Nancy Fahey’s 1000th game as a coach it ended with a 89-67 loss to Purdue. 

“It was a disappointing outing for us,” Fahey said. “Hung in there that 17-minute mark into the second quarter and they made that run, they shot the ball extremely well. Gameplay I thought was solid, we just got to contest the 3-point line. Appreciate the fight the kids had that last section of the fourth quarter, but we just have to (continue to) put minutes together.” 

The Boilermakers had an impressive shooting night going 54% in field goals and 65% in triples. Abbey Ellis and Madison Leyden were lethal from the arc, totaling 11 of the 15 threes made at State Farm Center. 

“The game plan of obviously defending the 3-point line and chasing those guys, they had elite shooting and we made some mistakes,” Fahey said. “I think that’s what sometimes happens when you see the ball keep going in from the 3-point line. That’s hard to keep bouncing back and that bounce didn’t really happen in the third quarter really, really hurt us.” 

Threes for the Illini weren’t so successful as Aaliyah Nye was the only Illinois player to record a triple on the night going six-for-nine at the arc. The sophomore was the top scorer for the Illini, getting 19 points with De’Myla Brown behind her with 12 points and going perfect in free throws. 

In the first quarter, Purdue gained the early lead, getting a three right off the bat. After getting possession from the tipoff, the Boilermakers, despite missing the first two attempts, were able to rebound, ending with Cassidy Hardin nailing in a triple.  

Nye responded in proper fashion hitting two triples to get within one point of Purdue three minutes in. Former Illini Jeanae Terry went on a four-point run of her own to get the edge on the lead. However, Illinois caught up again with the help of Jayla Oden getting an and one to get the first lead of the game for the Illini. 

With two minutes to go in the first quarter, Oden again grabbed the second lead for Illinois with a jumper, but Layden hit a three with 41 seconds to go to give Purdue the lead going into the short break. 

The second quarter saw a lot of back and forth of sharing the lead. Oden and Adalia McKenzie gave some energy off the bench within the first couple minutes of the second quarter, giving Illinois the lead 24-21 at the 7:28 mark. 

After that, the scoring slowed down, but Ellis brought it back up with 3:14 to go in the quarter, shooting her third triple of the night.  

Hardin and Leyden also added to the triples that quarter to add to the 13-0 run. Terry ended the quarter with a jumper with five seconds to go to nail in the double digit deficit going into the break. 

“We just kind of lost our bearings for a little bit and that’s something that we’ve talked about that we need to stop doing,” Kendall Bostic said. “They obviously went on a run, and I think we got kind of frazzled.” 

Come the third quarter, despite some help from Geovanna Lopes, Oden and Brown, Purdue dominated on the court scoring a total of 27 points. Ellis and Leyden, who were dangerous from the three, let it rip early in the third quarter to give the Illini a challenge if they wanted a comeback. 

The Boilermakers ended the quarter again going on a 13-0 run with a mighty 24-point lead over the Illini going into the last 10 minutes of the game. 

During the fourth quarter, Illinois did not give up the fight despite being down double digits. At the 5:19 mark a layup from Brown started a 12-0 run, which also included back-to-back triples from Nye. 

Illinois’ 24 points scored in the quarter wasn’t enough as Purdue took home the win 86-67. 

The Boilermaker’s shooting and quickness on the ball hurt the Illini as they gave up some sloppy turnovers and fell apart after Purdue’s first 13-0 run. 

“What disappoints me a little bit is when we just don’t take care of the ball,” Fahey said. “(There were) only 12 turnovers, I just didn’t like the laziness of the turnovers at times. That’s something we can talk about, but basically these kids are trying to follow a game plan or there’s statistics that are good, but we just need to put this together because these one quarter are just burying us right now.” 

@AngelleCortes

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