joined Oden on the all-tournament team — after another great outing, with 13 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five blocks. In three games, the sophomore had 46 points, 29 rebounds, 11 blocks, eight assists and only five turnovers.
“’Ria sets herself apart," Versyp said. "One thing she does — and (Lamina Cooper) — is if their offense isn’t going, they’re rebounding, playing defense, affecting the game. ‘Ria can block shots, get tips, can do everything. We need her playing at the highest level, that’s what we need from her day in and day out and that’s what she’s been able to deliver a majority of the time.”
Purdue now has a break until the Big Ten, hoping that its play over the last four days, particularly Wednesday, will be a needed jolt.
“I feel like this tournament was a big confidence boost for the entire team,” Harris said. “(For) people individually, it’s really going to help us going into conference, playing even better teams, 10 times better than any teams we’ve played. This tournament we stepped it up to another level.”
Notes: After the game, Versyp said reserve guard Tiara Murphy, who was not on the bench Wednesday, is academically ineligible and no longer part of the program. The third-year sophomore had averaged 4.2 points and 1.5 assists in about 17 minutes per game, including a 21-point outing, with six three-pointers, in the season-opening win at Central Michigan. ... Center Fatou Diagne, a J.C. transfer who hasn't played yet for the Boilermakers, will have surgery Friday to insert a screw in her foot. She's been out since the preseason with a stress fracture and will miss the remainder of the season. ... Freshman forward Dani Lawson will see a doctor on Thursday to further evaluate her sore knees. She has been out since Nov. 25. If she needs surgery, she would be sidelined for the season. Without surgery, Purdue might target an early February return.
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