IU women’s basketball win overtime thriller over rival Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN. (WFIE) - No. 6/5 Indiana had to gut it out but prevailed in overtime, 73-68, to keep the Barn Burner Trophy in an instant classic over Purdue on Sunday inside Mackey Arena.

KEY MOMENTS

Indiana (14-2, 6-0 B1G) got in a hole early, trailing 9-2 at the 5:51 mark. Back-to-back layups by Berger and Browne made it a one possession game again.
Purdue regained the lead but the Hoosiers answered on a triple from Gulbe and long 2-pointer from Moore-McNeil to take a 12-11 lead. The Boilers had the last answer of the first, as it took the 15-12 edge. Gulbe was the first Hoosier to double digits as she drained a floater just outside the paint to keep the deficit within one. But Purdue would push its lead back to five and take a 32-27 lead into halftime.
A triple by sophomore guard Chloe Moore-McNeil with 7:38 to go in the third quarter tied the game up at 34-all that paved way for a 7-0 run to give Indiana its largest lead of the game at that point, 38-34. Purdue responded by shutting down the run allowing the Hoosiers to just one bucket in the final 5:44. Sophomore forward Kiandra Browne hit one in the bonus and kept the game knotted at 41 going to the fourth.
Exchanging buckets for the first three minutes in regulation, the Boilermakers pushed and seemingly tried to close the door as it took an eight-point lead with 3:21 to go. IU proceeded to chip away to keep itself in the game, as Berger found Gulbe who muscled her way to the rim.
Berger would proceed to hit four at the line as she drew contact and kept her team within reach, 57-53, with 1:03 to go. Getting a stop on the defensive end, Indiana was able to advance the ball on a timeout with 32.4 left in regulation. Berger would have her name called as she dribbled to the baseline and pulled up to make it a 59-57 game.
Purdue stretched its lead back to four in the bonus on the next possession, but graduate student guard Ali Patberg would have something to say about it as she spotted up for the 3-pointer with 25 seconds and cut the lead back to one. Chasing down the backcourt in-bound from the Boilers, junior guard Grace Waggoner helped get the possession back that led to Berger getting the baseline in-bound as she drove and spun to the rim to give IU a 60-59 lead. But a foul on the other end by IU sent the home team to the line where it split the pair and force overtime.
Indiana never trailed in overtime, as things started off with back-to-back 3-pointers from Gulbe and Patberg. It kept a two-possession lead for the entire five minutes as it went 4-fo-6 from the field to seal the effort.

NOTABLE

The Hoosiers extend its win streak in the annual Barn Burner series to six games, dating back to 2017.
Win streaks were also kept intact for the Hoosiers, who won its ninth-straight game this season, 12th-straight road game and 15th consecutive Big Ten game.
Berger led the way with 24 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. She has now posted back-to-back 20-point games and her third game with 20 or more this season.
Gulbe added 21 points and nine rebounds which was also her third 20-point game of the season.
A total of four players scored in double figures with Moore-McNeil and Patberg each adding 10 points.
Indiana shot 42.7 percent for the game and narrowly won the margin on the boards, 42-40.
Defensively, IU limited Purdue to a 38.2 field goal percentage on the afternoon and held its 16th opponent of the season to less than 70 points.

QUOTABLE

Indiana head coach Teri Moren

“What a fantastic battle today between these two teams. I want to give Purdue a lot of credit, they have been playing great. They gave us everything that we could handle and I thought the crowd was unbelievable, so good for women’s basketball. I thought it was a game that we got off to a slow start, struggled a little bit offensively with some of our normal (players like Ali Patberg, has been so steady for us, was struggling from the field a little bit. I thought Aleksa Gulbe was really big. I thought Grace Berger really showed up in the third, fourth quarter especially. As I said to my kids, they all had to make a play at some point whether it was scoring the ball or get a big defensive stop. Grace Waggoner with a steal at the end. We were changing up how we were guarding throughout the 40 minutes and give our kids credit for their focus, they were relentless and as I always say to them, as long as there’s time on the clock for us, we’re always going to be in the game because I have a group of people in that locker room that will just not quit. Again, I thought it was a great game between two really good basketball teams, great for women’s basketball, great crowd and just really happy for my team.”

UP NEXT

Indiana returns home to host Michigan State in the annual Head to the Hall game. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ET. Tickets are just $1 for all fans online or at the door.