March 1, 2002
By DAN GELSTON
Associated Press Writer
INDIANAPOLIS - Purdue coach Kristy Curry saw her concern over a sluggish first half slowly evaporate as Shereka Wright became more aggressive.
Wright scored 20 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and made the game-winning free throws as No. 7 Purdue beat Michigan 74-67 in overtime Friday in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten women's tournament.
"Michigan was more aggressive and took it to us," Curry said of the first half. "Once we got into overtime, I never saw any doubt that we would win."
Wright followed a Michigan basket with a 3-point play 30 seconds into overtime to give Purdue, the tournament's first seed, a 64-63 lead.
The Boilermakers (23-4) scored the next four points and never trailed by fewer than three. They advance to Sunday's semifinal against Indiana, which beat Iowa 78-76 in overtime.
The Boilermakers have beaten Indiana twice this year, 61-53 in Bloomington and 79-55 in West Lafayette.
Wright scored five points on only two shots in the first half before recovering to shoot 50 percent from the floor and making 10 of 12 free throws.
"We didn't play aggressively in the first half," Wright said. "I was just being patient. It's not a one-person team. Everybody's a scorer. I was just waiting my turn."
Mary Jo Noon scored 15 points, Kelly Komara had 14 and Laura Meadows 13 for Purdue, in the semifinals for the fifth straight year.
"Our intensity picked up in the last couple of minutes," Curry said.
The Wolverines (18-12) seems poised to pull off the upset. They led 52-47 with 9:06 to go on a basket by Jennifer Smith. Smith led Michigan with 22 points and 10 rebounds, but she would not score another field goal. Her only other points came on two free throws with 40 seconds left in overtime.
Still, he had her sixth double-double and reached 20 points for the fourth time this season and second in two games. Smith scored 46 points and had 19 rebounds in the tournament.
"We had a lack of communication in certain points of the game," she said. "We left some of their players open and they hit shots and got offensive rebounds.
The Boilermakers outrebounded Michigan 43-36, as Komara added nine and Meadows had six.
Michigan clung to its five-point lead with three minutes to go, when Noon scored in the low post and Meadows made a basket to make it 61-60. Meadows was fouled on the play and missed the free throw. A lane violation on Michigan gave Meadows another chance and she capitalized, tying the game at 61.
Neither team would score again in the final two minutes. Purdue had the final possession, but Meadows missed a jumper. Wright grabbed the rebound, but as she went up for the basket she collided with Noon, knocking her to the floor as time expired.
Stephanie Gandy scored 12 points and Alayne Ingram and LeeAnn Bies each had 11 for Michigan.
Michigan went on a 16-7 second-half run to turn a 32-24 halftime deficit into a 52-47 lead.
Michigan coach Sue Guevara said poor shot selection hurt down the stretch. The Wolverines shot 45 percent in the first half and 37 percent in the second.
"We were coming off screens and instead of taking a shot, we tried to get it inside," she said. "They did a good job of doubling inside."
Purdue won its first overtime game of the season and improved to 14-5 in tournament history.
Three of the five tournament games have gone into overtime.