Nov. 18, 2002
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's basketball team closed out its 2002-03 exhibition season with an 80-69 victory against the OGBM Legends on Monday night.
Fourth-year head coach Kristy Curry thought the close game provided the Boilermakers a reality check.
"Tonight was a great experience for us," Curry said. "I think tonight brought us back to reality."
Junior forward Shereka Wright led the Boilermakers with 24 points. Ohio State alum Larecha Jones scored 33 points to lead all players.
Purdue jumped out to an early lead behind jumpers by Wright and senior center Mary Jo Noon. Layups by juniors Erika Valek and Lindsey Hicks followed, giving the Boilermakers an 8-2 advantage.
The Purdue lead moved to eight at the 14:13 mark, then grew to nine after a basket by freshman forward Carol Duncan with 9:47 left in the first half.
Behind Jones, however, OGBM countered with a 13-3 run over the next six minutes to take a 25-24 lead with 3:20 to play. Jones began the run with a bucket, finished with another, and scored three more in between, including a three-pointer.
A basket by Hicks put Purdue ahead at 26-25, but Jones replied to give OGBM the lead once again.
Jones finished the scoring, hitting a layup with 38 seconds left to bring OGBM into halftime with a 31-28 lead.
The second half began as positively as the first, as Valek nailed a three-pointer to knot the score just 23 seconds in. Purdue junior guard Beth Jones backed that up with another trey, putting the Boilermakers ahead.
The other Jones quickly answered to make the margin one before former Boilermaker Jannon Roland scored to put OGBM on top. That was the last lead the Legends would hold.
A steal by Hicks resulted in a layup by Beth Jones, who gave Purdue a 36-35 edge with 16:48 to play.
The Boilermakers kept the pressure on, pushing the lead to 14 following a three-pointer by freshman guard Sharika Webb at the 11:09 mark.
But much like they did in the first half, the Legends came back with a 14-2 run to draw within two with 7:39 left. Roland started that surge, but Jones accounted for seven of the 14 points.
Beth Jones hit a three-pointer to put Purdue up by five, then Larecha Jones drained a bomb to cut the lead to two.
A layup by Helen Darling drew the Legends to within one (64-63) with 5:36 to play. After two free throws by Wright, Jones connected again to make the score 66-65 in favor of Purdue.
Nursing a four-point lead with 3:49 left, Duncan came up with a big defensive play by forcing Darling into a trap with Beth Jones. Darling turned the ball over, and Hicks came up with the steal. On Purdue's ensuing possession, Wright got to the line again and knocked down both charity tosses.
The Boilermakers shot 12 more free throws over the final 1:23; they made nine. OGBM managed just two more baskets down the stretch in the 11-point loss.
Purdue shot 37.5 percent from the field but held a decided advantage from the free throw line. The Boilermakers connected on 78.8 percent of their free throws, hitting 26-of-33 attempts. Wright went 13 for 15 from the stripe, while OGBM, as a team, went 2 for 3.
Purdue outrebounded OGBM 48 to 33.
Jones and Hicks finished with 12 and 10 points, while Roland was the only other double-figure scorer, with 14.
Wright led all players with 11 rebounds.
Purdue, which defeated the Dominican Republic National Team 86-49 on Nov. 10, will begin its official 2002-03 season on Friday, Nov. 22. The Boilermakers will play at UW-Milwaukee in the Klotsche Center. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. CST (8 p.m. EST).
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