WEST LAFAYETTE, IN - Purdue never trailed but South Dakota State was never out of reach as the Jackrabbits fought the 20th ranked Boilermakers to a near standoff Tuesday, losing 57-50.
Purdue led 26-21 at halftime and went up 32-24 early in the second half but the Jacks battled back and tied the game at 45 on a pair of free throws by Shannon Schlagel with 5:41 to go.
Purdue regained the lead on a free throw by Erin Lawless and went up 48-45 after an SDSU turnover led to a basket by Katie Gearlds.
Schagel hit a three-pointer with 32 seconds left making it 53-50, but Purdue went 4-for-4 at the free throw line to close it out.
Gearlds, a 6-1 sophomore from Beech Grove, Ind., who was Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season, led Purdue with 24 points while Lawless added 17 points and nine rebounds. SDSU had two players in double figures, Sarita DeBoer with 13 and Shannon Schlagel with 12.
Each team had 19 field goals but Purdue shot 44 per cent (19x43) while SDSU shot 33 per cent (19x58). Purdue was 19-of-30 at the free throw line while SDSU was 5-of-13, and SDSU had 29 turnovers, three more than Purdue.
Purdue 57, South Dakota State 50
South Dakota State (9-4)
Megan Vogel 3-11 1-3 8, Shannon Schlagel 4-11 3-4 12, Sarita DeBoer 6-10 1-3 13, Brooke Dickmeyer 2-9 0-0 6, Heather Sieler 2-5 0-1 6, Andrea Verdegan 2-7 0-0 5, Sarah Meckley 0-2 0-0 0, Christina Gilbert 0-3 0-2 0. Totals 19-58 5-13 50.
I think this is a team that would have been ranked first in DII this year with an open road to the finals. These gals are proving that when they are playoff eligible, they will be a program that is a force to be reckoned with. Along the way, they will pile up a few victims. Great job Lady Jacks!
There was a method to Kristy Curry's scheduling madness when she decided to play South Dakota State two days before the Purdue women's basketball team's Big Ten Conference opener.
"Tonight might have been a blessing in disguise," Curry said following the 20th-ranked Boilermakers' 57-50 victory over the Jackrabbits.
"I much rather had played South Dakota State than gone to Wisconsin and had this still in our system. Maybe it's out of our system."
Whatever was in Purdue's system had better disappear before Thursday's matchup in Madison, Wis., or the conference season might be over before it begins.
Katie Gearlds saved Purdue, scoring 8 of her team's final 11 points during the last 4:05 to allow the crowd of 4,158 to rest easy.
Gearlds finished with a season-high 24 points, and classmate Erin Lawless contributed 17 to help the Boilermakers shake off the rust from a weeklong holiday break. The pair combined for 26 of Purdue's 31 second-half points.
But 26 turnovers and watching a smaller South Dakota State team outrebound the Boilermakers was troublesome.
"That's why you play a game like this -- to get ready for the Big Ten season," said Gearlds, who had 18 points after halftime. "They ran the ball in transition like no one we've faced this year. It's good preparation for us starting our new season."
Gearlds stepped up when her teammates needed her most.
The Jackrabbits, who are in their first season at the Division I level, tied the game at 45 when Shannon Schlagel hit two free throws with 5:41 to play.
Lawless made one free throw a minute later, giving Purdue a 46-45 lead. That's when Gearlds took over. The sophomore drained a jumper with 4:05 to play, pushing the advantage to 48-45.
When South Dakota State moved within 48-47, Gearlds answered with another jumper at the 1:59 mark. She added two free throws to give Purdue a 52-47 lead with 54.9 seconds remaining.
"I really believe the difference was Katie," Jackrabbits coach Aaron Johnston said. "She came off a couple of ball screens in the last three minutes and hit some pull up jumpers. There are very few players in America that come off ball screens and shoot the ball like that."
Despite owning a 39-33 rebounding edge, including 17 offensive rebounds, South Dakota State committed 29 turnovers -- 12 more than its season average.
Still, the Jackrabbits (9-4) were tied with five minutes left.
"We wouldn't have asked for a better situation," Johnston said. "Regardless of what you do in the first 35 minutes, if you have a chance to win at Purdue, that feels pretty good."
The Boilermakers could never shake South Dakota State. They had a six-point lead in the first half and led by as many as seven in the second half.
Curry said poor perimeter play, specifically from junior point guard Sharika Webb, contributed to Purdue's performance. Curry used freshman Brina Pollack down the stretch at the point.
"Our perimeter play was horrid at a couple of positions," the sixth-year coach said. "I thought Sharika Webb set the tone that was hard for us to recover from.
"Our demeanor looked bad at times from Webb. Everyone in the building saw it. It is what it is, and there's no reason to beat around the bush and talk about this and that."
Gearlds said Pollack made the most of her 14 minutes.
"Brina did a great job of coming in and getting us to where we needed to be," she said.
Lawless said the Jackrabbits were relentless on the boards.
"We have not played anybody who has been that aggressive on the boards," she said. "We did our job as much as we could boxing out, but they were able to get in there and fight and get some of those boards."
Curry said Tye Jackson did not dress because the freshman is battling the stomach flu. She's expected to accompany the team to Wisconsin.
"She called me at 3:30 (Tuesday morning) and said, 'Coach, I am so sick,' " Curry said. "Her family had it, and we're hoping to get her juices flowing and her feeling better."
I listened to this game, SDSU gave the Boilermakers all they wanted, The difference was the huge disparity in free throws (+20) for Purdue. State wins this game in Frost!!
The SDSU women's team is a phenomenal success for a first year D-I team. Normally the first few years are times of taking some serious lumps, but being able to win at this level, and being able to play ranked teams close is almost unheard of. Keep this up, and SDSU is going to be one of the top women's teams in the country.
I mean if you can do this in year 1, what will it be like in year 10?
The Jackrabbits (9-4) gave Purdue all it could handle at Mackey Arena, but Gearlds scored eight of the Boilermakers' final 11 points to save them from what would have been a stunning upset.
Clinging to a 46-45 lead with less than five minutes to play, Gearlds knocked down two mid-range jumpers and hit four free throws to break the Jackrabbits' three-game winning streak. . . .
The feisty Jackrabbits wouldn't go away, making seven 3-pointers in the game to Purdue's zero to stay close throughout.
Heather Sieler knocked down a 3-pointer and Schlagel hit two free throws to tie the game at 45 with under six minutes to play.
But the newcomers to Division I just couldn't come up with the big shots or stops down the stretch to stay with what has been one of the top college programs in the country for the last 10 years.
Gearlds responded with her spurt, and the closest South Dakota State would get was 53-50 on Schlagel's 3-pointer with 31 seconds left.
It was the first of six straight road games for South Dakota State, which includes trips to Oklahoma State and Alabama. . . .
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