32 ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 25, ISSUE 3
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BY KYLE CHARTERS
KCharters@GoldandBlack.com
A
s Purdue readied for the start of Big Ten
play in late December, it felt like it had
found an identity.
The Boilermakers, winners of four straight af-
ter a stumbling start that left them 3-4, including
a three-game losing streak, started winning by
ratcheting up their defense. In the three games
of the Basketball Travelers Invitational, granted
against three mid-majors, two of which came in
with only three combined wins, Purdue allowed an
average of only 47 points per game.
"You have to be tough and it stems with your defense,"
Coach Sharon Versyp said Dec. 21, before Purdue took a
few days off for the holiday. "I'm just glad that the players
see that now. When you play defense, we can win."
The Boilermakers are allowing 58.2 points per game,
the sixth-best in the 14-team Big Ten. And it has helped
that Purdue's been better of late on
the boards, ending those defensive
stops by outrebounding opponents
by an average of 1.2 per game.
Through the first seven games, be-
fore the winning streak, the margin
on the glass had been a deficit.
Now the Boilermaker feel like
they have something to build on for
the Big Ten, as they look toward im-
proving an NCAA résumé that's iffy.
"We weren't playing defense at
all the first couple games," captain
April Wilson said. "That was our
main goal. And then once we get the board, it sends us
to our offense."
Following is a breakdown of the Boilermakers through
the non-conference season.
SLOW STARTS KILL
Purdue finds itself in this position, having needed
to rally to get to seven nonconference wins, because it
W O M E N ' S B A S K E T B A L L U P D A T E
Tom Campbell
Purdue's defense, like Liza Clemons
displayed (left), has been good this
season. The offense has run through
Whitney Bays (above).
Pushing Toward Big Ten
Defense leads Purdue to four-game winning streak
