Boilers win in final two seconds
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 02/08/2010
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The Purdue women’s basketball team led for only two seconds against Wisconsin on Sunday in Mackey Arena. Fortunately for the Boilermakers, it was the final two seconds.
With 10 seconds left in the game, the Boilermakers (13-11, 8-5 Big Ten) had the ball under their own basket with the game tied, 56-56. They ran a play around the perimeter, but the ball ended up in sophomore Chelsea Jones’ hands on the baseline. She said she got the ball knocked away at first, but she was able to regain composure and hit a hook shot as the clock read two seconds to put the Boilers up for good, 58-56.
“The play we were running, I had a pretty good feeling that I was probably going to have to get it since they would be out on our shooters,” Jones said. “So just catching it, I was like, ‘OK, you guys, shoot it! And if I don’t make it, at least we go to overtime.’”
She said she usually doesn’t take shots from as far away as she was in games, but she makes them in practice.
“It felt good,” Jones said. “But even when it went in, I was still like, ‘Oh my gosh, yes!’”
To get close enough to win the game, the Boilers had large deficits to overcome. Wisconsin’s (17-7, 7-6 Big Ten) largest lead was 11 points, and they had a nine-point advantage with 8:03 to go in the second half.
Wisconsin received a blow when its leading scorer, Alyssa Karel, was forced to sit out for more than four minutes for an apparent right leg injury with 7:03 left to play. After that, the Boilers finished the game on a 17-6 run.
“I think surely there was a bit of a scare when Alyssa went down,” Wisconsin head coach Lisa Stone said. “But our team responded back pretty well. (Purdue’s) defense really picked up, and that’s a credit to Purdue.”
Sophomore Brittany Rayburn, who led all scorers with 19, contributed only three points in that final Purdue run, but they were the game-tying points. She used a screen to get open on the left wing and hit a 3-pointer with 58 seconds left to tie the game. Head coach Sharon Versyp said she was pleased with the way her players were able to run her plays all the way until the final two seconds.
“I had some set plays at the end, and we executed to the T and we were able to finish the shot,” Versyp said. “So this is a huge win for this team, and this program, and I’m just very pleased.”
With the win and Penn State’s home loss to Ohio State on Sunday, the Boilers own sole possession of second place in the Big Ten standings behind the Buckeyes (23-3, 11-2 Big Ten).
Next, the Boilers will be facing Ohio State on Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.