Nov. 17, 2012
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 18/14 Purdue women's basketball team survived a late run by the SIU Edwardsville Cougars, to earn a 66-51 victory on the road Saturday. Courtney Moses led Purdue with 14 points on 4-of-10 field goals and 6-of-6 free throws, while Drey Mingo scored 11 points and freshman April Wilson contributed 10 points, including 2-of-3 from three-point range.
Purdue held a 24-11 rebound advantage at the half and would win the final battle of the boards with a 40-35 edge. Sam Ostarello shared game-high rebounding honors with SIUE's Raven Berry as both pulled down 14 rebounds. Ostarello's 14 rebound effort was the 20th double-digit rebounding game of her career as well as tying her career high. Ostarello also contributed six points, four assists and four steals.
The Boilermakers held their largest lead of 34 points at 52-18 with 13:39 to play and had a 20-point advantage at 61-41 with 4:07 remaining. SIUE's Tierny Austin led a furious charge by the Cougars to close out the game, hitting two three-pointers and making two layups in a one minute and 10 second stretch to cut the lead to 63-49. A layup by Jazmin Hill with two minutes remaining gave the Cougars their closest margin of 12 points at 63-51, but Purdue would not allow SIUE to score again, prevailing 66-51. KK Houser hit three of four free throws in the final two minutes to seal the road win.
Austin led all scorers with 18 points, while Hill finished with 11 points.
Purdue shot 46.7 percent from the field on 21-of-45 while holding SIUE to just 25.9 percent (15-of-58). Both teams were in the bonus early in the second period with the Boilermakers ending the game 22-of-31 from the free throw line for 71.0 percent. The Cougars hit 17-of-24 from the charity stripe.
The Boilermakers are back in action Monday night when they play host to Bowling Green State University at 7:30 p.m. in Mackey Arena. The game will be broadcast live on BTN.