WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Courtney Moses scored 15 points and Brittany Rayburn added 14 to help No. 13 Purdue defeat No. 4 Texas A&M 60-51 on Sunday in the Big 12/Big Ten Challenge.
The defending national champion Aggies (6-1) saw their winning streak end at 12 games. A win would have set a new school record for consecutive victories.
Purdue (7-1) bounced back after a 64-53 loss at No. 7 Duke on Thursday. It was Purdue’s first win over a ranked non-conference opponent since beating Texas in 2009, and its first win over a non-conference opponent with both teams ranked since the No. 7 Boilermakers beat No. 5 Kansas State in 2003.
Texas A&M had averaged 80 points per game, but the Aggies shot 28 percent from the field and made just 13 of 27 free throws.
The Boilermakers overcame 24 turnovers and 38 percent shooting.
Purdue got a steal early in the second half, and K.K. Houser drove and drew contact. She was called for a charge, and the Purdue bench was called for a technical foul for disagreeing with the call. Texas A&M made the free throws to take a 37-29 lead, but the Boilermakers outscored the Aggies 31-14 from there. A 3-point play by Sam Ostarello gave the Boilermakers the lead, and a 3-pointer and layup on a baseline cut by Rayburn pushed the lead to 49-42 with 7:36 to play.
The Boilermakers increased their lead to 56-47 on a pullup jumper by Rayburn with just under 2 minutes to play.
Purdue took a 10-5 lead, but the Aggies pushed the tempo and went up 21-16 to force a Purdue timeout. The Boilermakers closed strong and trailed 32-29 at halftime.
Texas A&M was led by Adaora Elonu with 12 points. Tyra White added 11 and Kelsey Bone 10.
Up next, Texas A&M travels to No. 2 Connecticut for a 6 p.m. (CT) contest on ESPN2 Tuesday, Dec. 6.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM NOTES
• Texas A&M used the starting lineup of Adrienne Pratcher, Sydney Carter, Tyra White, Adaora Elonu and Kelsey Bone… It marked the seventh start of Bone’s Aggie career, the eighth career start for Pratcher, 61st for Carter, 78th for White and 81st for Elonu.
• Texas A&M’s is now 1-1 on national television this season.
• Texas A&M dropped to 1-3 in the all-time series against Purdue and 20-22 all-time against the Big Ten.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• White has now started in 65 straight games, a streak that started on Jan. 4, 2010 against Lamar.
• Elonu’s 3-pointer in the first half was the sixth of her career.
• Pratcher scored a first-half career-high 8 points.
POSTGAME QUOTES
A&M HEAD COACH GARY BLAIR
Opening Statement
The game turned in the first half when I thought we could have been up by 12 or so. We didn’t convert some of the easy opportunities when they were turning the ball over. We didn’t convert our offensive rebounds all night. In the second half it was a comedy of errors and good play on their part. The 3’s that they hit in the first half really hurt us. Those baskets really gave them the confidence to get into the game. Purdue played well, so let’s give them credit. The target gets on your back and we have to play a little bit better than we did today.
Their post defense was v very good and their coaching was very good in preparation for this game. We’re Texas A&M and we’re supposed to shoot the ball better. A lot of it was Purdue’s good contesting of shots, good post defense and our inability to hit shots down the stretch.
On Sydney Carter’s play
Carter’s never gone 0 for 12 in her life. That’s why she’s here. She can handle this responsibility. She played her heart out, but she didn’t play well.
On the crowd
8,700 fans…that makes a difference. My point guards could not hear our verbal instructions in the first half and somebody would screw up the play. I’m more of a set-play coach than a motion coach because normally we don’t turn the ball over. I keep the ball in the hands of my point guard, we run the set, she makes a good decision and we score or we miss. I had my offense in front of me in the second half, but 8,700 fans really helped Purdue in the second half.
On playing Connecticut Tuesday
I can’t wait for us to come in. We have to become a better basketball team. Right now we have a team full of excuses and we have to find the solutions. That’s my job as a head coach. I’ve got to coach better , and teach better before I’m allowed to coach, and that’s what I’ll do.
SENIOR GUARD SYDNEY CARTER
On A&M’s poor shooting in second half:
That comes with leadership, and accountability and responsibility for that, knowing that I have somebody out there that’s not used to playing in big games like I am. We have to do a better job of leading the team as captains, me and Adaora in particular, and make sure we’re all on the same page. We let them take us out of our game and we kind of rushed things. We’ve been through the battles and in worse situations, so to answer the call is not anything foreign to us. We just have to play through it.