The Purdue women’s basketball team is halfway through its season and they are continuing to fight in every game. Located in West Lafayette at Mackey Arena, the team is a member of the Big Ten. In the past, they have made multiple NCAA tournament appearances as well as several Big Ten titles. The team has an overall record of 7-8 and a conference record of 0-4. The team has fought through close games as well as some huge point-difference games they have battled in as well.
The team started the season off strong with an exhibition game win against Indiana Tech (Ft. Wayne, IN). The final score of the game was 101-50. The team has seven players score double digits in this exhibition game. In just the first five minutes of the game, all five starters had made it in the scorebook to create an 18-6 lead. They also forced 19 turnovers on Indiana Tech and scored 30 points off Indiana Tech’s mistakes. The leading scorers of this exhibition game were Jayla Smith and Lana McCarthy who each scored 15 points and Ella Collier led the team with 5 assists as well.
The team’s first regular season game was against Purdue Fort Wayne. The team took a ten-point win with a final score of 87-77. Number 4 Destini Lombard led the team with 20 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists. Number 35 Lana Mccarthy also had a great game with 18 points and 10 rebounds. The team made a positive impact by scoring off of turnovers, which added 17 points to their total. Although Purdue scored off of Purdue Ft. Wayne’s turnovers, they also had 16 turnovers which Purdue Fort Wayne converted into 12 points.
Although the team started the season off strong their first loss was to Notre Dame. Notre Dame found a way to pull away from Purdue, left them in the dust, and won by 44. The final score of the game was 102-58. Notre Dame managed to quadruple Purdue’s score, putting Purdue down by 21 in just the first quarter. Again Destini Lombard led the team with thirteen points and five rebounds.
Last season a rare thing happened at Purdue, two sisters played on the same D1 basketball team at the same time. The Layden sisters (Northwestern High School) appeared on the floor at the same time multiple times last season, but this season that will not be the case. Maddison Layden is one of the four other seniors who graduated last year. These alumni-seniors positively affected the game as three out of four added height to the team. Although the team lost these seniors, they gained four new freshmen this year.
The team’s next game is at Mackey Arena on Sunday, January 11, and will play Michigan as they defend their home court. Even though Michigan is heavily favored to win, the Purdue Boilermakers are sure to put up a fight. The team has already lost four times on their home court and is sure to battle for another win in their territory again.
