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Currie Leads Blue Devils Past Purdue, 66-48
12/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2004
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By JON KRAWCZYNSKI INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Duke's Monique Currie didn't get a lot of help against Purdue.
But with the way the Boilermakers were playing on offense, she didn't need it Saturday.
Currie had 22 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to lead No. 3 Duke to a 66-48 victory over No. 20 Purdue in the Boilermaker Blockbuster.
"Monique is doing an unbelievable job for us," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said. "She has an air of confidence that flows through the whole team."
Wanisha Smith added 12 points and Mistie Williams had a career-high 14 rebounds for the Blue Devils (10-1), who extended their winning streak to eight games.
Erin Lawless scored 17 points and Katie Gearlds had 16 for Purdue (6-3), which shot a season-low 28 percent from the field and went through two scoring droughts.
The Boilermakers lost four starters to graduation from last year's team and definitely showed their youth on Saturday, rushing shots, committing turnovers and folding against tough defense from the Blue Devils.
"We looked very young at times," Purdue coach Kristy Curry said. "We had the wrong people taking critical shots at critical times."
After whittling a 13-point Duke lead down to two in the second half, the Boilermakers went the next 8:31 without a field goal.
Currie and the Blue Devils outscored Purdue 17-2 in that span. Currie had eight points during the run, including a three-point play off an acrobatic layup that got Duke rolling.
"It was just her presence on the court," Gearlds said. "They did a good job settling their team. That's something we didn't do. We have to step up."
The Boilermakers missed 13 straight shots, spanning 9:40 from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second, to squander a lead. Duke outscored Purdue 19-0 during the drought to turn a six-point deficit into a 34-21 lead with 16 minutes left.
"You feel you have a wide-open look, but sometimes it's not the best shot you can take," Lawless said.
Lawless responded with eight points during a 16-5 run that Sharika Webb capped with a 3-pointer to cut Duke's lead to 41-39.
Goestenkors called a timeout, and veterans Currie and Williams helped calm the team and hold off Gearlds and the Boilermakers.
"We said, 'We need to settle down,"' Currie said. "Once we settled down, we got a lot of shots and easy baskets."
Purdue had a much tougher time against Duke's scrappy defense.
Lawless and Gearlds combined to go 12-of-32 from the field, and the rest of their teammates went 5-for-29. Freshmen Tye Jackson, Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton and Brina Pollack combined to shoot 1-for-17.
"Our zone disrupted them," Goestenkors said. "I'm really proud of our defense, that was huge for us. Purdue is a great team. That was a huge, huge win for us."
In a ragged first half, Duke shot 28 percent and Purdue 25 percent. Both teams went through scoring droughts of more than 5 minutes in the period.
Duke closed with a 10-0 run to take a 25-21 lead at the break. Gearlds scored 11 first-half points, including three 3-pointers, to keep Purdue close.
"I want to focus on being the leader I think we need me to be," Gearlds said. "We just need someone to be more vocal."
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