Lyon Scores Game-High 24, but Purdue Wins 85-71

1/7/2016 9:29:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By David Herder

EVANSTON, Ill. – Senior Maggie Lyon scored a game high 24 points and junior Nia Coffey added 22, but the 16th-ranked Wildcats fell 85-71 to Purdue Thursday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Purdue forced Northwestern into a season high 21 turnovers, and the Boilermakers scored 19 points off of them.

"We just made bad decisions and turned the ball over," head coach Joe McKeown said. "We did a lot of things that are not like us and you have to give Purdue credit."

Northwestern was only able to hit three three-pointers, shooting 18 percent from beyond the arc and 40 percent overall.

"On the flip side, we are sitting here at 12-3 and positioned ourselves to have a great year," McKeown said. "We are going to focus on that too."

The visitors started quick, pulling ahead to a 7-0 lead, before Lyon drove for the Wildcats' first points of the game. Northwestern continued pounding the paint, with junior Ashley Deary scoring on consecutive drives, before Coffey and Inman pulled up at the line to give the Wildcats a 10-9 lead.

While Coffey drained an angled three, Purdue strung together points on four consecutive possessions to lead 18-13 at the end of the first.

With the Boilermaker lead pushed to 33-25 into the second quarter, the 'Cats fell into a 2-3 zone, immediately providing returns with a series of stops that helped bring Northwestern to within a possession at 34-31. But the Cats couldn't sustain the momentum, with the second quarter ending the same as the first: a four point Purdue run, making it 38-31 at the half.

The rim would not cooperate with Northwestern in the third quarter as the Wildcats went scoreless for over four minutes, and Purdue built a 46-33 lead with six minutes remaining in the third.

Northwestern had only made one three on the night until Lyon spotted up from deep with 4:36 left in the quarter, and Coffey knifed through the Purdue defense for an easy layup, bringing the lead down to eight, at 50-42.

While Northwestern was getting defensive stops, Purdue was hitting the glass with authority, with twelve offensive rebounds through three quarters to help build a 13-point lead late in the quarter.

Chicago's Big Ten Team pulled to within nine at various points in the fourth quarter, but Purdue kept the Wildcats at bay and hung on for the win.

"We fought back, and I am proud of that," McKeown said. "A lot of teams would have given up but we got it back and had a couple chances in the last few minutes."

Northwestern travels to East Lansing to face Michigan State on Sunday, Jan. 10 before returning home to Welsh-Ryan Arena to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on Thursday, Jan. 14.