The 2023-24 basketball season came to and end for the Purdue women’s basketball team Thursday, as the Boilermakers fell to Nebraska, 64-56.
The second round loss means the Boilermakers end the season at 13-18 and probably have no chance of being selected to postseason play. With that said, Purdue women’s basketball showed the future is bright, as its underclassmen put together another solid performance in Minneapolis.
It took a bit for both teams to get going offensively, as Nebraska opened 3-of-18, while Purdue shot a dismal 33 percent from the field before settling in for a 12-7 advantage.
Nebraska wins battle of runs against Purdue women’s basketball
After the slow start from both teams, both teams went on runs to try to gain the upper hand. Nebraska went on the first, racing out to an 8-0 run to take back the lead. Purdue women’s basketball would answer right back with its freshmen duo of Rashunda Jones and Sophie Swanson to reclaim the lead. Another Nebraska run would send both teams into the locker rooms knotted at 25-25.
The two teams continued to trade shots, both literally and figuratively, in the early moments of the third quarter. Nebraska raced out to a four point lead, before going on a 10-0 run stretch the lead to nine points.
Purdue women’s basketball would answer right back late in the frame, using a 6-0 run that was capped by a Swanson three pointer to cut the deficit to three heading into the fourth quarter.
Purdue would whittle the lead down to two points with just over eight minutes left, before Nebraska put the game away with a 14-0 run over four minutes to end Purdue’s season.
“I think down the stretch we just kind of ran out of gas. I thought we got some really, really good looks Madison (Layden) and Abbey (Ellis) got some good lucks from three. Just down the stretch the open looks Nebraska got, they made and we did not,” Purdue women’s basketball coach Katie Gearlds said.
Swanson led way for Purdue women’s basketball
The Boilermakers were paced by Swanson, who posted a career high 25 points and hit a career high seven three pointers.
Nebraska coach Amy Williams took note of the impact Swanson had on the game.
“I don’t think we were focusing on other players, we knew how good of a shooter Sophie Swanson is. Late game, they ran some really good actions to get her open looks and she knocked them down and was hot from beyond the arc. We survived her 25 points and did a pretty good job holding them to 31 points outside her,” Williams said.
While the season comes to an end for Gearlds and the Boilers, she immediately turned her attention to the offseason and the goal of getting Purdue back on top.
“We’ve got a lot of things that we’ve got to continue to grow and get better, but I’ll tell you what, those kids got a lot of great experience in some really tight situations that we’re going to dive into this summer. Hopefully we can just continue to get better and better and chase getting Purdue back onto the top,” Geralds said.
