No star player, no problem.
Despite the absence of All-American candidate Shereka Wright, No. 12 Purdue was able to generate more than enough offense in its 76-60 victory over Northwestern Sunday at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The Boilermakers shot 54 percent from the field, including 65 percent in the second half. All this came with Wright and her 19.2 points per game sitting on the bench with a hand injury.
“We tried as best we could to fill that gap, and I thought we did a good job,” Purdue coach Kristy Curry said. “She also gave our team great support from the bench — perhaps she should get a head coaching job later on.”
The minutes that Wright left behind were filled by forwards Missy Taylor and Sharika Webb, who had a combined six points.
Wright’s absence allowed the Wildcats to hang around and stay close until the latter stages of the game.
“Purdue came in shorthanded today, ” Olkowski said, “and so I thought we played them pretty even throughout the entire game.”
With Wright gone, Purdue’s offense was carried by junior point guard Erika Valek.
Valek more than exceeded expectations Sunday by tying a career-high in scoring that she set last game. She added a game-high six assists to her 26 points.
“She really tried to be more aggressive today, ” Curry said. “She penetrated well today and became more of the scoring point guard and not just the distributor.”
The native of Lubbock, Texas, was 9-for-15 from the field, 6-for-6 from the foul line and also knocked down two of her three attempts from 3-point range.
Valek played all but one minute of Sunday’s game and leads the team in minutes played with almost 35 per contest.
“When you look at all the good teams around this conference and the nation, they all have extremely good point guards,” Olkowski said. “And she’s one of them.”
Crowd Control: The good news — the crowd of 1,010 for Sunday’s game at Welsh-Ryan Arena was the largest this year.
The bad news — at least half were Purdue fans.
Purdue’s large and vocal supporters were louder than NU fans Sunday, neutralizing some of the home-court advantage that playing in Evanston should give the Cats.
While NU has its own loyal fans dedicated to the women’s basketball team, Purdue also had its share of die-hards.
One female Purdue fan made a high-pitched yelp every time an NU player attempted a free throw.
If anything, the fan helped NU’s free-throw shooting, as the team made 88 percent from the line.
Double-Digit Trouble: Although the Cats lost to Purdue, they had an excellent performance on offense.
Besides shooting 48 percent from the floor and its accuracy from the free throw line, NU had three players — sophomores Sarah Kwasinski, Samantha McComb and Melissa Culver — score in double digits.
It was only the fourth time this year — and the second time in conference play — that at least three Cats scored at least 10 points.
“We got a lot of lay-ups and relied less on our perimeter game,” McComb said. “They just hit their big shots.”
