Feb. 13, 2011
Box Score
| Printable Illinois-Purdue Box Score 
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Illinois hasn't fared well historically at Mackey Arena and Sunday was no different as Purdue shot a season-high 61 percent en route to an 92-63 victory over Illinois. The Boilermakers broke open the game with a backbreaking 13-1 run to close the first half, turning a two-point deficit into a 10-point halftime lead. The Fighting Illini never recovered. It marked Illinois' ninth straight defeat and Purdue's fifth straight win over the Illini in West Lafayette.
Redshirt freshman Amber Moore led four Illini in double figures with 14 points, but the Orange and Blue struggled on the defensive end with sophomores Karisma Penn and Adrienne GodBold, two of the team's top defenders, on the bench for much of the game in foul trouble.
Purdue jumped out to an early nine-point lead, but the Illini used a 14-4 run to take their first lead of the game, 29-28, with 6:36 left. Illinois still led 40-38 later in the half, but the Boilermakers finished the half on a 13-1 run in the final 2:25 to open up a 51-41 halftime lead.
Illinois (7-19, 2-11) would get no closer than six in the second half, as Purdue (17-9, 7-6) kept up its hot shooting and finished the game on a 21-4 run to puff up the final score in game that was closer than the final 29-point margin would indicate.
"Purdue really turned up the intensity at the end of the first half and for the entire second half," Illinois head coach Jolette Law said. "We made a lot of miscues on defense and didn't communicate well at all. I have to give Purdue a lot of credit, they really took it to us."
The Boilers shot a sizzling 67 percent before the break and hit 35-of-57 for the game, including 8-of-15 from behind the arc. The Illini got the line a season-high 34 times but made just 20 (59 percent).
"Defense requires effort and constant communication," Law said. "You have to take pride in playing defense and tonight we didn't."
Penn, who sat the final 13:38 of the first half with two fouls, finished with 12 points and six rebounds, while junior Lana Rukavina had a solid game with 11 points, five rebounds and a career-high five assists. Freshman Centrese McGee was the fourth Illini in double figures with 10 points and also added six rebounds. GodBold, making her first start of the season, struggled to just one point and four fouls in 13 minutes.
The 92 points allowed by the Illini are the most since Feb. 15, 2001, when Penn State put up 101 against the Orange and Blue.
The Illini have a bye on Thursday before returning to Assembly Hall on Feb. 20 for the fifth annual WBCA Pink Zone game. Fans that wear pink to the game will get in free and there will be several other activities to raise funds and awareness for fighting breast cancer.
