Jan 25, 2004
By STEVE HERMAN
AP Sports Writer
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) - The more physical Indiana's defense tried to be on Shereka Wright, the more effective she was for Purdue.
Wright scored 22 points, including Purdue's first nine of the second half, and the eighth-ranked Boilermakers pulled away to a 71-47 victory over the Hoosiers on Sunday.
"Being aggressive was the whole thing," Wright said. "We set good screens and I had an opportunity to get easy baskets."
Indiana led by five points early, stayed close to Purdue (16-2, 5-1 Big Ten) through the rest of the opening period and trailed 33-27 after two free throws by Jenny DeMuth at the start of the second half.
But Wright scored and was fouled on Purdue's next two possessions, completing the three-point play both times for a 39-27 lead. Indiana (10-8, 3-4) came no closer than nine points after that.
"We picked up our intensity on our defense. In the first half, we were allowing them to get easy passes on the wing and weren't playing great defense on them," Wright said. "In the second half, we got our hands up to get some deflections and I think that keyed the whole offense."
Wright hit one of two free throws and another basket, and Erin Lawless had eight points in the next three minutes to push Purdue's lead to 18 midway through the half. The final score, after another six straight points by Lawless, marked the biggest lead of the game.
"It was aggressive out there," Purdue coach Kristy Curry said. "Shereka took an elbow to the eye. The more you bump her, the harder she goes. But it's OK. It's Big Ten basketball."
The victory was Purdue's 12th in its last 13 games against Indiana. The Hoosiers' only win was an upset in the 2002 Big Ten tournament.
Lawless added 18 points for Purdue and freshman Katie Gearlds finished with 13.
Cyndi Valentin led the Hoosiers with 15 points and DeMuth added 12.
"We had a little more energy in the first half. Purdue made great adjustments at halftime and took us out of the game," Indiana coach Kathi Bennett said. "We just could not handle that.
"Cyndi and Jenny are the two that have led us all season, and Purdue did a good job guarding them," Bennett said.
Indiana hit its first five shots and took an 11-6 lead in the first three minutes of the game Sunday. The Hoosiers managed only one basket over the next six minutes, however, and led for the last time at 20-18 on a 3-pointer by Annika Boyd.
Wright then scored seven points in a 9-0 run that put Purdue ahead for good.
Baskets by Gearlds and Lawless gave the Boilermakers their biggest lead of the half, 31-21. Indiana cut the lead to six points with two free throws by DeMuth and a basket by Valentin, but a rebound basket by Emily Heikes at the buzzer gave Purdue a 33-25 halftime lead.
"What Purdue did in the second half, we didn't handle any of the pressure," Bennett said. "We didn't fight like we normally fight, and that was very disappointing."