Women's Basketball: No. 12 Iowa 83, Purdue 68
Purdue women’s basketball suffered a lopsided 83-68 loss to No. 12 Iowa on Thursday night.
The Boilermakers traveled to Iowa City for their toughest test of the season but were not able to pass. Purdue falls to 10-3 on the season and 1-2 in Big Ten play to close out the 2022 calendar.
Early in the game, Purdue had its chance to set the tone as Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes got out to a mediocre start after Clark started the game going 1-4 from the field. Caitlyn Harper had five early points as the Boilermakers tied things up with 3:19 to play in the first quarter.
Iowa then started to heat up and closed the first quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 20-12 lead into the second quarter. Purdue was held to just 5-18 shooting in the quarter and couldn’t keep up with the frantic pace of the Hawkeyes.
Purdue could not contain one of the best players in the country as Clark scored 17 of her game-high 24 points in the first half, along with four assists.
Every time Purdue went on a surge, Iowa had an answer. A Madison Layden jumper made it an 11-point game early in the second quarter as Purdue looked to climb back into things. The Hawkeyes then closed the half on a 13-3 run and extended their lead to as much as 24 points.
The Boilermakers had their worst half of the season as they shot a season-low 25% from the field and went 3-15 from three-point range. Iowa also had seven offensive rebounds, converting them into nine second-chance points to Purdue’s 0.
Katie Gearlds was as animated as we have ever seen as she addressed the team before going into the locker room at halftime.
Purdue responded to Gearlds coming out of the break and played quite well. Led by seven points by Cassidy Hardin and five points from Lasha Petree, the Boilermakers outscored Iowa 21-14 in the third quarter and shot 47% from the field. During that third quarter, Purdue went on a 13-3 run to close the game to 11.
Like they did in the first half, the Hawkeyes responded with a run of their own to bring the lead back up to 20 early in the fourth quarter. Purdue could not slow the Iowa attack down as the Hawkeyes finished strong to close the game. Iowa was 4-7 from the field and converted 10-12 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter.
Lasha Petree led Purdue in scoring for the 8th time this season, scoring 22 points, but doing so on 6-18 shooting. Petree has shot just 25% from the field over her last two games. Cassidy Hardin and Caitlyn Harper were the two other Boilermakers to score in double-figures tonight.
Coming into the game, Purdue was 8th nationally in shooting percentage at 49.4%. Iowa held the Boilermakers to only 34.7% shooting for the game, a season-low. Purdue set a previous season low in shooting percentage last time out against Texas A&M.
Purdue has a quick turnaround as Wisconsin will travel to West Lafayette on New Year’s Day. The Badgers are 4-10 this season, which is the worst in the Big Ten at this point of the season. The Boilermakers will need to regroup and reload as conference play gets in full swing in 2023.