Women's basketball - Purdue uses big second half to beat Southern 67-50

Purdue women's basketball got back in the win column with much of the 1999 National Championship team in attendance on Sunday evening, beating Southern 67-50 in Mackey Arena. Katie Gearlds and the Boilermakers dropped their season opener to UCLA last time out, but used a big second half to notch their first victory of the 2023-2024 season.

Purdue may have allowed its shooting woes from the previous outing against UCLA to seep into Sunday as the Boilermakers struggled offensively in the opening frame. Abbey Ellis did get things started on the first possession of the evening, scoring on a drive to the basket.

The Boilermakers then went two minutes without a score before Madison Layden caught fire. The senior guard was coming off a scoreless performance in the season opener, but quickly put that outing behind her. Layden connected with her first three pointer of the year at the 7:29 mark of the first quarter, which was the start of a hot streak for the Purdue wing.

Layden dropped seven points on her own in a stretch of just over a minute of game play on the heels of three by Southern's Taylor Williams to make it a 5-4 Purdue advantage. Jeanae Terry then knocked down a jumper to cap off Purdue's 7-0 run and giving Katie Gearlds group a 12-4 lead at the 5:22 mark of the first quarter.

That's when things started to go south for the Boilermakers' offense, however. Southern responded with a 6-0 spurt of its own, behind a pair of jumpers from Kyanna Morgan to cut the lead to two with just under 90 seconds to play.

Layden stopped the bleeding following the run, knocking down a pair of free throws before Sirviva Legions scored on the following possession. The Boilermakers had four turnovers in the quarter, which did not mix well with their shooting troubles.

Terry's jumper halfway through the first quarter was the last field goal the Boilermakers connected on in the opening ten minutes. Everyone outside of the sharp shooting Layden struggled to open the non-conference matchup, going 2-10 from the field while Layden was 3-3. Purdue took a 14-12 lead into the second frame.

Layden and Abbey Ellis, similar to the first quarter, got the scoring going in the second quarter, as Ellis hit a pair of free throws, followed by Layden's third three-pointer of the half. After a near three minute scoreless stretch, Caitlyn Harper had her first points of the day, getting a layup to go down at the halfway point of the quarter and making it a 21-13 game.

Unfortunately, the cold shooting came back shortly after. Harper's layup was the last field goal made by the Boilermakers for almost four minutes. During that stretch, Southern began to close the gap with a three pointer and free throw. Layden then hit a pair of free throws to stop a Southern run once again.

Both teams struggled heavily in the latter part of the second quarter, with Southern not making a field goal in the final 4:50 heading into halftime and the Boilermakers shooting just 3-16 in the frame.

Harper got another layup to go down with 1:46 to play in the opening 20 minutes, to give Purdue a 25-19 lead going into the break. The Jaguars' cold stretch gave Purdue an opportunity to expand the lead, but poor shooting stopped that from happening.

Both teams shot under 29% from the field through the first 20 minutes and each had seven turnovers. The Boilermakers also struggled on the glass for the second straight game, having a 21-19 advantage in that category in a game that it should have been a much bigger differential.

The opening five minutes of the second half brought a more aggressive and successful mindset for the Boilermakers offensively. Freshman Mary Ashley Stevenson kicked off the third quarter with a three-point play in the post.

The rookie forward got the nod for her first career start with the Boilermakers in place of Jayla Smith, who did not appear on Sunday despite being dressed. The aforementioned bucket was the start of a seven point third quarter.

Stevenson's bucket and free throw started a brief 5-0 run for the Boilermakers in the third quarter, which was capped off by a pair of Abbey Ellis free throws. Southern's Aleighyah Fontenot snapped the run with her first of two connections from three-point range before Madison Layden got going once again. She hit two free throws and a three in a 20 second span to give the Boilermakers a 13-point lead at the 6:59 mark of the quarter.

Layden eclipsed her season-high from a year ago of 16 in less than 20 minutes on Sunday in a breakout showing for the senior wing.

Aleighyah Fontenot knocked down another three from behind the arc before the Boilermakers went on an 8-1 run to get the lead to what was a then high 17 points behind the first three-pointer of Rashunda Jones' Purdue career. Southern did have another response in them, however, having an 8-3 run of their own after the Jones three.

Purdue threw a punch back on the feels of the Jaguars' run, closing the third quarter on a 9-4 run, which included five free throws. Free throw shooting was a constant despite offensive struggles in the first half as the Boilermakers were 21-26 (80.8%) from the charity stripe in the win.

After scoring just 25 across the first half in the home-opener, Purdue got that home cooking going in the third, dropping 30 on Southern to start the second half and got the lead to 18 points to start the final frame.

Abbey Ellis knocked down a jumper early in the fourth to expand the lead to that 18 point margin, but Southern still had some fight left in them. In the first three minutes of the final frame, Southern forced five Purdue turnovers, which has been the Achilles heel of the Boilermakers who finished with 21 on the day.

The ball security struggles allowed the Jaguars to tighten the lead and get back into Sunday's affair. Southern opened the fourth quarter outscoring the Boilermakers 10-4, cutting the once 18 point lead to just ten with 5:25 to play.

Mary Ashley Stevenson took the lid off the basket for Purdue just over a minute later, knocking down a jumper from the top of the key. Abbey Ellis then drew a charge to get the Boilermakers the ball right back, which then led to a technical foul on Southern's bench. Ellis was just 3-11 from the field, but made 7 of 9 attempts from the line as the team's second leading scorer behind Layden.

Purdue used that momentum to expand the lead behind a fourth quarter burst by Mary Ashley Stevenson, who dropped six points in the game's final four minutes as the Boilermakers extended the lead to 17 with an 8-1 run down the stretch. Stevenson finished with 13 points on 5-9 shooting and five rebounds in her first career start.

The Boilermakers coasted over the final two minutes en route to the 67-50 victory over Southern. Katie Gearlds and company will return to action on Thursday night in Mackey Arena when they host Texas A&M.