BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) -- Shalicia Hurns helped Purdue get the
lead and then made sure the Boilermakers didn't lose it.
|  | | Purdue's Shereka Wright gets fouled by Indiana's Rachael Honegger in the first half Sunday. |
Given more playing time because of a season-ending injury to
teammate Mary Jo Noon on Thursday, Hurns scored a career-high 19
points and the No. 6 Boilermakers held off a second-half rally to
beat Indiana 67-59 Sunday night.
The victory gave Purdue sole possession of first place in the
Big Ten.
"The biggest thing with Mary Jo going down was they moved Candi
(Crawford) to center, and I had to take people off the dribble a
little more," said Hurns, who scored repeatedly on drives to the
basket.
"This is great. This is memorable," the 6-foot-3 freshman said
of her first game against the Hoosiers. "I'm just glad I played
well."
Hurns had three straight baskets early in the second half as the
Boilermakers (14-3, 4-0) took a 22-point lead. But she didn't score
a point for the next 15 minutes as the Hoosiers (12-3, 3-1) made
their comeback.
Two free throws by Jill Hartman finished a seven-point Indiana
run that cut Purdue's lead to 54-50 with under five minutes to go.
Indiana still trailed by just five after a 3-pointer by Heather
Cassady before a basket by Hurns turned the momentum back to
Purdue.
"We needed her to step up," Purdue coach Kristy Curry said.
"We told the freshmen last week that they're not freshmen anymore.
This is January, this is 2001, they're sophomores now, and I
thought Hurns really stepped up for us tonight."
After Hurns' basket with just over two minutes to go, Shereka
Wright hit one of two free throws, Hurns scored again off a
rebound and Kelly Komara finished Purdue's scoring with two free
throws with 21 seconds to go. Cassady scored the final two baskets
for Indiana in the closing seconds.
"We didn't take care of the ball like we wanted to in the first
half," said Cassady, who led Indiana with 11 points. "But their
pressure wasn't anything we haven't seen. They were up in our faces
but we never gave up."
Katie Douglas, who suffered a mild concussion in Purdue's
game on Thursday, backed Hurns with 13 points and Camille Cooper
added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Tara Jones finished with 10 points
for the Hoosiers.
"When we had that run, we started playing more aggressively,"
Indiana coach Kathi Bennett said. "I just wish we could have done
that the whole game.
"We started playing defense the way we needed to. We began
letting our offense dictate, moving the ball, getting the ball
inside."
The Hoosiers led only briefly early in the first half before a
basket by Hurns and a 3-pointer by Douglas put the Boilermakers
ahead for good.
Purdue did not allow Indiana more than two straight points the
rest of the half and steadily widened the lead to 37-21 at the
break. The Boilermakers' biggest lead was at 45-23 three minutes
into the second period.
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