Purdue wins at the buzzer, gets tourney's fifth seed

Andreona Keys wanted to be as deliberate as possible.

The problem was that she didn’t have a lot of time.

But the junior forward used up nearly all the clock in putting back an Ashley Morrissette shot, her rebound basket at the buzzer giving Purdue a 61-59 victory over Northwestern on senior day Sunday in Mackey Arena.

“Once I saw (Morrissette’s shot) going down, I was (thinking), ‘Just take your time and put it up,’ that’s why I was so slow,” said Keys, who juggled the ball before releasing it. “I wanted to make sure that I made it. And then we all just went nuts.”

Went nuts — waited — and went nuts again, after officials reviewed the game-winner on a TV monitor. The second look showed Keys, who had lined up on the weakside after Morrissette’s left-baseline jumper came up short, releasing the ball with 0.1 left on the clock.

Morrissette was happy to have airballed after she had received a Purdue inbound with 4.1 seconds left.

“First one of the year,” laughed Morrissette, who finished with 10 points in her last regular-season game in Mackey. “If it hadn’t have been an airball, we would still be playing right now. I’m just thankful that Keys is always doing the things that we need. It’s all in the details and she’s always doing it.”

Purdue (19-11 overall, 10-6 in the Big Ten) finishes fourth in the Big Ten, getting the No. 5 seed in the conference tournament. The Boilermakers will play the winner of No. 12 Illinois and No. 13 Nebraska at approximately 2:30 p.m. Thursday.

The Boilermakers led the Wildcats (19-10, 8-8) by 11 with three minutes left in the third quarter, but endured a six-minute scoreless drought. And a 15-0 run put Northwestern up 49-45 with less than eight minutes to go in the game.

“I thought we defended well,” NU coach Joe McKeown said. “We got back and defended their transition. We were able to take away the paint, not let them get inside deep, where they had hurt us a little bit, especially in the first half. I felt like we did everything we wanted to do during that stretch.”

But Bridget Perry’s fastbreak layup at 7:02 woke up the Boilermakers, perhaps Dominique Oden in particular. The freshman guard, who hadn’t made a three-pointer since Feb. 11 — she was 0-of-11 in the previous three games — got rolling. Oden hit a triple from the deep right corner, then she hit another from the left wing, giving Purdue a 55-54 lead with 3:30 remaining.

“It was mostly a mental things the past two games, because I got in the gym and I shot and thought, ‘Man, all these are going in,’” said Oden, who scored 11 with three triples. “I felt like once it went in in a game, it was just going to open up.”

But Oden’s biggest play might have come two minutes later, when she darted into a passing lane, stealing the ball and racing up-court for a layup that cut Purdue’s deficit to two.

“They had run that play the whole game, but we hadn’t gone for the steal before, so I knew she was going to be lax with the pass,” Oden said. “So I just went for it.”

After a stop, Keys tied the game at the line with 56.4 seconds left. Then, Purdue stopped a Lauren Douglas drive, setting up the final sequence.

Purdue was looking to set up Morrissette, who had started well, hitting her first three shots, but cooled dramatically, making only one of her final 12. But she got a shot up from about 15-feet on the left baseline, a ball that didn’t draw iron but found Keys.

“From my view — I had sort of a side view — I didn’t know (if her shot was in time),” Morrissette said. “I thought it was really close, but I guess everyone knew but me that it went in. So I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, come on. Come on.’ And I went crazy after that.”

The Boilermakers, who led 33-25 at the half, shot nearly 43 percent from the field, with 15 turnovers. Nine of those were Morrissette’s, but the veteran also had 10 points, five assists and three steals. Perry, also playing her last regular-season game in Mackey, had seven points and six boards. Keys led Purdue with 13 points and nine rebounds, one on the offensive end.

“It’s Keys’ senior day today,” Morrissette said, giving credit to the junior. “I’m incredibly grateful for them. They really stepped up and I appreciate it because there’s no better way to go out than with a win on your senior day.”

Northwestern, which was led by 23 points from Douglas and 19 from Nia Coffey, shot 37.3 percent.

The Boilermakers have won four straight games headed to the Big Ten Tournament, feeling like they’ve got solid momentum.

“We’ll get to play the first game (on Thursday), and we can’t take that team for granted,” Keys said, “but get a win and then have momentum and hopefully play IU, (the fourth seed), and get revenge.”

Membership Information: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2017. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.