Women's Basketball: Maryland 77, Purdue 74
Purdue women’s basketball dropped a 77-74 heart-breaker against No. 20 Maryland at Mackey Arena Thursday night.
Purdue entered Thursday’s tilt against Maryland winning its last three, all over Power 5 opponents after suffering the first loss of the season in Cancun. The Boilermakers fall to 8-2 with the losses coming by a combined four points.
The Boilermakers looked like they were going to let a shaky second half against Michigan State last time out impact them tonight. Purdue was scoreless through the first two and a half minutes with four turnovers. However, Maryland was held to 0-5 shooting during that time.
Purdue’s scorers then caught fire in the opening quarter. Lasha Petree and Abbey Ellis combined for 17 of the Boilermakers’ 23 points to start the game. Those two led the way for Purdue, who was a scorching 71% from the field. The Terrapins were able to stay in it after forcing 7 Purdue turnovers in the quarter, which has been the achilles heel of the team in recent games.
The fast starting Boilermakers cooled off a bit in the second quarter, starting just 3-11 from the field. After Maryland slowed down the pace with a zone, Purdue wasn’t able to get much going offensively. Cassidy Hardin knocked down a three to stop a three minute skid without a field goal in the middle of the quarter.
Purdue’s defense held up against the potent Maryland offense, keeping the Terrapins’ leading scorer Diamond Miller in check in the first half. Despite not scoring as they are used to, Maryland had a counter for every Purdue bucket and kept things close throughout the half.
A key layup by Caitlyn Harper helped the Boilermakers go into the break holding a three point lead.
Coming out of halfltime, both teams picked up the pace again. They traded baskets for the first couple of minutes, each hitting two three pointers before things slowed down again.
Starting at the 7:24 mark of the third quarter, Purdue and Maryland went three minutes without a field goal between them. Abbey Ellis snapped the drought with a pull up jumper with 4:06 left in the quarter to give Purdue a 7 point lead.
The Terrapins once again answered the bell and went on a quick run of their own. Maryland got the lead down to just two before an Ava Learn offensive rebound led to a pair from the free throw line to give Purdue a four point game heading into the fourth quarter.
Purdue again shot over 70% from the field, going 7-10 overall and 3-4 from three point range. Defensively, they could not keep the Terrapins contained long enough to get out to a sizable lead. To their credit, Maryland’s playmakers found ways to get to the basket and keep things within reach.
A fourth quarter collapse Monday in East Lansing was fresh on Purdue’s mind coming into the game tonight. While the Boilermakers did not hold a big lead, the crunch time troubles were present again.
Maryland jumped out to a 7-2 run in the first three minutes to take its first lead since late in the first quarter. The Terrapins were starting to shift the momentum in their favor, leading by four with 4:44 left in the game.
Abbey Ellis scored 8 straight points in a minute to stop a 4 minute long stretch without a field goal for the Boilermakers as they took a four point lead of their own.
Maryland scored five straight to take the lead back before a Lasha Petree free throw tied things up at 74-74. The Boilermakers got a stop and Katie Gearlds called timeout with 34 seconds remaining in the game.
Jeanae Terry drove and tried to kick the ball out to Madison Layden, who mishandled it to give Maryland a chance to win with just 6 seconds left.
Maryland's Shyanne Sellers then hit a three as time expired to take down the Boilermakers in Mackey Arena. Purdue had two fouls to give, but a miscommunication did not let them take one with Sellers one on one with Abbey Ellis. Sellers rose up and connected to give Maryland a thrilling win in West Lafayette.