Jan. 2, 2012

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - "This is the Illini team that I've come to know," said Illinois head coach Jolette Law of her team's effort after a gut-wrenching 64-63 loss to Purdue Monday afternoon.

Illinois forced 25 turnovers and got big games offensively from a number of players in pushing the Boilermakers to the brink. Unfortunately for the Illini, Purdue's Courtney Moses hit a game-winning three-point shot at the buzzer to thwart Illinois' upset bid.

"It didn't come down to the last-second shot," Law said. "There were a couple possessions I could rewind back to. We had 25 turnovers and still almost upset the No. 20 team in the country. If we limit those and convert some free throws down the stretch, I think it would have been a different outcome. I'm very proud of my kids tonight."

Three days after a 70-50 setback to Michigan, the Illini saw an early deficit. KK Houser (16 points) hit a pair of three pointers and the Boilermakers forced five turnovers in the first four minutes in jumping to a 12-1 lead. This time, however, the Illini battled back, closing the gap to 14-13 and playing toe-to-toe with Purdue the rest of the way.

Kersten Magrum was at the heart of the resurgence. The sophomore scored a game-high 18 points and tallied two blocks and three steals. Despite a cold shooting first half, Illinois trailed by just four points at 28-24 at the break, thanks in large part to a 20-14 rebound advantage, including a 9-2 lead in offensive boards. The first half featured a combined 33 turnovers, 16 by Purdue.

"We caused a lot of their turnovers," Law said. "We dictated on defense. We tried to break up some of their patterns. We really played Illini defense today."

Illinois continued to play right with the Boilermakers in the second half. Freshman Ivory Crawford made some big shots to keep Illini right at the heels of Purdue. Crawford made a pair of free throws to tie the score at 33. another two shots from the line to tie it at 37 and a big three from the corner to tie it at 42.

"She's getting better daily," Law said of Crawford. "I give a lot of credit to my veteran players for directing traffic and communicating on the floor. The more Ivory learns the better she's going to get."

The second half had eight ties and four lead changes with the Illini finally taking their first lead at 48-46 on a jumper from Karisma Penn (9 points, seven rebounds, three blocks, three steals) with 8:45 to play. Adrienne GodBold had a steal and lay-in to give Illinois its biggest lead on the next possession at 50-46. After Purdue tied it at 50-50, Crawford nailed another three to give the Illini the lead again.

"We took our time on offense," Law said. "When they double-teamed Karisma, we found other players."

Senior Lydia McCully was among those, playing strong defensively and finishing with 11 points and seven rebounds.

Veteran All-Big Ten guard Brittany Rayburn was the difference down the stretch for Purdue. The senior had just four points in the first 28 minutes of the game, but exploded for 11 points the rest of the way to finish with 15. Rayburn made a three-pointer to pull Purdue within 60-59 with 4:37 to play and after several empty possessions for both teams, worked around a screen for the go-ahead bucket with just under two minutes to play.

Illinois came right back, however. After a McCully steal, Crawford was fouled late in the shot clock and connected on a pair of free throws with 25 seconds left to put Illinois back in front 62-61. After a Purdue timeout, Houser missed a driving lay-up and Magrum got the rebound for Illinois with 11 seconds left. After McCully hit one of two from the line with seven seconds left, Purdue had to travel the length of the court without a timeout and worked the ball to Moses who sank the winning basket as time expired.

Despite the loss, the game solidified the Illini's belief that they can compete with the league's best.

"We really competed as a team, which is something we didn't do against Michigan," Magrum said. "We have a lot to work on for sure, but I think our attitude and our defensive tenacity really showed today. That's something we can really build on."

"We just want to stay positive," McCully said. "Coming off the Michigan game, we were definitely two different teams. We want to go into this next game with the same focus, energy and preparation that we had for today's game. If we can do that, we have nowhere to go but forward."

Illinois travels to Iowa for a 7 p.m. tipoff with the Hawkeyes on Thursday then hosts Wisconsin at 2 p.m, on Sunday, Jan. 8.