Women's Basketball: Purdue 73, Wisconsin 61
Purdue women's basketball started the new year with a 73-61 win over Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon.
The Boilermakers bounced back after a lopsided loss to Iowa on Thursday night. The win moves them to 11-3 on the season and 2-2 through four conference games.
Katie Gearlds made a change to the lineup by inserting Jayla Smith into the starting five and bringing both Abbey Ellis and Madison Layden off the bench today.
Purdue got off to a hot start against the struggling Badgers after having slow starts in the last few games. Caitlyn Harper's eight first-quarter points powered the Boilermakers at the start of the game. Harper was the driving force offensively in the first half, scoring all 13 of her points before halftime.
Against Iowa, Purdue shot 25% from the field in the opening quarter but improved on that this afternoon. The Boilermakers were 10/20 from the floor and outscored Wisconsin by 11. It looked to be a big confidence boost for this team.
After leading by one at the 4:01 mark of the first quarter, Purdue showed their ability to have a high-powered offense. The Boilermakers went on a 14-0 run spanning nearly 9 minutes of game time into the second quarter. Senior Rickie Woltman came up big in the run, scoring all six of her points during the surge.
However, Purdue couldn't keep the Badgers down for long as a rough second quarter allowed Wisconsin to claw back into the game. The Boilermakers turned the ball over eight times and allowed 58.3 shooting in the quarter to see their lead shrink. Wisconsin was able to cut the lead all the way down to 6 to close out the first half.
Those rocky times continued as Purdue struggled out of the break, giving Wisconsin a chance to take the lead several times.
Sophomore Ava Learn then saved the day for the Boilermakers by catching fire in the third quarter and revitalizing the Purdue offense.
The reserve forward had 10 of the team's 14 third-quarter points. Aside from Learn's 4-4 shooting in the quarter, the Boilermakers were a combined 1-10, with the only basket being a Lasha Petree three. Coming into today's game, Learn was averaging less than 4 points per game this season.
The Purdue lead was down to one with 1:56 to play in the third quarter, but a 7-2 run pushed the lead back to six heading into the final period.
Learn's third-quarter performance gave the Boilermakers a second wind for the home stretch. Purdue picked up the pace in the fourth quarter and asserted their dominance on Wisconsin.
Lasha Petree led the way in scoring, with 13 of her game-high 18 points coming in the fourth quarter. Purdue shot 67% from the field and was 9-12 from the free-throw line to close things out.
In a game that saw Abbey Ellis and Madison Layden combine for 6 points on 1-8 shooting, Ava Learn and Lasha Petree came up big in the second half to lead the Boilermakers to a much-needed win.
The Boilermakers also capitalized on their opponent's miscues by forcing 26 Wisconsin turnovers and turning them into 30 points on the day.
Today's victory was much needed for the Boilermakers after a pair of games that saw the team struggle mightily on offense. Katie Gearlds and Purdue are set to travel to Penn State to take on an underrated Nittany Lions team that is 10-4 on the season.