Purdue Women’s Basketball: Boilers roll past Northwestern

Heading into Wednesday’s clash with Northwestern, Purdue women’s basketball coach Katie Gearlds didn’t mince words about her expectations.

She demanded her team play hard and bring the same fire and passion that it plays with inside Mackey Arena to Northwestern. When the dust settled, that was exactly what transpired as the Purdue women’s basketball team used a 9-0 start to completely run past the Wildcats, 74-48. The win was the first Big Ten road victory of the season for Purdue, who improved to 11-13 overall and 4-9 in the Big Ten Conference ahead of Saturday’s home clash with Nebraska.

Early on, the Purdue women’s basketball team imposed its will on Northwestern, as freshman National Player of the Week Mary Ashley Stevenson found the basket early and often, while Northwestern struggled to score.

While Purdue held an 18-9 lead after the first quarter, if there was a negative it was the fact the Boilermakers turned the ball over six times.

Despite that, Northwestern was still unable to truly claw back in, as Purdue went on a 12-0 run over the final four minutes of the half to take a commanding 36-17 halftime edge.

Purdue would continue its scoring ways in the early moments of the third quarter, as Abbey Ellis hit a layup, becoming the newest member of the 1,000 career points list. The layup from Ellis got Purdue going, as the Boilermakers scored 27 straight points to put the game completely out of reach.

Purdue outrebounded Northwestern, 46-29 and the Boilermakers had 35 total second chance and fast break points.

Caitlyn Harper paced the Boilermakers with 17 points, while Madison Layden added 16 and Ellis had 14. Jeanae Terry added 12 rebounds and 11 assists and became the second player in Big Ten history to account for 900 rebounds, 700 assists and 200 steals.