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Purdue's flight plan never gets off the ground
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — For much of Tuesday night, the Purdue women’s basketball team was perdu.
As in lost.
Shots didn’t fall. Passes didn’t find their targets.
And an opportunity to take advantage of a partisan crowd inside Mackey Arena slipped through the ninth-seeded Boilermakers’ fingers in a 78-52 loss to top-seeded Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
In sewing up their 27th consecutive trip to the Sweet 16, the Lady Vols made sure of that.
Like Connecticut and North Carolina did during the regular season, Tennessee harassed Purdue early and took the Boilermakers out of their game.
“We’ve been in that position before,” Purdue guard Kalika France said. “We knew what to expect.”
The position wasn’t new. Neither was the result.
Purdue, which shot 32 percent from the field in the opening 20 minutes Tuesday night, struggled early in regular-season losses to North Carolina and Connecticut.
The Boilermakers (19-15) lost those two games by a combined 68 points.
Both those teams, like Tennessee, earned No. 1 seeds in the women’s tournament.
Against Duke, a No. 3 seed, Purdue trailed by seven points at halftime, but scored just 18 points.
For Purdue coach Sharon Versyp, the common threads in all those losses were athletic players and a strong defensive effort by the opposition.
“They all have guards, they all have length down low,” Versyp said. “They’re all very athletic.
“I think all three have the type of athletes that make you so competitive that they get up and down the floor. The people that get down and play defense, I think that’s going to be the separation as they go through the tournament.”
Tennessee’s defense proved more than bothersome for Purdue.
In the first half, the Boilermakers struggled to get the kind of shots they wanted.
And when they did, they didn’t fall. Purdue opened the game 3-of-19 from the floor.
That, combined with 15 first-half turnovers, kept Purdue fans in their seats with their mouths shut for most of the night.
“We knew Purdue would have a great crowd,” said UT coach Pat Summitt, who won her 100th NCAA tournament game. “I told our team not to take anything for granted here. We didn’t want the crowd to get into the game, and we wanted to have a quick start.”
The Boilermakers’ only real highlights came during a 12-2 run late in the first half and a 9-0 run midway through the second half.
Those two spurts weren’t nearly enough to overcome Tennessee’s fast start.
“It set us back a lot,” said France, who finished 3-of-11 from the floor for 10 points. “The first half was really the difference.”
That assessment rang true for Tennessee point guard Alexis Hornbuckle.
“We know that we can’t give anybody any advantage, especially playing on their own floor,” Hornbuckle said. “We had to step up and take control of the game early, and that’s what we did.”
Notebook: By virtue of her game-high 24 points, UT’s Candace Parker topped the 20-point plateau for the 19th time this season. For the 18th time, she had at least eight rebounds and three blocks. … UT is 44-5 all-time against the Big Ten, including a 6-1 mark in NCAA tournament games. … Tuesday’s win was Tennessee’s second over Purdue in the NCAA tournament, joining a 75-54 defeat in 2005.
© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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Posted by houvol on March 26, 2008 at 8:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Great job ladies. Keep it up.
Posted by HotlantaVol on March 26, 2008 at 8:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I was kinda looking forward to seeing the look of disappointment on old Sherri 'Frizzy Hair' Cole's face when we stuffed C. Parris in OK City. Oh, well. Let's lay a whoopin' on the Irish, ladies. Punch that ticket all the way to Tampa next week.
OOOOOOOOOOOklahoma where the wind comes sweepin' o'er the plains. And the waving wheat - smells so sweet . . . Yee-haw!!
Posted by johnlg00 on March 26, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The Lady Vols turned what could have been a trap game into a springboard into another (ho-hum!) Sweet Sixteen! I didn't get to see much of the game; as a hostage in NC, I was forced to watch the Duke-ASU game. Hopefully, I'll get to see more of the UT-Notre Dame game. It seems the gals are peaking at the right time. In a way, it's too bad that Georgia gave UNC such a tussle. That will have them even more primed for their Final Four run. Everyone talks, and rightly so, about how Pat gets in players' faces when necessary, but, believe me, you wouldn't want Sylvia Hatchell of UNC on your case, either(;-P)! GO LADY VOLS!!! BRING HOME THE EIGHTH!!!
Posted by 98reax on March 26, 2008 at 10:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
johnlg, do you think Sylvia could hang with Geno in the 'in-your-face' category? I do believe I would prefer Hatchel because even though she can get up into your head, she doesn't spew profanity. Besides she is such a nice person.
I'm inclined to think LSU will knock off the tarleels after they've made hay of Ok St. NC, on the other hand may struggle with Louisville.
Posted by SCVolsFan on March 26, 2008 at 11:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I also was stuck watching Duke. Don't they know
TN has fans in other parts than TN?
Hope I will get to see the next game or I am going to be ticked!
Go Lady Vols!!
Posted by rayhjenkins on March 26, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why is the fact that Pat Summitt reaches another career milestone - 100 career NCAA Tournament wins - first ever by any coach - men or women - buried in the middle of this article?
That ought to be a headline.
Posted by volboy81 on March 26, 2008 at noon (Suggest removal)
GOOD GOING LADIES! Play like that the next 4 games, and we'll hang banner #8 in TBA next November!!!
Posted by mparker on March 26, 2008 at 12:47 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Purdue played the worst defense I think I've ever seen from a major college.
I mean, how many times can you let Candace, Vicky, and my dead grandmother drive to the basket??
Glad for the win, but man, hope the ladies don't expect to see any more of that kind of D.
Posted by VolnFlorida on March 26, 2008 at 6:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Now, let the tournament begin. Expect to see defense lady Vols. You haven't yet.
Posted by amcguire01 on March 26, 2008 at 6:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Ladies didn't just beat Purdue...they DESTROYED them! HA! So much for the home court advantage. Lex was all over the place, disrupting their guards, and Shannon did a nice job on their point Malone. Parke came to play and too no prisoners. She, Nicky and Vickie were agressive from the jump, and didn't let up. They've gotta help Angie with her shot though. Good job girls!
Posted by tenacee on March 26, 2008 at 9:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Great Win Ladies!!!!!
Anjie is really hustling.She's rebounding and mixing it up and she's not getting those tic tac fouls called. Glad she's a Lady Vol. I think her legs are coming back to her. And with a little more rest her shot will come too. Maybe she's pressing a little.
ESPN does not make any sense to me at all. Why would you show dook and arizona on 2 and U at the same time. The only reason I can figure is some people up there don't get it. I wonder how long this contract is. The coverage is so poor.
And trey wingo another year. Boy that is a real winner. And one last thing. KARA would you please relax and stop being a puppet head. I'm all for you. But you're not progressing. Stacy is starting to get my favor. She has improved alot, in my view.
Posted by mparker on March 27, 2008 at 12:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
guys, if you have espn360 you can watch it on your PC. the transmission can be jerky and bad, but that could be for any number or reasons.
Still, you can watch the game (sort of).
It also keeps the replays for a while.
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