Box Score / Notes / Photo Gallery
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue women's basketball team ran into a red-hot fifth-ranked Maryland squad Tuesday night in Mackey Arena, coming out on the wrong side of an 87-67 decision. Maryland junior Shatori Walker-Kimbrough set a Mackey Arena women's basketball record by pouring in a career-high 41 points on a scorching 17-of-21 shooting, and the Terrapins posted the second-best single-game opponent field goal percentage in program history, converting 65.5 (36-55) from the field.
Walker-Kimbrough wasted no time getting hot Tuesday, hitting her first five shots from the field to finish the first quarter with 11 points, and then poured in 13 more in the second to finish the half with 24. The second half brought more of the same as she drained 4-of-5 from the floor for 11 points in the third, and knocked down her only two attempts of the fourth, including her only 3-point shot of the game. Her 41 points matches Minnesota's Lindsay Whalen for the highest individual scoring mark for an opponent in Purdue history (Feb. 14, 2002), while her 17 field goals are the most by an opposing player in program history.
Maryland entered Tuesday with the No. 2 field goal percentage in the country, and improved on that mark by hitting 36-of-55 from the field (.655) to mark the second-highest opponent field goal percentage in Purdue women's basketball history. Tennessee's mark of 67.3 percent (37-55) from Dec. 2, 1995, remains safe, but it is the most by a Big Ten opponent since Illinois cashed in 64.3 percent (18-28) on Jan. 4, 1996.
Despite early turnover problems the Boilermakers hung with the Terrapins early, hitting 6-of-13 in the opening quarter to trail by just two, 17-15, at the first break. Junior Ashley Morrissette and Andreona Keys chipped in five points apiece in the opening frame. Things got away from Purdue in the second quarter as their shooting pace slowed, while Maryland's did not and they pulled away for a 41-28 halftime edge.
The two squads traded punches after the half as Morrissette and junior teammate Bridget Perry scored seven points apiece, while freshman Dominique McBryde led an attack of the offensive glass with four boards in the third quarter. The Boilermakers traded runs with the Terrapins, letting the lead stretch to as many as 17, but then slicing it as close as nine in the final minute of the quarter. Purdue continued the run early in the fourth quarter, pulling to within seven on a triple from senior April Wilson with 6:48 to play, but that was a close as they would get as Maryland finished the game on a 17-4 run to seal their 20th win of the season.
Morrissette paced the Boilermakers with 19 points, while Keys and McBryde joined her in double-figures with 11 and 10. McBryde grabbed a team-high five rebounds as the Boilermakers were only outrebounded 28-25 by the nation's best team on the boards, while Wilson had a team-high eight assists. Purdue entered the game leading the conference in blocked shots, but were unable to deny an opponent's attempt for the first time this season.
Purdue moved to 16-6 overall and 7-4 in conference play with the loss, and doesn't return to action until Monday, heading to Wisconsin for another Big Ten Network contest.