WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue women's basketball team suffered the first defeat of the Katie Gearlds Era on Saturday night, falling 78-62 to Dayton. The Boilermakers finished with a quartet of players in double figures.
Ra Shaya Kyle paced the Boilermakers (3-1) offensively with a career-high 20 points from 8-of-14 from the field with eight rebounds. The sophomore also matched her career and season best with a trio of blocks.
Purdue also got double-digit outings from Abbey Ellis (11), Madison Layden (10) and Brooke Moore (10). The Boilermakers shot a season-low 38.5% from the field with just three 3-pointers, another season low.
Purdue found its flow in the first half shooting an even 50% on 11-of-22 from the field with just a pair of 3-pointers. Dayton (3-1) opened up a nine-point lead in the second, before Ellis, Layden and Kyle spurred a 9-0 run that eventually saw the hosts trail by two at the break.
The lid went on the rim in the third, as Purdue went 3-of-14 from the field in the quarter and shot 30% in the second half. Dayton took advantage of the hosts shooting struggles to build up a lead to 15 in the third. Despite nine points from Moore in the fourth quarter, the Boilermakers could not string together a run of more than four.
The Flyers got 57 points out of guards Erin Whalen (26), Makira Cook (18) and Araion Bradshaw (13). Dayton shot 47.5% on the night and outrebounded Purdue 41-30.
QUOTE
Head coach Katie Gearlds …
We had 42 seconds left when called the timeout, and the game was out of reach for us. I thought it was a unique opportunity to learn how to stay together and fight to the end. This team plays hard, and they compete every second of practice. You saw that tonight. I'm not so sure I've seen that in the past. I've seen a team go down by 10 or 12 and fold away and lose by 30. The final score said we lost by 16, but it doesn't show the fight we had until the end. They hit some shots towards the end to push that lead.
We were trying to be aggressive and create some turnovers, something that we really haven't had a chance to work on. We're trying not to skip steps. We got in a position where we needed to try some things. My message to the team was 'Let's finish the game. Let's show up ready to go at Practice and put in a game plan for Marshall. Let's show up for Marshall with that same mindset and compete for 40 minutes.'
That will never change with our basketball team.
NOTES
• Dayton now leads the all-time series with Purdue 8-5.
• Madison Layden's pursuit of the 3-point streak came to an end one game shy of Ashley Morrissette's 25 games in a row. It was Layden's first outing without a triple since Valparaiso last year.
• Purdue surrendered 15 offensive rebounds, which turned into 13 second-chance points.
• Purdue forced 14 Dayton turnovers, but only flipped them into eight points, compared to 14 Dayton points on 15 Purdue giveaways.
• Brooke Moore hit double figures for the first time this season.
• Layden has been in double figures every game this year.
• Kyle joins Fatou Diagne as the only Purdue true center with 20 points in a game dating back to the 2009-10 season.
• Purdue got to the line 29 times, making 19. Kyle went 4-for-4 to extend her streak to 11 makes in a row.
• Guards Cassidy Hardin, Jeanae Terry and Ellis all recorded a block in the loss.
• Purdue is now 6-12 all-time against the A10.
UP NEXT
Purdue will have less than 48 hours to prepare for its next game, when it hosts Marshall on Monday night at 7 p.m. on B1G+