Feb. 25, 2010
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - No. 25 Michigan State defeated Purdue 79-64 on senior night in Mackey Arena. It was the first home conference loss for the Boilermakers, giving them an 8-1 record at home in the Big Ten this season.
Purdue's three seniors, Jodi Howell, Laura Garriga and FahKara Malone, were all in the starting lineup, the 10th combination of the year for head coach Sharon Versyp.
Alex Guyton had a career night, scoring 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting and tying her career best for rebounds with nine. For the first time this season, Purdue had four players score in the double digits - KK Houser led Purdue with 13 points, Brittany Rayburn and FahKara Malone scored 11 each and Guyton had 10.
Michigan State rushed out to a 7-0 lead and then pushed it to 13-7. Purdue was scoreless for the first 3:48, until Rayburn hit a pair of free throws. The Boilermakers battled back to get within two points on several occasions, but only managed one tie and never led in the contest.
Purdue started the second half with 18-9 run to cut the lead to three points at the 11:08 mark. Rayburn hit a three-pointer, her only field goal of the night, at the 7:13 mark of the second period to bring Purdue within two at 58-56.
Michigan State junior Kalisha Keane answered with back-to-back three-pointers and a steal and layup to push Michigan State's lead back to eight. Keane scored a game-high 27 points, including hitting 4-of-8 threes. She also dished out three assists and had three steals.
Purdue dropped to 14-14 overall and 9-8 in the Big Ten with one conference game to play in the regular season, at Michigan on Sunday, Feb. 28. After the lone matchup against Michigan, Purdue heads to Big Ten Tournament from March 4 to 7 in Indianapolis.