It’s cold inside
Life without Heather Bowman – and her averages of 21 points and 10 rebounds – is going to be difficult for Gonzaga.
Purdue hammered that point home Wednesday night by dominating the inside and pulling out a 64-61 win over the Bulldogs in a non-conference women’s basketball game before 2,232 fans at The Kennel after Courtney Vandersloot’s 3-pointer for Gonzaga was released just a moment after the buzzer.
“I don’t know, somebody’s going to have to step up,” GU coach Kelly Graves said about Bowman’s absence after breaking her hand last week. “We can’t play a whole perimeter game. They clamp down on it if there is no inside threat.”
The starting frontline for the Boilermakers (4-5) goes 6-foot-4, 6-4 and 6-1 and they combined for 39 points and 20 rebounds.
By contrast, the Bulldogs who replaced Bowman came up with three points and 11 rebounds.
Gonzaga (6-5) offset that difference with a season-high 20 points and seven rebounds from wing Jami Bjorklund and point guards Vandersloot and Rachel Kane splitting 22 points.
The difference was 6-1 Purdue freshman Keshia Mosley, who came off the bench in the second half and scored 10 quick points in 10 minutes.
She made all five of her shots in a 4-minute stretch early in the second half when the Boilermakers hit 6 of 7 shots to take a 41-40 lead, their first of the game.
“I’m all about hard work, understanding the system and playing good defense,” Purdue coach Sharon Versyp said. “Maybe the light bulb clicked on. I put Keshia in – I didn’t think anybody could guard her. Making five shots in a row was a real confidence boost for everyone.
“She brought an energy level, she has a physicality that we don’t have on the team. That’s why she got everybody going.”
All five shots were layups, some under duress, and made a star out of a player who had appeared in just three games for a total of 24 minutes with 12 points.
“During that one stretch, (No.) 23 came in and we didn’t know who she was,” Graves said. “She did a nice job, she really did. She was the difference.”
Despite that decided 38-20 Purdue advantage in the paint, Gonzaga had two chances to take the lead in the final 30 seconds. Vandersloot hit a potential tying 3-pointer that was released just milliseconds after the final buzzer.
Purdue was up 60-55 with 3 1/2 minutes left but went scoreless for almost 3 minutes. Bjorklund made a pair of shots, and after a Boilermakers turnover was fouled rebounding her shot that was blocked. She missed the front end of the 1-and-1.
After FahKara Malone made two free throws with 28 seconds left, Vandersloot made a layup. The Bulldogs forced a turnover, but Bjorklund missed a shot. On the inbounds play Kane drew a foul but missed the free-throw opportunity with 6.3 seconds left.
Lakisha Freeman made two free throws with 5.7 seconds left – the Boilermakers hit 19 of 21 – before Michelle Elliott couldn’t get open for a 3-pointer and passed back to Vandersloot, who couldn’t beat the buzzer.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” Graves said. “Ask me who I would prefer to have on the line at crunch time and it’s those two players. That’s not where we lost, that’s going to be the most evident. We’re leaving too many points on the floor. We’ve got to find some answers. Heather isn’t going to be back for a while.”
Danielle Campbell, who is 6-4, led Purdue with 16 points and Freeman (6-1) had 14. Both grabbed eight rebounds. Natasha Bogdanova, also 6-4, had nine points.
The Bulldogs battled Purdue to a draw on the boards, matching the Boilermakers’ 37 rebounds, but GU shot only 40 percent for the game, went 5 for 10 from the foul line and had 21 turnovers.
Purdue also shot 40 percent but made 52 percent in the second half after an 8-for-27 start that saw Gonzaga take a 30-22 lead at the half.