Bays had 17 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of steals on Saturday.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's basketball team wrapped up its regular season on Saturday at Mackey Arena, falling to visiting Michigan State, 61-56. The Boilermakers connected on 43.8 percent from the field (21-48), and forced 20 Spartan turnovers, but committed 21 turnovers of their own and were outrebounded 40-28 as they drop to 10-19 overall and 3-15 in Big Ten Conference play.
The Boilermakers got off to a slow start, allowing Michigan State to lead by as many as eight points over the first 10 minutes, but were kept afloat by the tenacious play of sophomore Bridget Perry, who scored eight of her 14 points and grabbed a career-high four steals in the opening half. The Spartans took their biggest lead of the game, 29-90 on a triple by sophomore Tori Jankoska with two minutes to go in the half, but the Boilermakers ended the half on an 8-0 run, to cut the deficit to just one, 29-28, at the break.
Things went back-and-forth over the first seven minutes of the second half, and the Boilermakers took their first lead since the opening minutes on a Perry jumper, 37-36, with 13:13 to play. Michigan State answered with an 8-0 run to stretch the lead back to seven, where they held until the under-eight minute media timeout at 48-41. Drawing a couple fouls on the Spartan post players, the Boilermakers began pounding the ball inside, feeding seniors Whitney Bays and Liza Clemons, who drew several trips to the charity stripe and led Purdue all the way back to a 50-50 tie after a layup by junior guard April Wilson. After trading buckets to stay even at 52-52, the Boilermakers had two straight defensive stops, but couldn't take the lead on the offensive end. The Spartans took the lead for good on five straight points from Jankoska, and while back-to-back layups from Bays and Clemons cut the lead to one late in the game, 57-56, Wilson was unable to draw a foul late in regulation and Michigan State sealed up the game at the free throw line.
Bays turned in her 15th double-double of the year, increasing her Purdue single-season record, with 17 points and 10 boards, while Clemons joined her and Perry in double-figures with 11 points and three blocks. Jankoska paced Michigan State with a game-high 26 points, nine rebounds and five assists, while classmate Aerial Powers had 17 points and 17 rebounds. The Spartans improved to 15-14 overall and 7-11 in Big Ten Conference action.
Purdue will be the No. 14 seed in this week's Big Ten Tournament at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Ill., and will play an undetermined opponent Wednesday night at approximately 7:30 p.m. (CT). The game will air live on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.