Entering Saturday’s game against Nebraska, the Purdue women’s basketball team and head coach Katie Gearlds were looking for momentum.
The Boilermakers had just won their first road game in the Big Ten and were starting to put the pieces together in what has been a long season for Purdue. And, for a few minutes in the first quarter, it looked like the Purdue women’s basketball team had it, as they raced out to a 22-12 lead. However, the game is four quarters, and when the dust settled, Purdue fell to 11-14 overall, 4-10 Big Ten after losing 77-65 to the Cornhuskers.
“In the first quarter, we made some shots. Second quarter, obviously, it’s no secret, we cannot play in the halfcourt. We are constantly trying to manufacture buckets. When we are fouling in the second quarter and they are living at the free throw line, we can’t push in transition. Started the third quarter 1-for-9 and at that time — this is a microcosm of our entire season — we miss shots, we make a defensive mistake in transition, #2 hits a corner three, come down we miss a shot, come down we make a defensive mistake. When you miss shots, you have got to be a little bit more grittier on the other end to figure it out and that’s not been who we are,” Gearlds said.
Purdue women’s basketball guards Jeanae Terry and Abbey Ellis agreed.
“We played super well in the first quarter, and then the rest of the three quarters wasn’t the same play. It definitely was inconsistency, but that’s what it is in the Big Ten, you have to play four quarters,” Terry said.
Ellis said it is “disheartening” when Purdue gets wide open shots and they don’t fall.
“We’ve just got to keep our head up and looking on the other end, fuel our offense through our defense,” Ellis said.
After the first quarter, it was all Nebraska, as the Cornhuskers went 14-of-30 from the field to take a 36-32 halftime edge. Purdue opened the third quarter with a three pointer to cut the deficit to 36-35, but Nebraska utilized a 12-0 run to push its lead. Three times late, Purdue cut the deficit to 13, but that was as close as the Boilermakers would get.
“It came down to hitting shots. That was the difference,” Terry said.
On a positive, the Boilermakers committed seven turnovers and accounted for 16 assists. But, it all came back to a constant theme.
“To only turn the ball over seven times, we take three more shots than they do, the second quarter fouling when they live at the free throw line, I mean, as bad as I think we were for 30 minutes, if we make a couple open shots, maybe the game is different, but it’s not. Nebraska won it. They made their own shots. We didn’t,” Gearlds said.
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