Boilers Rally Late, Fall at Wisconsin 76-69
The Boilermakers couldn’t overcome a 21-point deficit on New Year’s Eve
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MADISON, Wis. – The Purdue women’s basketball team made a late rally Monday at Wisconsin, but were unable to erase a 21-point deficit, falling 76-69 to the Badgers at the Kohl Center. The Boilermakers move to 10-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play, while Wisconsin improved to 10-4 on the season and 1-1 in the Big Ten.
Despite going to the locker room with a close score at the half, 34-31, it was the Badgers who stormed out in the second half, going on a 19-5 run to open things up. Wisconsin wound up with 27 third-quarter points and then opened the fourth on a 6-0 run to extend their advantage to 67-46 with 7:43 to play.
Behind junior Dominique Oden and sophomore Karissa McLaughlin the Boilermakers came storming back. Going on a 19-4 run over the next five minutes, Purdue closed to within six, 71-65, with two and a half minutes to play, but ran out of steam as Wisconsin picked up a couple buckets late to seal up their win.
McLaughlin played the entire 40 minutes, finishing with 19 points and a career-high 11 assists, while Oden battled foul trouble throughout, but came up with 12 points, six rebounds and four assists. Fellow junior Ae’Rianna Harris had foul problems as well, but made a huge surge with 10 straight points in the third quarter and finished with 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Sophomore Tamara Farquhar gave the Boilermakers a big boost in the first half, scoring all nine of her points, and added eight boards and two blocks.
The Boilermakers return home Saturday to host Michigan at 6 p.m. ET in Mackey Arena.