Nov. 12, 2007
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind- Four players scored in double-figures for Purdue on Monday night as the Boilermakers defeated Valparaiso 65-62 in their season opener. Lakisha Freeman scored 16 points, freshman Samantha Woods had 17 points and seven rebounds and FahKara Malone and Kalika France both had 12 points, as the Boilermakers fended off a hot-shooting Crusaders team. With the victory Purdue improved to 1-0 and Valparaiso dropped to 0-2.
Valparaiso jumped out to an early 17-9 lead as the Crusaders hit six of their first seven shots including five baskets from behind the three-point line. The Crusaders finished the first half 8-for-11 from behind the arc and finished the game an impressive 11-for-17 from three-point range.
After falling behind 17-9 the Boilermakers went on an 11-0 run that was keyed by a strong play in the post by Woods. During the run, Woods had two baskets in the paint and hit a pair of free throws for six points.
Going into halftime down 35-30, the Boilermakers came out of the locker room roaring as they went on a 9-0 run fueled by great pressure on the defensive end. The Boilermakers got three steals, one apiece from Malone, France and Natasha Bogdanova and clutch shooting from the free throw line as Malone, France and Danielle Campbell combined for a perfect 6-for-6 from the line during the run.
After a pair of free throws by Bogdanova gave the Boilermakers a 41-39 lead, Valparaiso's Aimee Litka drained a three-point basket that put the Crusaders up 42-41 with 15:31 remaining. There would be nine more lead changes following Litka's three, in a second half that featured 11 lead changes and was tense until the final seconds.
Trailing 62-60, with less than two minutes to play the Boilermakers got two free-throws from Freeman that knotted the score at 62-62. Freeman then came up big, putting in a two-point basket from three feet after picking up a loose ball in the key with 19 seconds remaining.
"I did all I could to get to it and put it in, all the defense was on Sam and I just had to get to it before they did," Freeman said.
After Malone hit 1-of-2 free-throws to put Purdue up 65-60 with nine seconds remaining, the Crusaders had one final chance, but France came up with her game-high fifth steal of the night.
At the top of the key and looking to create something, Valparaiso's Sarah Ott had the ball poked away by France and France dribbled out the final seconds to preserve the Purdue victory. Purdue coach Sharon Versyp said France played well defensively.
"Kalika stepped up her level with Ki-Ki on the wing. She was able to get steals and definitely stepped up to the plate," Versyp said.
Purdue next plays at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 17 when it plays host to Butler.