Women's Basketball: Purdue 62, No. 22 Illinois 52
Purdue women's basketball picked up its biggest win of the season with a 62-52 upset victory over No. 22 Illinois in Champaign Thursday night.
The Boilermakers continued their dominance over Illinois, securing the 65th win in 84 games over the series' history. Purdue also holds a record of 22-2 since 2010-2011.
Purdue won its first road game over a ranked opponent since beating No. 10 Maryland in 2018.
Seniors Abbey Ellis and Lasha Petree got things going early, scoring the first 10 points for the Boilermakers. Ellis had six points on a pair of three-pointers, while Petree hit her first two shots to give Purdue a 10-5 lead halfway through the first quarter.
Abbey Ellis continued to provide a spark offensively for the Boilermakers, securing her 10th double-figure game of the season in the first half alone. She finished with a team-high 16 points on 6-9 shooting in the win.
Purdue's defense shined in the first half against the fifth-highest-scoring team in the conference. Illinois shot just 4-17 from the field as a team in the first quarter, while Purdue held Adalia McKenzie and Kendall Bostic scoreless. The duo combines for over 25 points per game on the season.
The Boilermakers also capitalized off of Illinois' mistakes, scoring five points on four turnovers by the Illini. In the final seconds of the first quarter, Kendall Bostic tipped the ball into her own hoop to give Purdue a five-point lead after 10 minutes. That play summed up the Illinois performance tonight.
Purdue came out in the second quarter and turned up the heat in State Farm Arena. The Boilermakers shot 60% from the field in the quarter, led by Abbey Ellis and Caitlyn Harper, who combined for 10 points.
Caitlyn Harper got the best of her All-Big Ten counterpart, Kendall Bostic, in the first half. Harper scored 8 points on 4-6 shooting and used her post moves to beat the Big Ten's leading shot blocker. Bostic was held to two points in the first half.
Harper finished with 10 points and four rebounds, while Bostic posted one of her lowest scoring outputs of the season with five points.
The Illini's scoring struggles continued in the second quarter as Purdue's lead grew from five to 10 heading into halftime. Purdue allowed just 28.6% shooting in the first 20 minutes.
Illinois had momentum out of the break, cutting the 10-point deficit to five less than two minutes into the half before Abbey Ellis and Cassidy Hardin scored to bring the lead back to 9.
Jeanae Terry also put her former team on notice in the third quarter. The former Illini guard scored 6 of her ten total points in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Terry nearly had a double-double in the second half alone and finished with 10 points, 14 rebounds, and four assists on the night.
Led by the senior guard, the Boilermakers were able to extend the lead to 12 heading into the fourth quarter.
Purdue also dominated the Illini on the boards, out-rebounding their opponent 11-6 in the third quarter and 40-31 for the game. Illinois came into the game leading the Big Ten in rebounding margin this season. The Boilermakers surrendered only 8-second chance points on 11 offensive rebounds for the game.
The Boilermakers opened up their lead to as many as 14 early in the fourth quarter, but the Illini had one last charge in them. Makira Cook and Illinois cut the Purdue lead to 8 before a Caitlyn Harper layup put the game out of reach. Purdue hit five free throws to put the final nail in the coffin.
A trend of fourth-quarter struggles was snapped in Champaign as the Boilermakers finished strong to close out their biggest win over the year.
Purdue picks up a big win to secure back-to-back wins for the first time in over a month when the Boilermakers beat Illinois State and Texas A&M in consecutive games. The win brings Purdue to 14-6 on the season and 4-4 in Big Ten play this season.
Katie Gearlds' group brings momentum into their big-time matchups with No. 2 Ohio State and No. 6 Indiana over the next two games. Purdue will travel to Columbus to take on the first-place Buckeyes on Sunday.