Purdue women's basketball runs through Wisconsin
WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue women's basketball weaponized its man to man defense and utilized pressure to overwhelm Wisconsin at Mackey Arena on Saturday night.
Double teams were set and springs were trapped by the Boilermakers who flowed back and forth being man and the passing lanes to create confusion and chaos within Wisconsin's offense.
Then came the shooting barrage that was unquenchable for Purdue who had heard enough about its lack of consistency on offense.
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Purdue jumped to a 10-1 run in the opening three minutes and never trailed.
Senior Caitlyn Harper led five players who hit double digits with 16 points and Purdue boiled through Wisconsin 89-50. Madison Layden scored 14 points, Jeanet Terry and Mary Ashley Stevenson each had 13 points and senior Abbey Ellis added 12 points.
Purdue showed zero signs of a holiday hangover after playing 10 days ago against Indiana State.
A clear message was sent across the bows of the Big Ten Conference for Purdue (8-5, 1-1 Big Ten) heading into its Jan. 2 matchup against Rutgers at Mackey Arena.
Purdue executed in every facet, outrebounding Wisconsin 44-24 and forcing 22 turnovers while committing just 12. The Boilermakers were averaging 16.5 turnovers coming into Saturday.
"It was super important coming off break having those few days of practice and working on taking care of the ball and not giving up boards," Layden said. "Those were two main focuses for this game."
Purdue scored its most points against Wisconsin since beating the Badgers 82-79 in overtime on March 2, 2007. Saturday marked the largest victory against a Big Ten opponent since beating Nebraska 88-45 on Jan. 26, 2017.
It was over when
Purdue took advantage of Wisconsin not having leading scorer and 6-4 center Serah Williams who went out with an injury during its eighth offensive possession midway through the first quarter.
Stevenson came down the floor and missed a three but was rebounded by Terry. Terry passed to Ellis who missed another 3-pointer but the energy and effort persisted.
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Purdue came away with five offensive rebounds later and Stevenson scored a right-handed layup at the 4:40 mark.
The bucket gave Purdue the lead 14-3 and continued to sink shots both inside and outside.
"It's the start of Big Ten play and you have to come out and play as hard as you can," Layden said. "So that was a main focus was to get those offensive rebounds."
Game ball goes to: Jeanae Terry
Terry was looking for her shot early and added another layer of offense for Purdue. She drained a pair of mid range shots, was an aggressive rebounder and was involved in deflecting passes.
Terry finished the night with 13 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, just shy of a triple double.
"I have conversations with Coach (Gearlds) and Coach (Kelly Komara) all the time to just look and see where I can score the basketball and what spots are available for me," Terry said. "That's what I wanted to come out and do tonight and just being aggressive."
Looking ahead
Purdue will host Rutgers, a program that has lost four straight games and fell to Northwestern 77-70 on Saturday.
Rutgers is led by sophomore guard Kaylene Smikle (16.1 points per game, 5.1 rebounds per game, 40% shooting) and 6-3 forward Destiny Adams (12.1 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game, 53.3% shooting).
Ethan Hanson started working for the Journal & Courier in West Lafayette, Indiana after four years at the Record Searchlight in Redding, CA. He previously freelanced with the Los Angeles Daily News for four years. Follow him on Twitter at @EthanAHansonand ethan_a_hanson on Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue women's basketball beats Wisconsin 89-50
