IU falls to Purdue in first Big Ten home game

Both the weather outside and the shooting inside Assembly Hall were ice-cold Saturday night, as Purdue defeated the IU women’s basketball team 55-49.\nThe game saw both teams shoot poorly from the floor, as Purdue hit just 33 percent and IU just 34 percent for the game. Additionally, Purdue missed all nine of their 3-point attempts, and IU knocked down just 4-of-22 from behind the arc.\nIn the end, it was free-throw shooting – Purdue hit 15-of-17 to IU’s 5-of-9 – that decided the game, at least on the scoreboard.\n“We didn’t attack as well as we needed to,” IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack said after the game.\nThe game hinged on two second-half Purdue runs – 8-0 to start the half and 10-0 midway through. The second stretched Purdue’s lead to as much as 13; IU never led again.\n“A few of our kids were shooting the ball as if they couldn’t believe they were open,” Legette-Jack said.\nJunior forward Amber Jackson featured for the Hoosiers down low, scoring a game-high 17 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Junior guard/forward Kim Roberson also had 12 points and eight rebounds in the loss.\nPurdue coach Sharon Versyp, who led IU during the 2005-2006 season, said her team’s gameplan all along was to force IU into settling for 3-point shots.\n“They’re great one-on-one players and they score well, so we were gonna see if they started knocking down some threes,” Versyp said. “That was the game plan from the beginning.”\nOn the other end of the scorer’s table, Purdue struggled from the outside, and Versyp said in-game adjustments to push the ball inside helped her team. That was evident on the stat sheet, as forward Lakisha Freeman and center Danielle Campbell had 15 and 13 points respectively. The two also combined for 19 of Purdue’s 40 rebounds.\nBoth teams also struggled with turnovers, something the Hoosiers have had problems with on and off this year. IU gave the ball away 20 times, with sophomore guard Jamie Braun committing seven giveaways to just three assists and one point, well below her season average of 13.2 points per game.\n“I don’t know what they were doing to her, but I can tell you’re not going to see that side of Jamie too often,” Legette-Jack said.\nThe game was Versyp’s second back in Bloomington since leaving the Hoosiers after only one year to take the head coaching position at her alma mater. She is 3-0 against the Hoosiers since moving to West Lafayette, and Purdue has taken 13 of the last 15 meetings between the in-state rivals.\nThe Boilermakers nearly missed the game entirely, as mechanical problems forced them to work out different arrangements that included using buses and cars to get to Bloomington and Assembly Hall.\nIn an interesting twist of scheduling, the Hoosiers return trip to Mackey Arena in West Lafayette takes place in just 11 days, on Jan. 14. In between, however, IU will host Illinois and travel to Ohio State, the unanimous preseason pick to win the Big Ten.\n“I’m not looking ahead, I’m looking at Illinois right now,” Jackson said. “That’s what we have to focus on.”