INDIANAPOLIS — Sometimes championship games do not live up to their hype. Luckily enough, last night’s Big Ten Tournament finale lived up to its pregame billing as the No. 4 seed Ohio State women’s basketball team fought toe-to-toe with No. 3 seed Purdue.
However, the ball didn’t bounce in the Buckeyes’ favor as seven-time defending conference champion Purdue pulled out a 67-65 victory at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The game was a hard-fought battle throughout and came down to a thrilling finish.
The two teams traded leads through much of the second half. The Buckeyes jumped to an early lead, leading by as much as five in the final half. But the Boilermakers battled back, taking a 64-58 lead with minutes remaining. OSU guard Kim Wilburn cut the lead to four with her bucket.
After a Purdue free throw, Buckeye forward LaToya Turner put back a missed shot to cut the lead to three points.
Purdue would again hit one free throw to extend its lead to four, but yet again, Wilburn had the answer. This time, the guard nailed a high-arcing three-pointer to cut Purdue’s lead to 66-65.
The Buckeyes once again sent the Boilermakers to the charity stripe and, like in the previous two trips, Purdue was only able to convert on one free shot. The free throw pushed the Boilermakers’ lead to two with just seconds remaining.
Despite having timeouts remaining, OSU and coach Jim Foster decided to take the ball right at the Purdue defense. However, the Boilermakers extended to meet the Buckeyes just as they crossed the halfcourt line. As a result, the OSU offense had a tough time getting an open look at the basket.
But Wilburn had the ball in her hands and looked to hit another deep trey for a potential game-winning basket. Unlike her previous attempt, Wilburn got nothing but air on the shot. A scramble for the rebound ensued as the ball was knocked out of bounds and the horn sounded.
After brief deliberation, the officials on the floor decided that some time should be put back on the clock. Unfortunately for the Buckeyes, only three-tenths of a second was put on the clock.
Purdue’s inbounds pass was knocked out of bounds as time expired, sending the numerous Boilermaker fans who made the short trip into a frenzy.
After the game, Wilburn struggled to control her emotions when talking about the final play.
“I think I made a mental mistake, but I just thought to shoot it,” she said. “Basically it was my fault (the last play) broke down.”
However, Foster was not upset with Wilburn’s decision.
“A young player just lost her way, but she scored five big points before that,” he said. “She’ll learn and continue to learn.”
Purdue was able to get to the charity stripe early in the second half, but finished only 10-for-22 in the game.
“We sent them to the free throw line way too much,” said guard Caity Matter. “They were in the bonus early.”
Matter led the Buckeyes with 21 points on 7-of-16 shooting from the field. Matter was held in check down the stretch by the Boilermaker defense and was unable to get many open looks. Matter did hit a trey at the halftime buzzer to give the Buckeyes a 33-32 lead. The Buckeyes trailed by as many as 11 in the first half.
The Buckeyes trailed by as much as 11 in the first half and led by as much as five in the second half.
Even with the loss, OSU is a lock to earn an at-large bid into next week’s NCAA Tournament. The Buckeyes, along with the rest of the nation, will find out the seedings on Sunday.
“Youth is resilient, and they are going to find out Sunday they are going to the tournament,” Foster said of his team.
Both Matter and Wilburn were named to the All-Tournament team after the game.
