Gophers women can't close out Purdue in Big Ten opener

WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. - The Gophers women's basketball team hadn't fared well away from home this season, hadn't fared well against ranked teams in recent seasons and hadn't fared well at Purdue ever.

The Gophers had a chance to reverse all those trends Friday night. But their six-point lead in the second half disappeared down the stretch, and the No. 20 Boilermakers rallied for a 57-53 victory at Mackey Arena in the Big Ten Conference opener for both teams.

Antionette Howard scored consecutive baskets late and finished with 13 points, and KK Houser had 15 points to lead the Boilermakers (11-3), who shot only 30.4 percent but finished on a 15-5 run after trailing 48-42 with 7 minutes, 17 seconds to go.

"This is Big Ten season. Every game's tough. You never know what's going to happen," Purdue coach Sharon Versyp said. "It just shows we're a very, very good basketball team, shooting so poorly and still being able to pull out the win."

Rachel Banham scored 15 points and Leah Cotton had 11 for the Gophers (8-7), who outrebounded Purdue 50-37 and went on a 7-0 run to take a 26-19 lead in the first half. But they let their lead eventually slip away by not shooting much better than Purdue -- 31.1 percent -- while also committing 23 turnovers.

Purdue's Sam Ostarello made two free throws with 3:53 to go to tie the score at 50-50, and the Gophers missed three shots on their following possession. Howard scored off a Alex Guyton steal with 2:25 to play, giving the Boilermakers their first lead of the second half.

Katie Loberg responded with the Gophers' only basket in the final seven minutes, tying the score again, but Howard followed with another score with 2:04 remaining, putting Purdue ahead for good at 54-52.

Kiara Buford had a chance to tie the score at the foul line, but the senior guard missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 87 seconds to play. Ostarello made two free throws at the other end, and the Gophers never got within a single possession after that.

The Gophers fell to 2-6 away from home this season, including 0-3 in true road games. They haven't beaten a ranked team since a victory at No. 20 Notre Dame in the first round of the 2009 NCAA tournament. They also fell to 17-38 all-time against Purdue, including 4-22 at Mackey Arena.