Even in Loss to No. 13 Iowa, Purdue Proves Something to Itself With 'Max Effort'
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — With 4:32 remaining in the second quarter, Taylor Stremlow knocked down a three-pointer to give Iowa a 45-19 advantage with 4:36 to play. It was part of a 20-1 run for the Hawkeyes, who appeared to be on their way to an easy victory inside Mackey Arena.
Katie Gearlds called a timeout, huddled her team together and, in that moment, something changed. The Boilermakers put together an 8-0 run of their own to show some signs of life on a night in which it appeared they might get run out of their own gym.
Iowa still owned a 51-32 advantage at halftime, but that 13-6 spurt to close the half gave Purdue some momentum. And, in the second half, the Boilermakers gave the Hawkeyes all they could handle.
"At one point, we just realized we were doing it to ourselves, and everything was in our control," Nya Smith said after the game. "So, once we really started to get the controllables in our grasp, everything changed for us. That brought us a lot of energy."
Purdue outscored Iowa 42-32 in the second half, cutting the lead down to 11 points multiple times with opportunities to close the gap within single digits in the third and fourth quarters. It wasn't enough to defeat 13th-ranked Iowa, falling 83-74, but it did give the Boilermakers some confidence heading into the final three games of the season.
"Max effort, max effort, max effort," coach Katie Gearlds said. "I was asking them, 'What was different between the first half and the second half?' 'Intensity, max effort, intentionality,' were a lot of the answers. Saige [Stahl] said it, like, put your body on the line. Let's do it, let's find a way to go do it."
With senior leader Madison Layden-Zay sidelined due to injury, Purdue needed several players to step up. That's exactly what happened. Nya Smith led the way with 19 points, five rebounds and five assists. Kiki Smith had 17 points, Tara Daye scored 15 and grabbed seven rebounds and Kendall Puryear had 12 points and seven boards.
It wasn't enough to overcome a 26-point deficit and a 40-point combined performance from Stremlow (19) and Ava Heiden (21), but it was enough for Purdue to prove to itself that it belongs in these games.
As the Boilermakers battle for a spot in the Big Ten Tournament with three games left on the schedule, they need to carry momentum into the final stretch of the season to secure a spot in Indianapolis.
"This just shows that we can compete with all these upper-level teams, these ranked teams, and that we belong in the Big Ten," Nya Smith said. "We've proven that we can beat these teams before. Just carry that into our last three games. We have a lot of positivity to ride on."
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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