Feb. 27, 2005
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Senior Day? Try Freshman Day.
In Purdue's Big Ten regular-season finale, the last home game in the careers of Emily Heikes and Hannah Anderson, a couple of rookies stole the show. Wisconsin's Jolene Anderson, the frontrunner for Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, won the day's scoring battle, but Boilermaker Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton's team got the win, as Purdue beat the Badgers 69-59 in Mackey Arena on Sunday.
The victory improved Purdue's record to 16-11 overall and 9-7 in the league, good for fifth place. Wisconsin concluded its regular season with an 11-15 overall record and a 5-11 conference mark.
Wisdom-Hylton, Anderson's best competition in the Big Ten Class of 2008, got off to a good start. The 6-foot-2 forward scored Purdue's first basket, and accounted for seven of the Boilermakers' first 10 points.
Once Wisdom-Hylton went quiet, Anderson took over. The 5-foot-8 shooting guard poured in 15 straight points for her team. Nine of those points came on three-pointers.
By the time the dust settled and the first half ended, Anderson had scored 15 of her team's 24 points. Wisdom-Hylton had scored 14 of Purdue's 31 points. Both connected on 6 of 9 field goals in the first 20 minutes.
The show went on for the final 20 minutes. Purdue began the second half outscoring Wisconsin 15-8. A free throw by freshman Natasha Bogdanova gave the Boilermakers a 15-point lead with 9:59 remaining.
Just four short minutes later, Wisconsin had managed to cut its deficit to two points. The Badgers put together a 17-4 run, scoring 10 of those 17 points from the free throw line, to get back in the game.
Purdue gave Wisconsin more chances to get even closer by turning the ball over five times from the 3:09 mark to the 55-second mark.
Purdue found a way to win, however. Despite clinging to a four-point lead with less than three minutes to go, the Boilermakers outscored Wisconsin 11-4 down the stretch to come out victorious. Purdue made six straight free throws with less than 30 seconds left to seal the win.
Wisdom-Hylton finished with a career-high 22 points, her first 20-point game as a Boilermaker. She made 10 of 15 field goal attempts. Anderson scored 26 on 10-of-19 shooting from the field. She made 3 of 6 three-pointers, and knocked down three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt in the second half.
Heikes contributed four points and 10 rebounds in her Mackey Arena swan song. Anderson, a former walkon, played 35 seconds. She did not score.
Purdue will own the No. 5 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, and will face No. 4 seed Minnesota on Friday, March 4, at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
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