Feb. 8, 2007

Box Score

West Lafayette, Ind. - Illinois and 13th-ranked Purdue slugged it out Thursday night in Mackey Arena with the Boilermakers coming away with a 69-57 victory in a game that was much closer than the final score would indicate. Freshman Lacey Simpson led the Illini with 12 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists in a tight game that saw six ties and 10 lead changes. It was the first time Illinois (16-7, 6-5) has dropped two straight games this season.

"I said it after Sunday's game (at Michigan State) and I'll say it again tonight: This one was do-able" said Illinois head coach Theresa Grentz. "We have to figure out how to make some plays at key times. Purdue is a veteran team and they did that tonight."

Illinois took the lead early in the second half with a quick 9-0 run after Purdue led 25-19 at the break. Simpson was key in the run, assisting an Erin Wigley bucket and then hitting a three and a two on back-to-back possessions to give the Illini a 30-29 lead with 15:42 left in the second half. The lead would then change hands several times over the next seven minutes, with the Illini holding their last lead, 41-40, after a Chelsea Gordon bucket at the 8:47 mark.

Still, Illinois hung around down the stretch, getting big threes from Lori Bjork and Simpson to stay with striking distance, but untimely turnovers and a huge three by PU center Erin Lawless sealed Illinois' fate. With Purdue leading 58-52 and less than two minutes remaining, Illinois played great defense on Purdue (21-4, 10-1) for the full shot clock, forcing the 6-2 post player, who was 0-8 on the night with 0 points, to throw up a desperation three as the shot clock expired. It hit nothing but net and put the game out of reach for the Orange and Blue.

"That Lawless three was a backbreaker," said Grentz when asked about the key play.

Bjork finished the game with 11 points and hit 3-of-7 from behind the arc to extend her streak of consecutive games with a three pointer to 30, and her streak of consecutive games with at least two three-pointers to a nation-leading 23. Gordon was also in double-figures with 11 points and five rebounds.

Illinois rallied to shoot 52 percent in the second half after hitting only 27 percent of its shots in the first half, but 21 turnovers cost them dearly. Boilermaker guard FahKara Malone pestered the Illini all night, racking up a career-high eight steals on the night. And as expected, Purdue All-American Katie Gearlds had a big game with 24 points and 12 rebounds, including key buckets immediately after Illinois took the lead on three different occasions.

"Gearlds was fantastic all night," said Grentz, who coached Gearlds on the Big Ten Foreign Tour in July. "She's the type of player that makes everyone else around her better. Then when you need her to score, she does. She's a great player."

The Illini were without freshman center Jenna Smith, who sat out the game due to a team rules violation. She will return to the line-up on Sunday when Ohio State visits Assembly Hall. Smith entered the night leading the Illini in rebounding (7.6 rpg) and was second on the team in scoring (10.9 ppg). Her presence in the post was surely missed as Illinois lost the rebounding battle tonight, 37-36, after entering the game as the top rebounding team in the league.

The road doesn't get any easier for the Illini as they return home to host #4/5 Ohio State this Sunday, Feb. 11 for "Paper the Hall". Fans can get free tickets to the game at the UI Athletic Ticket Office, The News-Gazette or WDWS/WHMS radio. At the start of the week over 8,000 tickets had been distributed for the event.

- ILLINI -