IU gets hammered by Purdue

The winning streak was short-lived.

After taking Wisconsin down to the wire and pulling off a 62-60 victory Thursday — the team’s first win in 15 Big Ten games this season — the IU women’s basketball team (6-23, 1-15) fell 90-58 to Purdue (21-8, 11-5) on Sunday at Mackey Arena during its final regular season game.

The Hoosiers found themselves behind early, as the Boilermakers had a 9-2 lead fewer than four minutes into the game. IU tried to battle back, staying within 12 points until 6:43 in the first half.

The Boiler defense kept IU nearly scoreless for four minutes while it went on a 12-point run, extending the lead to 22 and putting the game out of reach at 41-19.

IU Coach Felisha Legette-Jack said she felt Purdue’s runs during the game were due to the added energy at Mackey Arena for the Boilermakers’ senior night, but she thought it was a great experience for her team to play in.

“You want that kind of environment,” she said. “With a young team like that, you don’t run away from that. That’s the best it gets. You don’t avoid that kind of atmosphere. You want that so we can know what it’s supposed to feel like, so when we get in that kind of atmosphere, it’s not going to scare us.”

Junior forward Aulani Sinclair led IU with nine points in the first half, and freshman guard Candyce Ussery scored a seven, more than double her season average of 2.6 points per game.

Indiana opened the second half by trading baskets with Purdue, cutting the lead to as few as 19 points. But the Hoosiers again fell victim to a scoring drought as Purdue scored 11 straight points during about a two-minute span, pushing the team’s lead to more than 30 for the first time in the game.

IU’s deficit would rise to as many as 36 before a seven-point IU run sparked by two straight baskets from junior center Sasha Chaplin.

After a Big Ten season that included only one win, Legette-Jack said the struggles of this season’s conference play happened for a reason.

“God is such a special God that he blessed us with a special opportunity with this situation,” Legette-Jack said. “He believes we can handle it, and we’re doing it with dignity and as much grace as we can.

“We certainly are here to win, and I came to IU to win and pursue championships, but if you can’t win, you’ve certainly got to do what you can to build the program.”

Chaplin led the Hoosiers in scoring with 15 points during only 17 minutes of playing time. Sinclair, who played the entire game, added 14 points, along with 10 from Ussery, her career high.

In the last regular season game of their careers, seniors Danilsa Andujar and Alisha Goodwin each scored a single basket and, along with Goodwin’s three free throws, combined for seven points.

With their regular season schedule complete, the Hoosiers will now move on to the Big Ten postseason tournament in Indianapolis, where they will play the conference’s No. 5 seed in the tournament Thursday.