WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue women's basketball team gave No. 12 Ohio State everything it could handle on Sunday afternoon at Mackey Arena, but Abbey Ellis' last-second 3-point shot from midcourt fell short in a 71-68 loss.
The Boilermakers (9-11, 2-7) rallied from nine points down early in the fourth to pull within one possession twice in the final minute of action. Ohio State (17-3, 8-1) missed two free throws with six seconds left to set up Ellis' game-tying effort. The Boilermakers outscored the Buckeyes 22-18 in the fourth.
Ellis paced Purdue with 14 points with a season-high four 3-pointers. Purdue shot 42.6% from the field with seven 3-pointers and went 15-of-19 at the line. Fellow senior Jeanae Terry gave another solid all-around effort with eight points, eight rebounds and five assists.
The freshman tandem of Mary Ashley Stevenson and Rashunda Jones gave the Boilermakers a spark all afternoon. Jones tallied 13 points with three rebounds and two assists in 24 minutes of action off the bench. It was her eighth game with double figures off the bench, second most in the Big Ten.
Stevenson shook off early foul trouble to nearly record a double-double, going for 12 points and seven rebounds in just 17 minutes of work.
Freshmen McKenna Layden and Sophie Swanson each connected on a 3-pointer, while Mila Reynolds notched five points, two blocks and one rebound in 14 minutes.
Ohio State put a trio of players in double figures led by Rebeka Mikulasikova's 15 points, as the team shot 45.3%. Cotie McMahon tallied a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Both sides traded shots in the first half. Jones tallied seven of her points during a five-minute span in the opening 20 minutes. After the guests led 20-19 in the first quarter, the Boilermakers kept the gap to just six at the break at 33-27. Reynolds blocked two Ohio State shots in the final four seconds of the second.
The Boilermakers shot at a 51.9% clip with five 3-pointers in the second half, outscoring the Buckeyes 41-38. Ellis scored all 14of her points in the second half.
Purdue went on a 7-0 run to start the third with five points from Ellis to take a 34-33 lead at the 7:54 mark. Ohio State punched back with four straight points, before a 7-0 run later in the period opened a 48-41 gap. Stevenson assisted on a corner Swanson 3-pointer before making a contested layup to cut the gap down to four late in the frame.
Purdue hit six of its 12 shots in the fourth quarter with Ellis and Stevenson matching for six points. The Boilermakers chipped away with an 8-2 run to pull all the way back to two points at 67-65 with 21 seconds to play. Ellis hit a 3-pointer with six seconds left that led to the last-second exchange.
The Boilermakers held the Buckeyes to no field goals over the final 4:36 of the game. Purdue was 8-of-9 at the line in the final period, while Ohio State made its first seven attempts before missing twice with six seconds left.
NOTES
• Ohio State leads the all-time series 49-32.
• The Boilermakers won the rebounding battle 34-29.
• Terry played her first complete game as a Boilermaker, and the first since Madison Layden against Michigan State in the 2022 Big Ten Tournament.
• Nine different Boilermakers put their names on the scoresheet on Sunday.
• Ellis is now 31 points shy of 1,000 for her career as a Boilermaker.
• Terry needs 31 points to reach 1,000 for her career and nine assists to reach 500 for her Boilermaker career.
• Ellis hit double figures for the 17th time this season and the 54th time as a Boilermaker, tying her with Tonya Kirk for 29th in program history.
• Sunday's attendance was 7,132, marking the seventh game over 5,000 fans at Mackey Arena this season.
• Sunday was Purdue's sixth of seven straight games against teams ranked in the top 30 of the NET.
UP NEXT
Purdue will head out to Nebraska on Wednesday night for an 8 p.m. tip on B1G+.