Freshman Andreona Keys had seven points and three rebounds on Thursday.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's basketball team suffered a 59-49 loss at the hands of 22nd-ranked visiting Rutgers on Thursday at Mackey Arena, falling to 10-11 overall and 3-7 in Big Ten Conference play. The Boilermakers have lost six of their last seven outings, including their last three contests at home.
It was slow-going from the get-go for the Old Gold and Black, going scoreless for the first three and a half minutes and missing their first eight shots from the field. After falling into an 11-1 hole to start, they got things going and tie things up, 15-15. Another 7-0 run for the Scarlet Knights put them back out and front, but the Boilermakers managed to close the gap to four, 26-22, as they went to the locker rooms.
Purdue mounted an attack in the second half, giving up the first bucket before scoring eight straight and taking their first and only lead of the game, 30-28. Similar to the first-half rally, Rutgers answered with a 6-0 run to regain the lead and never really looked back. The Scarlet Knights slowly extended their lead to as many as 11 points in the second half, converting 54.2 percent of their shots after halftime and improving to 15-5 overall and 6-3 in the Big Ten.
Senior Whitney Bays led the Boilermakers with 16 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Ashley Morrissette had 11 points. Purdue shot just 34 percent from the floor (17-50), marking their season-low for scoring and matching their season-low with just 17 made field goals.
Junior Kahleah Copper paced the Scarlet Knights with 21 points and eight rebounds, while classmate Betnijah Laney had 18 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Purdue returns to action on Monday, heading to intrastate rival Indiana for an 8:30 p.m. (ET) tip at Assembly Hall, live on the Big Ten Network.