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Thursday, Jan. 6 7:30pm ET
Purdue's 25-game Big Ten streak ends | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- Penn State had more turnovers than field goals and was still able to beat poor-shooting Purdue. Andrea Garner scored 14 points as the Lady Lions (No. 5 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) held off a second-half comeback and beat the 12th-ranked Boilermakers 55-50 Thursday night. The loss snapped the defending NCAA champion's streaks of 25 consecutive victories over Big Ten opponents and 21 straight at home. "It's been a long time since we've won here, a long time since we beat Purdue," Penn State coach Rene Portland said. "Early in the game, we established our inside game and our high-low post was really effective." Penn State (11-2, 3-0) built a 17-point lead early in the second half thanks to Purdue's miserable shooting and turnovers. But the Lady Lions' own errors began catching up with them, and a 13-point run by Purdue (9-3, 1-1) made it a close game over the final 12 minutes. "I thought we kept calm and got some great rebounds when we needed to and we made some foul shots. That was a hard-fought battle," Portland said. Camille Cooper, the only Purdue player with more than one basket in the first half, had six points during the Boilermakers' rally, and a steal and layup by Kelly Komara brought Purdue within 39-35 with 11:40 to go. After Garner scored for Penn State, a 3-pointer by Komara and a basket by Katie Douglas cut the lead to 41-40 with eight minutes to go. The Lady Lions again began pulling away and iced the game with four free throws by Helen Darling and one by Lisa Shepherd in the final minute. "The big thing was they wanted to stay between me and the basket," said Darling, who was plagued by fouls and had just two of her seven points in the first half. "It wasn't anything I haven't faced before. But I think they were trying to slow us down, and they picked me up full court so we couldn't get our fast break running. "They did a good job at that, but they couldn't stop our half-court game," Darling said. Penn State shot 21-of-50 from the field but had 25 turnovers. Purdue had 20 turnovers and shot just 34 percent (21-of-62). "The biggest disappointment was we shot that poorly but lost by only five points," Purdue coach Kristy Curry said. "It was just a lack of concentration. I'm not sure why that happened, but we sure did have some good looks." Douglas led the Boilermakers with 16 points and Cooper added 15 points and nine rebounds. Maren Walseth, with 10, was the only other Penn State player in double figures. The Lady Lions, who had lost five straight to Purdue, got three 3-pointers from Chrissy Falcone and built the lead to 33-19 at halftime. A basket by Walseth and two by Garner pushed Penn State's lead to 39-22 early in the second half before Purdue began its comeback. "We were doing a poor job defensively. We weren't getting in the passing lanes," Curry said of Purdue's early struggles. "But Penn State is averaging 82 points a game and we held them to 55. If we just hit some of our shots, we win." | ALSO SEE Womens College Basketball Scoreboard
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