On Jan. 1, 2012, Purdue guard Courtney Moses hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift the No. 20 Boilermakers to a 64-63 victory over the Illinois women’s basketball team at the Assembly Hall.

One year and one day later, Moses resurrected No. 14 Purdue once again with a tip-in with six seconds remaining in overtime to secure a 67-66 Boilermaker victory. The game was the conference opener for both teams as well as first-year head coach Matt Bollant’s first Big Ten game at the helm for Illinois.

“Welcome to the Big Ten,” Purdue head coach Sharon Versyp said after the game. “This is always a battle.”

Moses’ tip-in ended a back-and-forth battle that almost went the opposite way when Kersten Magrum’s baseline jumper rimmed out as time expired.

Illinois’ seniors were able to keep the Illini in the game.

Adrienne GodBold, playing in her second game of the season after being academically ineligible for the fall semester, recorded her first career double-double by scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. She also recorded five steals, while also committing eight turnovers.

“I’m really proud of Adrienne,” Bollant said. “I thought she really stepped up and gave us a great game and great fight.”

Forward Karisma Penn followed a national player of the week performance against Georgia with 16 points, nine rebounds and five steals against Purdue.

Penn and GodBold have not defeated Purdue since they were freshmen. GodBold said it was especially difficult having Moses bring them down at home two years in a row.

“It’s tough. It’s hard on us,” she said. “I mean, senior year, me and Karisma probably wanted it more than anybody, especially with Purdue and the history the last three years. It is tough. I’m sure we’ll face them again. That’s going to be a good game. That’s going to be a game to watch.”

Illinois’ seniors were unable to stop Moses on the final play, as both fouled out in overtime.

“Karisma and Adrienne foul out and a lot of people think, ‘Well, Illinois is about to go down,’” Bollant said. “The other five kids on the court kept fighting. … I’m proud of them for stepping up and making plays when it had to happen.”

Sophomore Ivory Crawford helped Illinois with 15 points, five steals and zero turnovers. Sophomores Alexis Smith and Taylor Tuck also played a large role in the game. The three scored all of Illinois’ points in overtime.

Illinois had difficulty stopping Purdue guards K.K. Houser and Moses, who combined for 36 points and 12 rebounds.

“(Houser) and Moses are really complete players,”Bollant said.” You go to type up a scouting report and you can usually say, ‘Well, they don’t do this well, and they don’t do that well,’ but the first thing I said about both of them was they’re really complete guards. They shoot the three. They handle the ball with both hands. They’re both good passers. They handle pressure pretty well most of the time.”

Although both had offensive success against Illinois, the pair combined for 14 of Purdue’s 34 turnovers. Illinois had a plus-13 turnover advantage and was able to take 15 more shots than Purdue because of it. But Purdue handled Illinois on the boards, outrebounding Illinois 49-29.

Bollant’s team had plenty of chances to win the game but wasn’t able to execute when it counted.

After going into the half trailing 32-26, Illinois was able to jump out to a lead, which it extended to 49-41 with 11:14 remaining. An eight-minute field goal drought led to a 56-50 Purdue lead before Illinois finally made a field goal with 3:08 remaining.

“Against sound defensive teams, when we don’t get an opportunity to score right away, we need to keep driving it and keep being aggressive and look for that second, third, fourth drive,” Bollant said. “We’re just not there yet with our discipline and willingness to do that.”

Illinois’ drought allowed the Boilermakers to get ahead 59-53 with 2:12 remaining, but a steal and layup by Penn followed by a 3-pointer by Crawford pulled Illinois within one point 59-58 with 1:13 remaining. Penn was able to complete the Illini rally with a jumper with 24 seconds remaining to tie the score at 60. Both teams had chances in the final seconds, but exchanged turnovers and went into overtime.

Magrum was forced to step up in overtime after only playing two minutes in regulation. In the final seconds, she attempted to take a charge on Moses’ last attempt, and she was able to drive to the basket for a good look. It was not able to fall.

Sophomore forward Nia Oden was not able to play Wednesday night after separating her shoulder Tuesday night. Bollant said she was only at 50 percent, so she did not dress for the game. Oden missed time early in the season with a shoulder injury.

Illinois was coming off a 70-59 over then-No. 6 Georgia, its biggest of the nonconference season, while Purdue was responding from a 73-47 loss at No. 5 Notre Dame.

The game was Bollant’s first against the Big Ten at Illinois, but he had success at Green Bay, going 4-0 against the conference the last two seasons.

Johnathan can be reached at [email protected] and @jhett93.