WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Wearing special pink uniforms for its annual Beat Cancer Pinkout, the Purdue women's basketball team dropped an 88-59 decision to No. 8 Maryland on Thursday night at Mackey Arena.
Fatou Diagne recorded her fifth double-double of the year with 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Senegal international was one of three Boilermakers in double figures on the night. Kayana Traylor scored a team-high 15 points and went 7-of-9 at the charity stripe. Brooke Moore poured in 13 points and notched a career-high five steals.
Purdue (6-14, 3-13) kept the high-scoring Maryland (18-2, 14-1) starting lineup relatively in check, holding them to 28 points below their combined season averages. The Boilermakers totaled 11 steals on the defensive end, the third-highest total this season. Purdue flipped 15 Maryland giveaways into 18 points.
The Boilermakers finished the game with a 38.6% field goal clip to the Terrapins' 49.3%. Maryland picked up 54 points in the paint, converted 22 offensive rebounds into 20 points and scored 23 points off turnovers.
After Maryland jumped out to a nine-point lead early in the first, the Boilermakers strung together seven straight points to cut the gap to two at 11-9. Diagne gave the Boilermakers a spark in the post, nearly recording a double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds over the opening 20 minutes.
The Terrapins took advantage of 10 Boilermaker miscues to take a 44-26 lead at the break. Purdue shot 37.9% in the first half to Maryland's 45% clip.
Madison Layden extended her 3-point streak to 18 games in a row, the third longest in program history, with a pair of distance makes in the third quarter. The freshman tallied all eight of her points in the third quarter.
In the fourth, Purdue continued to keep pace with Maryland for most of the frame. Traylor sparked an 8-0 run early on with four points of her own. The burst helped chip the gap down to 19 points, but that was as close as Purdue made it.
NOTES
• Maryland now leads the all-time series 14-2 against Purdue.
• Purdue is now 11-5 in Beat Cancer Pinkout games.
• Moore's five steals matched Madison Layden for the most in a game this season.
• Layden recorded four steals and a team-high four assists. She has a steal in every game this year.
• Kayana Traylor hit double figures for the 15th time this season.
• Cassidy Hardin went 1-of-4 from behind the arc, knocking down her 13th triple of the year.
• Ra Shaya Kyle turned away a pair of shots, taking her 18 rejections, the most by a Big Ten freshman.
• Purdue recorded its second straight game with at least 10 made free throws.
• The Boilermaker went 6-of-12 in the final period.
UP NEXT
The Boilermakers will play their final home game for the 2020-21 campaign Sunday against Illinois at 2 p.m. on Big Ten Network+. Purdue will honor its four seniors in a postgame ceremony – Leony Boudreau, Tamara Farquhar, Fatou Diagne and Jenelle Grant.
Stay up to date on all the latest scores, stats and stories surrounding Purdue women's basketball this season by following the team on Twitter (@PurdueWBB), Instagram (@PurdueWBB) and Facebook (/PurdueWBB).