WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Six Indiana State players tallied six or more points Wednesday, but a strong second half from Purdue sent the Boilermakers past the Sycamores, 79-63, inside Mackey Arena.
 
Bella Finnegan and Keslyn Secrist led the Sycamores in scoring with 12 points apiece, while Mya Glanton corralled a team-leading six rebounds. Ella Sawyer and Lily Niebuhr dished out three assists each, while Sawyer also recorded three steals for the Blue and White.


Purdue opened the game on a 10-0 run, but Indiana State battled back with strong shooting in the first half. The Sycamores knocked down 50 percent of their attempts from the field in the opening 20 minutes and kept the game within two possessions at the half, but Purdue outscored the Trees 26-12 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Despite a strong fourth quarter for the Blue and White, Indiana State dropped its second straight game.
  
First Half
Purdue scored the first 10 points of the game, before a 3-pointer from Finnegan opened the Sycamores' account. Baskets from Chelsea Cain and Kiley Bess midway through added on to the Trees' tally, and Finnegan added a jumper to make it 17-14 late. Asia Donald and Niebuhr contributed buckets inside the last two minutes, as the Trees whittled down their deficit to 21-18 after the opening period.
 
Donald opened the second quarter with a jumper, and later added a 3-pointer as Indiana State kept it a one-possession game early in the second. Layups from Cain and Bess kept it a single-digit game, and Finnegan knocked down another 3-pointer to get the Trees within 35-30 with just over three minutes left. Secrist got in on the scoring with a three-point play inside the final minute, as the Sycamores went into the intermission trailing 41-35.
 
Second Half
Similar to the start of the game, Purdue scored the first eight points of the third quarter before a free throw from Donald ended the run. Savannah White and Niebuhr got in on the act with baskets down low, and Secrist tacked on another three-point play to get the Sycamores within 15 at 59-44. Bess added a late layup, but Purdue put together its best quarter of the day to take a 67-48 lead into the fourth.
 
Glanton opened a strong fourth quarter for the Sycamores with a basket down low, and Secrist knocked down back-to-back threes to get the Sycamores' deficit down to 74-58. Sawyer knocked down a jumper to get the Trees within 14, and Saige Stahl added a pair of free throws inside the final minute, but the Boilermakers walked away with a 79-63 win in the Sycamores' non-conference finale.
 
News and Notes

• Despite the loss, Indiana State outscored Purdue 15-12 in the fourth quarter.
• Keslyn Secrist's 12 points and Lily Niebuhr's three assists were both career-high marks.
• Indiana State's strong performance from the free throw line continued, as the Sycamores were 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) from the charity stripe.
• The Sycamores pulled down 14 offensive rebounds and turned their extra possessions into 13 second chance points.
• Indiana State's 30 bench points were the Sycamores' most since scoring 35 at Missouri on November 9.
• All 10 players who saw the floor Wednesday had at least two points and one rebound.
• Two-thirds of Indiana State's scoring came from freshmen and sophomores.
• Indiana State closes the non-conference portion of its slate at 4-6 overall (1-2 home, 2-3 away, 1-1 neutral).

 
Up Next
Indiana State opens MVC play December 30 at Evansville, with tipoff slated for 7 p.m.
 
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