Feb. 20, 2005
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The first meeting between Purdue and Indiana was played for the Barn Burner Trophy, and the Boilermakers won by 23 points. The second meeting was the real barn burner. Purdue managed to pull out a 62-58 overtime victory in Bloomington on Sunday, to improve to 15-10 overall and 8-6 in the Big Ten. Indiana fell to 10-15 and 3-11.
The Hoosiers, coming off a disappointing non-conference home loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday, came out with the type of energy their coach, Kathi Bennett, had hoped for. Following the loss to the Islanders, Bennett told the media that Indiana would treat the Purdue game as though it was for the national championship.
Indiana looked as though a title was on the line at the start, and it had the fan support to boot. With the backing of 10,002 fans in Assembly Hall, the Hoosiers jumped out to a 5-0 lead. An 8-0 run by Purdue put the Boilermakers up, but Indiana countered with another 5-0 run to reclaim the advantage at 10-8.
A three-pointer by sophomore Katie Gearlds tilted the edge back toward Purdue's side and keyed another 8-0 Boilermaker run, capped by another long-range bomb from Gearlds that made the score 16-10 with 9:47 remaining in the first half.
More runs followed. First a 5-0 spurt by Indiana put the Hoosiers back in front at 17-16. After both teams traded baskets on their next two possessions, Indiana scored five straight to build a five-point advantage.
Purdue answered with a longer run, rattling off 11 unanswered points to once again go ahead by six with one minute to play. Indiana scored on two free throws by Brigett Branson with 13.4 seconds left before halftime, but freshman Natasha Bogdanova scored on a putback at the buzzer at the other end to send Purdue into its locker room with a 33-27 lead at the break.
More drama followed in the second half. Less than four minutes in, Indiana tied the score at 35-35. The Hoosiers took the lead on their next trip down the court, when Annika Boyd made two charity tosses. Gearlds then tied the score with two free throws of her own.
The remainder of regulation would produce three more ties and three more lead changes. Purdue led by as many as four with six minutes to go, and had three straight chances to increase the margin while holding Indiana scoreless. But the Boilermakers came up empty all three times.
Ahead 52-48 with 3:47 remaining, the Boilermakers fouled Boyd on the way to the basket. She made the hoop and the free throw to draw the Hoosiers to within one. Gearlds missed on Purdue's next possession, then Bogdanova fouled Angela Hawkins, a 58 percent free throw shooter for the Hoosiers. Hawkins drained both, and put Indiana up 53-52 with 1:38 to play.
Twenty-three seconds later, Gearlds knocked down a contested shot with her toe on the three-point line as the 30-second shot clock expired. Hawkins missed on the other end, and freshman Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton rebounded. The Hoosiers promptly fouled Wisdom-Hylton, who came into the game as a 54 percent free throw shooter. On her first attempt of the double-bonus, Wisdom-Hylton missed. She made the second with 33 seconds left.
After a Purdue timeout, Indiana pushed the ball up the floor and got the ball to Cyndi Valentin, who hit a runner in the lane to tie the score with 19 ticks on the clock.
The Boilermakers got the ball to half court and called timeout with 12 seconds to operate. When play resumed, junior Aya Traore got the ball at the right elbow but dropped it. Players from both teams dove toward the loose ball and caused the officials to stop play for the held-ball situation. Thankfully for Purdue, the arrow was in its favor, but the Boilermakers had just one second left on the clock. After another timeout, Purdue inbounded the ball to Gearlds, who hoisted a shot from the right baseline that hit the rim but bounced off long.
Indiana scored first in overtime, on a free throw by Branson. But a basket by Bogdanova at the 2:13 mark moved Purdue back in front. Valentin missed a three-pointer, and Bogdanova rebounded. Purdue failed to score, however, giving Indiana another chance. Valentin took another jumper and missed. Gearlds rebounded and was fouled. She hit both attempts from the stripe.
Now down three with 56 seconds left and in desperate need of a score, Indiana again turned to Valentin, who missed another triple. Boyd rebounded, but Bogdanova stole the ball and got it to Gearlds, who made two more free throws to make it 61-56.
Hoosier post player Carrie Smith tried her luck from long range, but missed. Wisdom-Hylton rebounded and was fouled. She split from the line with 15 seconds left to make it a six-point game.
With the outcome all but decided, Boyd made a layup with three seconds left to close out the scoring and make it a four-point game.
The win for Purdue was its second straight, marking the first time it has won back-to-back games since beating Indiana and Michigan earlier this season on Jan. 6 and 9. The Boilermakers are now 2-0 in overtime games this season, and are 5-0 all-time in overtime games against Indiana.
Gearlds finished with a game-high 20 points. The 6-foot-1 guard from Beech Grove, Ind., was just 5 of 15 from the floor, but she made 8 of 9 free throws.
Sophomore Erin Lawless contributed 17 points, including nine on perfect free throw shooting. Lawless struggled from the floor, however, hitting just 4 of 16 field goal attempts before fouling out in with two minutes to go in regulation.
Other players to come up big for Purdue were Emily Heikes and Sharika Webb. Heikes, who also fouled out in regulation, grabbed 12 rebounds. Webb scored just two points, but the Indianapolis native recorded a career-high nine rebounds in a career-high 32 minutes.
Four Purdue players pulled down eight or more rebounds to help the Boilermakers post a whopping 59-29 advantage on the glass. Purdue grabbed 20 offensive caroms.
The Boilermakers shot 32.2 percent from the field (19-59), but they made 22 of 26 free throw attempts (.846). The rebound and free throw success helped overcome 23 turnovers that led to 25 Indiana points.
The Hoosiers, who scored just 31 points in the first meeting between these two teams, shot 29.7 percent from the field (19-64) and 81.8 percent from the free throw line (18-22). Indiana turned the ball over just eight times, including three over the final 25 minutes.
The lead changed 15 times in the contest.
Boyd scored a team-high 19 points for Indiana. Valentin added 16 on 5-of-21 shooting from the field.
Purdue will return to action Thursday, when it plays host to Ohio State. The Buckeyes, ranked second in last week's AP poll, won the first meeting this season 63-50 in Columbus on Jan. 2. They are coming off a loss at Michigan State.
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