Jan 19, 2003
By DAVE CAMPBELL
AP Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - Lindsay Whalen scored 26 points and Janel McCarville had 17 of her 19 points in the second half Sunday afternoon, leading 12th-ranked Minnesota to a 90-75 victory over No. 9 Purdue before a record crowd at Williams Arena.
Corrin Von Wald added 15 points for the Golden Gophers (15-1, 4-1) in front of 13,174 noisy fans in the only regular-season meeting between two of the Big Ten's top three teams.
The largest crowd to watch the women's team at Minnesota play previously was 12,142 last season against Michigan State.
Shereka Wright scored 28 points and Beth Jones added 11 for the Boilermakers (14-3, 3-2), who earlier this week handed first-place Penn State its only conference loss.
The Gophers, whose only loss is to the Nittany Lions, trail Penn State by a half-game.
Minnesota leads the conference in scoring and entered averaging 94.3 points per game at home, but the Gophers played relentless defense for most of the game and forced the Boilermakers into 24 turnovers and recorded 14 steals.
McCarville, making only her third start of the season, was the Big Ten's rookie of the year last season.
Whalen (24.4 points per game) and Wright (19.4) rank second and third in the Big Ten in scoring, and they were the catalysts in the first half of a physical, fast-paced game where bodies fell to the floor on nearly every possession.
The Gophers took a 24-13 lead with 9:12 left in the half on a steal and layup by Whalen. Purdue crept back, and a three-point play by Wright with six seconds remaining before halftime cut the Gophers' lead to 39-34.
Down 59-42 in the second half, Purdue snapped to life with a 19-4 run to pull within two points near the midpoint of the half. After a 3-pointer by Jones, Erika Valek got a steal and a fastbreak layup to cut Minnesota's lead to 63-61.
A timeout helped the Gophers regroup, and the Boilermakers didn't get closer. A 3-pointer by Lindsey Hicks cut the lead to 72-68, but Minnesota slowly pulled away and placed an exclamation on the victory with 3? minutes left.
Whalen drove to the basket and wrapped a gorgeous pass around Wright in the lane to Gilbert, who made a layup and converted a three-point play to make it 81-70.