Womens Basketball: Purdue 59, Texas A&M 53
On Wednesday afternoon, Purdue women's basketball picked up a 59-53 road win over Texas A&M.
The Boilermakers move to 10-2 on the season and have won back-to-back games since falling to Maryland at the buzzer on December 8th. Purdue is also 2-0 in true road games this season after beating Michigan State and Texas A&M.
Standout junior Madison Layden did not make the trip to College Station, missing her second consecutive game. After the Illinois State game, Katie Gearlds said Layden felt under the weather, but that was ten days ago. It is unclear what Layden's status is moving forward.
Purdue missed Layden's production and leadership to begin the game. The Boilermakers got off to another slow start offensively. Seniors Abbey Ellis and Caitlyn Harper were the only players to score in the first quarter for Purdue, as Harper had 7 and Ellis had 4.
Purdue shot 31% from the field in the quarter and was just 1-6 from three-point range.
It was more of the same in the second quarter for the Boilermakers, as they shot 31% from the field again. Cassidy Hardin came up big in the quarter to keep Purdue afloat. The fifth-year senior had 7 of the team's 15 points.
Texas A&M held leading scorer Lasha Petree to 3 points in the first half on just 1-8 shooting and a pair of turnovers. The trend of Purdue struggling when Petree is not scoring at her normal clip continued in College Station this afternoon.
Thanks to their defense, the Boilermakers held the lead throughout the first half. Purdue held the Aggies to 27.6% shooting from the field and 3-12 from three-point range. Purdue also forced 7 turnovers to keep Texas A&M to only 22 points for the half.
Hardin, Harper, and Ellis came up big in the half, scoring 7 points apiece to combine for 21 of Purdue's 26 total points. The Boilermakers took a 26-22 lead into halftime behind the trio's solid play.
Purdue turned a corner coming out of halftime in the Big Ten vs. SEC matchup. The two teams traded baskets for much of the third quarter before Purdue started surging.
It was a team effort in the third quarter, as every player who saw the floor. Purdue shot 53% from the field after making just 31% of their shots in the first half. Jayla Smith and Caitlyn Harper each scored 4 points in the quarter.
After a Sydney Bowles three-pointer to give Texas A&M the lead at the 2:45 mark of the third, the Boilermakers went on an 8-0 run to make it a 47-40 game early in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Jayla Smith was the catalyst of the run, scoring 6 points during the stretch for Purdue.
The Aggies responded with a 7-0 run of their own to tie the game at 47-47 before a Katie Gearlds timeout with five minutes to play. Purdue was held without a point for 3:39 during that time.
Caitlyn Harper essentially iced the game with a layup with less than a minute to go to put the Boilermakers up 54-49. Lasha Petree and Abbey Ellis made four free throws inside of the minute as Purdue coasted to a win. Purdue also held Texas A&M without a field goal for over three minutes before the Aggies hit a layup as time expired.
After struggling with turnovers in their last three games, Purdue coughed it up only 8 times on Wednesday. The Boilermakers averaged over 23 turnovers per game against Michigan State, Maryland, and Illinois State.
Caitlyn Harper led the way in scoring for Purdue with a team-high 15 points on 7-11 shooting. Abbey Ellis and Cassidy Hardin were the two other Boilermakers to score in double-figures with 11 and 13 points, respectively.
The Boilermakers will have a week off for the holidays before traveling to Iowa City to take on Caitlin Clark and the No. 13 Hawkeyes on December 29th.