Purdue Fashions Win With Defense

ST. LOUIS â€”  Purdue shut down the Jackie Stiles Show (relatively speaking, that is) with two big, agile defenders and buried Southwest Missouri State, 81-64, in Friday night’s first semifinal of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament at Savvis Center.

Purdue (31-6), led by Katie Douglas’ game-high 25 points, will play Notre Dame on Sunday for the title.

Stiles, the NCAA’s career scoring leader and the nation’s leading scorer the last two seasons, scored seven of her team’s first nine points, and opened the second half with 10 in a row. But for the rest of the game, Purdue’s Shinika Parks and Shereka Wright took turns applying the clamps.

In her last game as a collegian, the 5-foot-8 Stiles finished with 22 points--well under her 30-point average--on seven-for-21 shooting, 0 for 3 from three-point range. For her career: 3,393 points.

In addition to the efforts of 5-10 freshman Wright and 5-8 senior Parks, Purdue won because its inside players--6-4 Camille Cooper, 6-3 Shalicia Hurns and 6-1 Candi Crawford--were much better, much stronger and certainly more productive than Southwest Missouri State’s 6-foot Carly Deer, 6-4 Erika Rante and 6-3 Ann Cavey.

Purdue had a clear advantage in rebounds, 47-29.

Kristy Curry, the Purdue coach, knew which players to assign to Stiles.

“Those two have been our stoppers all year,� she said. “Goodness gracious, how about a freshman [Wright] playing defense like that in a national semifinal game? I think the two of them, with their long arms, bothered Jackie. That, and we were able to rotate Katie [Douglas] and Kelly [Komara] onto her, as well.�

Stiles did seem bothered by the Purdue defenders, but she also missed open shots.

Stiles, accompanied to the interview room by teammates Tara Mitchem and Deer, credited Purdue with perhaps the best defensive effort against her all season, saying “They made it tough for me to get catches--they were big, athletic.�

Southwest Missouri State finished with a 29-6 record.

The Boilermakers, who were five of 11 from three-point range, are shooting 44.4% from that distance in the tournament.

Douglas was the floor leader and a go-to player in the final two minutes of the first half when the Boilermakers pinned a 10-1 run on Southwest Missouri State.

She also chilled the Lady Bears’ last hopes, when she nailed a three-point basket, scored inside and made a free throw to lift Purdue from a 65-54 lead to 71-54 with 6:34 to go. After that, it was a rout.

Stiles was removed from the game with 1:05 left to a standing ovation, and the clock ticked down with her face buried in a towel.

Purdue turned the first half in its direction first with an 8-0 run with 4:28 left then finished the period with another 8-0 run, Douglas capping it with a left-hander with two seconds left. It was 47-30 at the break.

Stiles scored seven of the Lady Bears’ first nine points but didn’t score a point in the first half after her short fadeaway jumper made the score 9-5 for Southwest Missouri State at 16:40.

The Lady Bears’ last lead was 22-21, after a Mitchem 16-footer at 9:54.