EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Purdue women's basketball team dropped its Wednesday night game at Michigan State, 97-70.
Abbey Ellis paced Purdue (9-10, 2-6) with 16 points on the night. It was her 16th game in double figures this season. Jeanae Terry narrowly missed extending her own program record with her third career triple-double, finishing the night with a season-high 14 points, eight assists and eight rebounds.
Sophie Swanson set a career-high with 12 points on four 3-pointers, half of Purdue's eight triples on the night. The Boilermakers shot 43.9% on the night.
Led by Terry's eight assists, Purdue dished out 17 assists. McKenna Layden posted a career-best four helpers.
Purdue fell behind 43-31 at the break after shooting 42.3% from the field. Ellis tallied 14 points over the opening 20 minutes with a pair of triples and a 4-of-4 mark at the line.
Harper scored all six of her first half points in the first quarter, before Ellis nailed back-to-back triples to cut the gap to five going to the second period.
The Spartans opened the second on a 15-3 run with Layden connected on a corner triple during the sprint. The Boilermakers punched back with a 9-2 run that cut a 17-point gap down to 10 just before the break. Ellis and Layden evenly split Purdue's 12 points in the second.
Terry and Swanson each tallied 12 points in the second half. Terry was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field with four rebounds and three assists in the final 20 minutes. Swanson went 4-of-7 from behind the arc. The Boilermakers scored 39 points in the second half, but Michigan State (14-5, 4-4) pulled away with 54 during that stretch.
The Spartans shot 55.2% from the field and went 9-of-21 from distance. Theryn Hallock recorded a game-high 24 points and Tory Ozment scored 23 to power the hosts. Michigan State converted 20 Purdue turnovers into 28 points.
NOTES
• Purdue leads the all-time series with Michigan State 55-41.
• Madison Layden's 3-pointer in the second quarter marked the 184th of her career, breaking a tie with Stephanie White for eighth in program history.
• Caitlyn Harper's opening bucket of the game moved her past 1,800 points for her career.
• Jeanae Terry's eight assists moved her up to seventh on Purdue's all-time list with 483 helpers in West Lafayette.
• Terry's 14 points brought her to 39 points from 1,000 in her career.
• Abbey Ellis is now 47 points away from 1,000 in her career at Purdue.
• Terry posted her 36th game with five points, rebounds and assists during her time at Purdue, second nationally to Caitlin Clark at Purdue.
UP NEXT
The Boilermakers return to Mackey Arena on Sunday to take on No. 12 Ohio State for a 2 p.m. tip on B1G+.