No. 10 Purdue 76, IPFW 52

2/9/2006 10:20 PM

By MICHAEL MAROT
AP Sports Writer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - When Katie Gearlds saw her Purdue teammates struggling, she took control.

Gearlds hit one 3-pointer to break a 40-40 tie in the second half and another to start a closing 19-4 run that helped the 10th-ranked Boilermakers finally fend off Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne 76-52 Thursday night.

``I think it was just a matter of coming out and playing hard, getting stops,'' Gearlds said. ``They left me wide open a couple of times. That's what you have to do when other guys are struggling.''

Purdue's 15th win in 16 games was hardly by design.

Instead, it struggled to finish off a team that it had beaten by 68 last season, and looked, at times, like anything but a top 10 team.

Gearlds changed that impression. She sparked an 11-1 run at the end of the first half, a 15-4 run that gave the Boilermakers control midway through the second half and the closing spurt that sealed the victory.

She finished with 20 points, six assists, three rebounds and hit 4-of-5 3-pointers. Aya Traore added 17 points and six rebounds, while Sharika Webb had 12 points.

``I figured when they wanted to do something about it, they'd do it,'' Purdue coach Kristy Curry said. ``Katie was huge, Sharika didn't fold her tent and Aya withered in and out.''

While it was enough to win a 16th straight home game against an in-state opponent, Curry clearly was not pleased with the effort against a team that has not won since Dec. 29.

The Boilermakers (19-3, 10-1) allowed IPFW to hang around most of the first half and rally from a 13-point second-half deficit to tie the score.

Johnna Lewis-Carlisle had 19 points and four rebounds to lead the Mastodons (2-20), who have now lost 12 straight. Ashley Johnson added 11 points and seven rebounds, but Purdue eventually wore them down.

``I think we did run out of gas, but that's a great basketball team,'' interim coach Chris Paul said. ``I can't say it was more us than them because I think Purdue stepped up and said enough is enough.''

Lewis-Carlisle tried to keep the Boilermakers stuck in neutral.

After Purdue jumped to a 12-6 lead, she hit two of her four 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to tie the score at 12.

The Boilermakers then seemed content to trade scores until Gearlds sparked the late first half run that gave Purdue a 34-25 lead. Curry showed her displeasure by keeping her team in the locker room until 20 seconds before halftime ended, which left no time for Purdue to even warm up.

``We had made it a point to get more out of our post and at halftime, Erin (Lawless) and Lindsay (Wisdom-Hylton) were 1-of-7,'' Curry said.

Purdue opened up a 40-27 lead with 17:38 to go, but the Mastodons inexplicably rallied with 13 straight points to tie the score and even had a chance to take the lead when Lewis-Carlisle had a wide-open 15-footer.

She missed, and Gearlds answered with a 3-pointer that ignited Purdue's second big run and gave it a 55-44 lead with 8:21 left.

``We wanted to come out and prove something, that we were not the same team as last year,'' Lewis-Carlisle said.

With Purdue finally motivated and the Mastodons running out of energy, the Boilermakers broke away. Gearlds hit a 3 with 6:50 to go, making it 60-48, and IPFW could muster only one basket in the final 7:42.

``I think you should approach every basketball game the same way,'' Gearlds said. ``Give them credit they came out and played hard and knocked down some shots early. ... It's a win, I guess that's all you can say about it.''