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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Opening Big Ten Conference play on the road for the seventh time in eight seasons, the Purdue women's basketball team dominated defensively in a 66-50 win at Ohio State. The win marked the fourth time the Boilermakers held an opponent to 50 or fewer points this season.
Purdue (10-3, 1-0) harassed the Buckeyes (7-5, 0-1) all afternoon on defense. The Boilermakers forced 19 turnovers, the second most by an opponent this season, and scored 22 points off Ohio State giveaways.
The hosts struggled to find any rhythm, shooting just 31.7% on the afternoon, with a 25% clip from distance. Ohio State's 50 points were 21.1 below its season average heading into Saturday. Karissa McLaughlin led the way with four steals, while five other Boilermakers recorded a takeaway.
Offensively, Purdue was 42.3% from the field with a quartet of makes from 3-point range. Kayana Traylor was 3-of-5 from the field and a perfect 6-for-6 at the free throw line to finish with a game-high 15 points. Seniors Ae'Rianna Harris and Dominique Oden totaled 12 points each.
The Boilermakers hit their stride out of the halftime break. Up by seven, the visitors outscored Ohio State by 10 in the frame, 23-13. Purdue shot 7-of-13 from the field and spread the wealth in the third with seven different players finding the scoreboard.
The stout defense helped fuel a dominant afternoon on the glass. Purdue outrebounded the Buckeyes 45-26, as 10 different Boilermakers hauled down a rebound. Tamara Farquhar and Oden led the visitors with eight boards. Ohio State managed just five second-chance points on nine offensive rebounds.
HITTING THE FREEBIESPurdue knocked down 18 of its 20 free throw attempts against Ohio State. The 90% clip was Purdue's best mark this season. The 20 attempts all came from the starting lineup. McLaughlin (2-2), Oden (4-4), Traylor (6-6) and Farquhar (2-2) were perfect, while Harris went 4-of-6.
QUOTABLES
Head coach Sharon Versyp after the game…
Starting conference play on the road is always a challenge. We've opened up away from home seven of the last eight seasons. That coupled with the fact that we haven't won here since 2004 made me really proud of this group. Everyone stayed connected together on the floor, and the team's cohesiveness was incredibly strong. I'm proud of the team's intensity and ability to stay locked in for 40 minutes.
Dominique Oden on the defensive strategy…
The gameplan was be aggressive from the start and plan on their end of the court. We made sure we worked together defensively and communicated with each other all game long. We were able to take it to them, and I thought we did a good job of that tonight.
• Ohio State leads the all-time series 31-46.
• Purdue is now 23-15 in Big Ten openers and 10-4 in the Versyp era.
• The win snapped an 11-game losing streak in Columbus. The Boilermakers are 8-24 on the road against Ohio State.
• Traylor finished with a team-high three assists to take her team lead to 54 on the year.
• Harris totaled six defensive rebounds, bringing her within two of breaking the career program record of 665, held by Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton.
• Oden's 12 points has her three away from joining the 1,500-point club as its 15th member at Purdue.
• Ohio State never held the lead in the game.
• Purdue's biggest lead was 21 points with 3:39 to play in the fourth.
UP NEXT
The Boilermakers will close out 2019 at Mackey Arena on New Year's Eve with a 4 p.m. tip against Wisconsin.
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