IU women fall to rival Purdue, 76-66

Purdue now owns all bragging rights over Indiana, at least with trophies.

In the 2009-10 athletic year, Purdue has won all of its trophy contests over Indiana - the Old Oaken Bucket in football, the Monon Spike in volleyball, the Golden Boot in soccer and now, with a 76-66 victory Thursday, the Barnburner Trophy in women’s basketball.

Purdue (7-6, 2-1) won the Barnburner trophy for the 14th time by defeating the Hoosiers (8-5, 1-1). Purdue has won all but three games in the Barnburner trophy series, which began in the 1993-1994 season. The Boilermakers now lead the all-time series by a commanding 19 games.

“It was their day,” IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said. “The best team won today.”

Although neither team shot particularly well, both hitting under 40 percent from the floor, Legette-Jack felt that Purdue was able to win because they made shots when it counted.

Brittany Rayburn, the 2008-09 Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year, led the Boilermakers in scoring with 22 points, which ties her career high. In all, Purdue had three players in double figures, and all players who saw playing time scored at least 3 points.

Indiana also had three players in double figures, led by junior guard Jori Davis and freshman forward Aulani Sinclair with 16 points, each. 

The Hoosier bench scored 23 points, but did not make up for the lack of scoring from the normal contributors.  Sophomore forward Sasha Chaplin, who scored 22 points against Toledo on December 22, only took five shots the entire game against Purdue. She finished with 6 points and 3 blocks.

Poor second half play also condemned the Hoosiers, as they scored only 28 points compared to Purdue’s 41.

“We were so surprised that plays worked that we overshot it,” Legette-Jack said.  “And when you make shots, it gives you confidence, and when you miss shots that you are supposed to make, it kind of hits you on the head a little bit. “

The turnovers proved to be the key stat in the game, as Purdue scored 22 points off of IU’s 24 turnovers. IU scored only seven points off of Purdue’s 10 turnovers. But the Hoosiers' turnover problems were not created purely from Purdue playing the ball close, but instead the Hoosiers turned the ball over uncontested frequently during the game, Legette-Jack said..

“You can’t give the ball away,” she said. “It’s too precious.”

One thing the Hoosiers did well was rebound, as they out-rebounded the Boilermakers 43-41. But the Hoosiers did not rebound well on both sides of the ball; only bringing down offensive rebounds 13 times in the contest. Purdue rebounded more evenly, with 18 offensive and 23 defensive rebounds.

And while IU has struggled with rebounding in the past, the turnovers are what the Hoosiers plan to work on in practice, before taking on another Big Ten foe, Michigan State.

“We are trying to grow as a young team and sometimes we try to make it happen, try to force the action and we get ahead of the ball,” Legette-Jack said.