WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Western Michigan women's basketball fell on the road to Purdue on Sunday afternoon by a final score of 70-62 despite a strong effort behind enemy lines.
The Boilermakers (2-0) got off to a hot start with an 11-0 run in the opening two minutes of Sunday's contest, including back-to-back three's in their first two possessions. Western Michigan (1-1) responded coming out of a timeout with five straight points, and ended the first quarter making five of their final seven shot attempts in the period.
WMU played Purdue tough in the second quarter, going on an 8-0 run coming out of the media timeout, where sophomore guard
Lauren Ross and redshirt-senior forward
Reilly Jacobson were the catalysts.
Jacobson finished the second quarter very solid, tallying seven points and six boards at half. Ross, along with fellow sophomore guard
Megan Wagner, each added seven points for the Broncos in the first half as well.
Ross led the scoring effort for Western Michigan in the third quarter, where she went five for seven from the field, scoring 11 straight and 13 for the quarter. Jacobson also added six points and a pair of rebounds in the third for WMU.
The Broncos won the final two quarters of play, and managed to cut into the Boilermaker lead thanks to an 11-0 run of their own in the fourth. Ross added six more points, and WMU won the final 20 minutes by a 35-28 margin. The Broncos also won the rebounding battle 35-32.
Lauren Ross led all scorers with 26 points on 11-18 shooting, and also recorded four rebounds and two assists.
Reilly Jacobson finished with her first double-double of the season, scoring 16 points and grabbing a game-high 12 boards.
In addition to winning the rebounding battle, Western Michigan edged out Purdue in second chance points, fast break points, and bench points. Additionally, the Broncos scored 36 points in the paint, trailing Purdue's paint total by just a bucket. WMU finished shooting 44.4% from the field, and 71.4% from the charity stripe.
Next, the Broncos head west for another power five matchup with USC in Los Angeles on Nov. 18. Following the battle with the Trojans, WMU travels to the bay area for a showdown with the Gaels of Saint Mary's College on Nov 20. Both games tip-off at 10 p.m. ET.
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