March 16, 2010
WNIT Game Notes 
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -
WNIT First Round - Eastern Michigan (22-8, 11-5 MAC) at Purdue (14-16, 9-9)
Game Information: Wednesday, March 17 at 7 p.m. ET
Location: West Lafayette, Ind. - Mackey Arena (14,123)
Internet: live video web stream available at bigtennetwork.com
Live Stats: available via Gametracker at purduesports.com
Radio: live on WBPE (95.3 BOB-FM) with Tim Newton providing play-by-play and Jane Schott, analysis.
The Series: Purdue is 1-0 vs. Eastern Michigan
Rankings: both teams are unranked
The Opponent
Eastern Michigan (22-8, 11-5) has won four of its last five games and is coming off a 72-46 loss to Akron in the quarterfinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament. The Eagles led the MAC in scoring, averaging 72.6 points per game and are paced by sophomore guard Tavelyn James who led the MAC with a 20.4 ppg scoring average. Junior guard Cassie Schrock averages 12.5 points and a team-high 5.5 assists per game.
The Series
Purdue holds a 1-0 series lead over Eastern Michigan. The only meeting between the two schools occurred on Nov. 11, 2000, in the first round of the Preseason WNIT with the fourth-ranked Boilermakers winning 84-60 in Mackey Arena.
Next Up
The Postseason WNIT is a single-elimination tournament, so the Boilermakers must win to advance. If they do, they will face the winner of Butler at Illinois State, which also is being played on Wednesday.
The Last Time Out
The fifth-seeded Purdue women's basketball team was defeated in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament 73-51 by No. 4 seed Wisconsin. The Boilermakers were plagued by another slow start, trailing 15-2 but battled back to within eight points before Wisconsin went on a 13-4 run to close the half. The Badgers shot 52.9 percent in the first period and outrebounded Purdue 22-13 to hold a 41-25 halftime lead. Wisconsin's 41 points ties the most by a Boilermaker opponent in a first half this season. In the second half, FahKara Malone and Ashley Wilson scored seven straight points to cut the lead to 48-34, but after trading baskets, the Badgers' leading scorer, Alyssa Karel contributed five straight to push the score back out to 55-36. The Boilermakers were led by Malone's 11 points while Brittany Rayburn scored nine and Samantha Woods chipped in seven, all in the first half. The Badgers shot 50.8 percent from the field, connecting on 30 of 59 shots to become just the second team all season to shoot better than 50 percent against the Boilermakers.
Keys To Victory
In Purdue's 14 wins this season, some trends stand out. Brittany Rayburn's scoring average is 6.5 points higher in the Boilermaker victories - 17.9 ppg in wins vs. 11.4 ppg in losses. Purdue is averaging just 16.1 turnovers in the wins compared with 21.0 in losses and is outscoring opponents by 6.5 points a game from the free throw line in victories (16.6 made free throws to opponents 10.1) while making 12.3 free throws to opponents' 15.1 in defeat.
Purdue In The Postseason WNIT
The Boilermakers are playing in the Postseason WNIT for the first time since its inception in 1998. Purdue played in the NWIT in 1988 and went 2-1, beating South Alabama and Illinois State before falling to DePaul.
Postseason History
The Boilermakers have extended their streak of participating in the postseason every year since missing out in 1992-93. Purdue had made 16 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and this year marks the first Postseason WNIT bid.
Winning Tradition
Purdue is in danger of posting its first losing season since going 12-16 in 1984-85 - Sharon Versyp's freshman year. The only time the Boilermakers have finished .500 on the season was in their inaugural campaign, an 8-8 record in 1975-76.
Impressive Defensive Numbers
As of March 15, Purdue is ranked 30th nationally in three-point field goal percentage defense, allowing just 28.5 percent by opponents from long range. Purdue finished the regular season tops in the Big Ten in three-point field goal defense, second in steals and third in scoring defense. In the win against Ohio State, the Boilermakers limited the Buckeyes to 35.8 percent from the field - 11.8 percent below their season average. In Mackey Arena, Purdue held opponents to an average of 35.2 percent from the field compared to 37.8 percent in all games.
Starting Rotation
Purdue has utilized 11 different starting lineups this season and all 10 players on the active roster have earned a start. FahKara Malone is the only player to have started every game this season, Chelsea Jones has started all but one, Brittany Rayburn all but two and Jodi Howell three. Samantha Woods has started 20 games, Ashley Wilson has earned six starts, KK Houser four, Alex Guyton three, Laura Garriga has started twice and Sam Ostarello once.
Sharing The Rock
The Boilermakers are led by FahKara Malone's team-best 119 assists. The Evansville, Ind., native passed the century mark for the season with six assists vs. Wisconsin, the fourth year in a row that she has dished out 100 or more assists. She becomes just the fourth Boilermaker to accomplish that feat, joining Katie Douglas, MaChelle Joseph and Stephanie White. Malone tied her career high for assists by dishing out 10 at Northwestern along with 11 points to record the first double-double of her career. Malone is fifth at Purdue on the career assist charts (506) and tied for fourth in the conference on the season.
Three Ball
Howell holds the Big Ten record (minimum of 100 made) for career three-point field goal percentage at 41.5 percent (186 of 448) and she is second at Purdue in that category (minimum of 100 attempted). She has hit at least one three-pointer in 26 games this season and 88 times in her career. Howell's 186 made threes places her second all time at Purdue behind Katie Gearlds' 238 threes.
Record Setter
In the final second of the first half vs. Wisconsin on Feb. 7, FahKara Malone set the Purdue career steals record. The Evansville, Ind., native currently has 344 career takeaways, passing former two-time All-American Katie Douglas' mark of 327 career steals. The 5-foot-3 point guard is ranked 32nd nationally with a season average of 2.7 steals per game and finished second in the conference behind Illinois' Lacey Simpson. Malone owns the Big Ten Tournament records for career steals with 37 steals in 10 games.
1,000 Point Club
In the Wisconsin win, Malone became Purdue's 25th member of the 1,000 point club and currently has 1,040 points. The senior is just the second Purdue player to finish her career with more than 1,000 points, 300 rebounds, 500 assists and 300 steals, joining two-time All-American Katie Douglas as the only Boilermaker to achieve all four milestones.
Rayburn Putting Up Big Numbers
Sophomore Brittany Rayburn was a second team All-Big Ten pick by the coaches and third team by the media. She leads the team in scoring at 14.4 ppg average, finishing the regular season with the ninth-highest average in the Big Ten. Rayburn scored a career-high 28 points in an 81-59 win over Iowa on Jan. 17. In the 80-76 overtime victory at Penn State, Rayburn recorded a team-high 26 points, the fourth time this season she has tallied that total and the eighth game with 20 or more points. Rayburn has scored in double-figures 20 times this season.
Houser Coming Into Her Own
In back-to-back upset victories over ranked opponents, Nebraska native KK Houser recorded a career-best 18 points in each. Against Ohio State, Houser's 18 points were a game high and she recorded five rebounds, four assists and a steal while hitting 8 of 8 free throws. Her 18 points at No. 23 Penn State came with six rebounds, two assists, two steals and 13 of 13 free throws, including two with five seconds left in overtime to seal the victory.
Jones Coming Up Big
In the Wisconsin win, Chelsea Jones hit the game-winning shot from the right baseline with two seconds on the clock. It was the first game winner of her career and the eighth point of the night for the sophomore. In the win at Penn State, Jones scored 12 points and tied Sam Ostarello for team-high honors with seven rebounds. Against Indiana she recorded her first career double-double with career highs of 14 points and 11 rebounds. In the tough loss to No. 3 Notre Dame she broke her career high with 16 points and dished out a personal best four assists to go along with six rebounds. At Illinois, she tied Rayburn for team-high scoring honors with 14 points. It was her sixth double-figure scoring effort of the season.
Doubling Up
Freshman Sam Ostarello, from Fort Pierre, S.D., leads the Boilermakers in rebounding at 5.2 rpg despite averaging just over 18 minutes per game. She had her best outing of the season against Evansville, tallying her first career double-double with career highs for points (17) and rebounds (14). Ostarello has four games with double-digit rebounds, most recently grabbing 13 boards at home vs. Penn State. Classmate Ashley Wilson has gotten into the double-digit act, as well, hauling in a career-high 11 boards against Virginia on Dec. 3 and 10 more at Michigan State. Wilson is averaging 4.0 rpg in 16.5 minutes of game action.
Wilson Contributes Solid Minutes
Ashley Wilson returned to double-figure scoring with 10 points and nine rebounds at home vs. Penn State. Wilson tallied eight points in the win over Ohio State. At Wisconsin, Wilson was 3 of 3 from the field and 2 of 2 from the free throw line to record eight points, three rebounds and three steals. The freshman from Wheeling, Ill., grabbed a team-high seven rebounds vs. Wisconsin in the Big Ten Tournament.
Keeping The Streak Alive
As the No. 5 seed in 2010 Big Ten Tournament, the Boilermakers maintained their streak of earning a first-round bye and never playing on the first day of the event. Purdue finished the regular season standings alone in fifth place and was just the fourth tournament that the Boilermakers did not earn a top-three seed.
Shooting Percentages
The bye week seemed to help the Boilermakers shot- making ability, as they turned in one of their top shooting performances of the season at Illinois (19 of 44, 43.2%). Unfortunately, it was not enough for a victory. In the three games prior to Feb. 21, Purdue shot just 30.0 percent from the field, including 29.9 percent from three-point range. However, the Boilermakers won 3 of those 4 contests, primarily by getting to the free throw line. Purdue made 71 of 98 free throws (72.4 percent) to its opponents' 36 of 49 (73.5 percent) in the four-game span.
Big Time In The Big Ten At Home
The Boilermakers went 8-1 this season in Big Ten games in Mackey Arena. The wins included a 63-61 upset over No. 5/4 Ohio State and the lone loss came on senior day, 79-64 to No. 25 Michigan State.
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