Dec 15, 2001
By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - Erika Valek wasn't about to let Purdue's seven-game winning streak end without a fight.
Valek scored 18 of her career-high 21 points in the second half, rallying No. 7 Purdue from a seven-point halftime deficit, as the Boilermakers beat California-Santa Barbara 82-67.
"The second half, from the very tip, she said we were going to win this," Purdue coach Kristy Curry said. "She was the difference in the second half, everyone fed off of Erika Valek."
Valek, a sophomore guard who hadn't scored more than nine points in a game all season and who was shooting just 58.3 percent from the free-throw line, turned the game around.
She opened the half with two 3-pointers and closed the game by hitting all 10 of her free-throw attempts, most coming in the closing minutes when the Gauchos (3-4) were fouling in an effort to get back into the game.
Valek said the difference was her motivation.
"Their coach had a quote about how they were so motivated last year that they thought they could beat us last year, and that they felt that, with finals being over, they weren't going to need a plane going back," Valek said.
"I said 'You know, I'm not going to just sit here and let them walk away with it and not do anything about it.' "
Valek proved true to her word.
After a dismal first half performance in which the Boilermakers (8-1) managed to shoot just 29.2 percent from the floor, Valek asserted herself.
Just 1:14 into the second half, Valek hit her second 3-pointer of the game. Thirty-nine seconds later, Valek hit another 3.
Then she came up with a steal and drove in for a layup, getting the Boilermakers within 45-39.
Her teammates took the cue.
Mary Jo Noon put in a 3-footer, Shereka Wright hit a 4-footer and Beth Jones followed with a 3-pointer to give Purdue a 46-45 edge. Before Kayte Christensen could end the Purdue spurt with 9:23 to go, the Boilermakers had run off 19 straight points and had a 56-45 lead.
Noon finished with 16 points, 12 in the second half, and Wright added 14 points. Christensen scored 16 points for the Gauchos. California-Santa Barbara was led by Kristen Mann, who came off the bench to score 20 points and grab 15 rebounds.
"We tried to anticipate what they were going to do," Gauchos coach Mark French said, referring to Purdue's adjustments. "We thought they'd penetrate more, we thought they'd take it inside more and they did."
The results, however, were very different.
In the first half, Valek and her teammates struggled to do much of anything. They opened the game on a 7-0 run, then watched the Gauchos roll off 11 straight points and break a 13-all tie with a 12-0 spurt.
By halftime, the Boilermakers had just seven baskets while California-Santa Barbara held a 36-29 lead, but also had three starters with three fouls.
Curry kept her halftime speech simple.
"There's a point in time, where they can't always rely on me for their energy and enthusiasm," she said. "I just took the stat sheet, tore it up and said it was over."
Valek understood the message.
She reflected on the comments she'd heard, then made sure she wouldn't have to think about them again.
"We came out and hit a lot of 3s and we had that in the back of our mind," Valek said of the comment. "We were going to give them a plane so they could go back home."