COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Purdue women's basketball team battled hard against seventh-ranked Maryland on Thursday, but came out on the wrong end of a 73-59 decision at the XFINITY Center to drop its third straight and fall to 16-8 (7-6 B1G). The Boilermakers matched the Terrapins with 24 made field goals, outscoring them in the paint 24-22, but Maryland cashed in 18-of-21 at the charity stripe to move to 22-3 (11-2 B1G).
The Boilermakers got off to a dreadfully slow start Thursday night, and were never truly able to recover as Maryland raced out to an early lead and never let Purdue completely recover. Junior Bridget Perry cut the lead to two, 13-11, with two minutes left in the first quarter and classmate Ashley Morrissette knifed it to one, 21-20, early in the second, but Maryland answered every time with long runs to protect its lead.
Purdue kept the lead in single-digits for most of the third quarter but Maryland pulled away toward the end, taking a 51-38 edge into the fourth and stretching the lead to 16, 58-42, early in the final frame. The Boilermakers made one final push behind some hot shooting from Morrissette as she scored nine straight points in the final three minutes to hack the Terps advantage to seven, 66-59, with 1:42 to play. However that would be the end of the Purdue spurt as Maryland settled down and scored seven of its own to finish off the game.
Morrissette led the Purdue scorers with 18 points on 7-of-16 shooting, adding six rebounds and four steals in 34 minutes, while senior April Wilson added 14 points, five assists and three steals and sophomore Andreona Keys chipped in 12 points and four boards. The Boilermakers posted 13 steals, forcing Maryland into 20 turnovers, and hit 7-of-16 from behind the 3-point line.
Junior Shatori Walker-Kimbrough led Maryland with 23 points and seven rebounds, while classmate Brionna Jones added 12 points and 11 boards. The Terrapins won the battle on the boards 45-35 and had a 14-4 edge on second chance points.
Purdue returns to action on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14), hosting Michigan at 2 p.m. in Mackey Arena.