Women's basketball - Purdue snaps skid, beats Illinois 77-72 in overtime
The losing streak is finally over in West Lafayette. Purdue women's basketball notched its first win since January 2nd, surviving an overtime thriller against Illinois 77-72 on Monday night. The end of the month long losing streak also marked a history for the Boilermakers, who secured their 500th win inside Mackey Arena as a program.
Illinois could not have come to town at a better time for Purdue, who has now won seven straight at home against the Illini.
It was a struggle to start Monday night in Mackey Arena, as both sides struggled offensively through the opening few minutes of the game. Caitlyn Harper and Mary Ashley Stevenson did give Purdue an early 4-0 lead before the Boilermakers missed five consecutive shots. After Illinois took a 7-6 lead with 4:21 to play, Purdue found its groove.
Purdue went on a 10-2 run over the last 3:19 of the first quarter, taking a 14-7 lead and holding Illinois without a field goal for over four minutes in the process. The Boilermakers' increased usage of zone defense proved to stifle the Illini attack, which shot just 3-15 from the field in the opening ten minutes of play.
The masked Mary Ashley Stevenson enjoyed early success in the opening quarter, scoring six points in the first ten minutes. The other half of Purdue's front court tandem, Caitlyn Harper, also pitched in four points of her own.
Stevenson and Harper led the charge as Purdue dominated on the interior, outscoring Illinois 14-2 in points in the paint through ten minutes of play.
That success bled into the second quarter as Purdue outscored Illinois 8-3 to start the second period, extending the lead to a game-high 12 points at the 5:43 mark. The start was led by a pair of buckets by Caitlyn Harper in the early going.
Illinois did mount a brief surge in the middle of the quarter, cutting the deficit to eight, but points were still hard to come by for Illinois. Halfway through the period, Illinois had five turnovers to just four made field goals.
Despite finding their footing for a moment, Illinois was unable to make much of a dent in Purdue's lead as Abbey Ellis knocked down the first three of the night for the Boilermakers with 2:32 to play in the first half. The triple gave the Boilermakers a 13-point advantage late in the half. Purdue wound up taking a 33-22 lead into the break.
Stevenson and Harper were behind the successful first half, both scoring eight points for the Boilermakers. Jeanae Terry, playing her former team, chipped in six points to go along with seven assists and five rebounds in the first two quarters as well.
The Boilermakers' defensive pressure was key in building the halftime lead, holding Illinois to just 26% shooting in the first 20 minutes of play and forcing seven turnovers.
Illinois guard Adalia McKenzie got going coming out of halftime as the Illini mounted a comeback bid in the third quarter. After a three-point play by Caitlyn Harper, Illinois (led by McKenzie) went on a 5-0 run that was immediately stopped by a 5-0 from Madison Layden.
The Layden-led charge turned into a 10-3 run by the Boilermakers, seven points of which came from the sharpshooting senior. That stretch gave Purdue a 46-32 lead at the 5:51 mark of the third quarter.
The Illini came back with another burst, however, outscoring the Boilermakers 12-2 across a three and a half minute span. A Gretchen Dolan three cut the Purdue lead to only four with just over two minutes to play in the quarter.
Purdue leveled things out with a pair of layups from Stevenson and Layden in the final minute of the quarter, taking an eight point lead into the final frame.
McKenzie poured in nine points in the third quarter to help the Illini cut into the deficit, while Kendall Bostic also had five points to help in the efforts as well. Purdue had a response in the form of Madison Layden though, who scored ten points to fend off the Illini.
After Bostic got a pair of layups to fall at the start of the fourth quarter, Purdue found some success getting to the free throw line to build back the lead. The Boilermakers made five free throws to go along with a Mary Ashley Stevenson layup to go on a 7-0 run and maintain a 13-point lead at the 5:57 mark of the quarter.
Illinois had yet another run in them, scoring nine straight to get back within four points with 3:37 to play. The run was kickstarted by Bostic and capped off by four straight points from Makira Cook.
Stevenson stopped the bleeding momentarily, knocking down two free throws 30 seconds later. Following a sequence that included five offensive rebounds for the Illini, Jeanae Terry hit another free throw to give the Boilermakers a seven point lead with 1:39 to go.
Genesis Bryant responded with just her second field goal of the night, a three that brought the Illini back within four. That preceded buckets from Kendall Bostic and Adalia McKenzie as Illinois tied the game at 64 with nine seconds to play.
Jeanae Terry's attempt at a game-winner was swatted away in the closing seconds, sending the game to overtime after Purdue had led by 13 just five minutes earlier. The Boilermakers went over six minutes without a made field goal in the quarter, shooting just 2-16 from the field, compared to 8-18 by Illinois.
Despite heading into the overtime period on the wrong side of the momentum pendulum, Mary Ashley Stevenson and the Boilermakers weathered the storm in the early going. Stevenson had a layup and a pair of free throws in the first 65 seconds to give the Boilermakers a 68-67 edge.
Makira Cook responded shortly thereafter, getting a layup to drop to take back the lead for the Illini. Madison Layden then ended a two minute scoring drought for Purdue, giving the Boilermakers a 70-69 lead after a layup of her own with 1:36 to play.
Caitlyn Harper followed up the Layden layup with a huge three with less than a minute left, extending Purdue's lead to four. After a key stop on the defensive end, Madison Layden knocked down two free throws with under 20 seconds left, which ultimately iced the game for the Boilermakers in overtime.
Purdue got enough stops down the stretch to sneak out of Mackey Arena with a much needed victory over the Illini.
Mary Ashley Stevenson nearly single-handedly kept the Boilermakers afloat for most of the night, including the fourth quarter, as the freshman forward scored a career-high 25 points to go along with nine rebounds. Stevenson, who is set for nose surgery tomorrow morning. had 13 points in the fourth quarter and overtime to help keep Purdue alive.
Caitlyn Harper and Madison Layden both came up big down the stretch as well, scoring 16 and 14 points respectively in the overtime victory. Harper knocked down the key three in overtime and Layden had 14 points across the fourth quarter and overtime.
The swiss-army-knife that is Jeanae Terry also turned in another impressive performance against her former team with nine points, nine rebounds and 14 assists. Her assists mark was a season-high for the fifth-year senior.
Purdue will look to parlay the big win into some late season success, starting with a trip to Bloomington on Sunday afternoon against the 14th ranked Indiana Hoosiers.