Purdue Women’s Basketball WNIT Run Halted at IU
The Boilermakers finish the 2017-18 season at 20-14
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The 2017-18 season came to an end for the Purdue women’s basketball team Thursday, falling at Indiana 73-51 in the WNIT Round of 16. The Boilermakers finish the year at 20-14, marking the ninth 20-win season in 12 years under head coach Sharon Versyp and the 25th in program history.
Indiana rode red-hot shooting all night against the Boilermakers, hitting 54.7 percent from the field and a perfect 9-for-9 at the free throw line. Purdue rallied several times, cutting double-digit Indiana leads back to three points twice in the first half, but the third-quarter was the Boilermakers’ undoing as Indiana took full advantage of a cold shooting streak and stretched the lead out to 20 going into the final quarter. Purdue hit a few shots early in the fourth, but the gap proved too large to overcome as Indiana advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals.
Sophomore Dominique Oden did everything she could for the Boilermakers, scoring 20 points for the fifth time in her last six games as she hit 8-of-14 from the field and 2-of-5 from distance. She added three rebounds, two assists and two steals, finishing the season with the fourth-best sophomore scoring season in program history at 478 points.
Senior Andreona Keys was the only other Boilermaker in double-figures, points 11 points in her final game in a Purdue uniform. As she’s done her entire career, she stuffed the stat sheet with seven rebounds, six assists and a blocked shot. She finishes her time at Purdue with 1,246 points, good for 21st in program history, and ranked in the top 20 all-time in rebounds and assists.
While struggling in the scoring column, sophomore Ae’Rianna Harris posted 10 rebounds, three assists, four blocks and three steals. She finished the season with 304 rebounds, tied for fourth-most in a season at Purdue, and becomes the fifth player in program history to crack 300 boards in a season. Her four blocked shots pushed her season total to 105, second-most by a Boilermaker and three shy of the school record.
