WNIT Final: Purdue @ Baylor (Sunday, 6 p.m. CST)

[Scamp]

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) -- Finally, Purdue can focus on the Preseason WNIT championship game.

In between Wednesday's WNIT semifinal win over North Carolina State and Sunday's championship game at Baylor, the Boilermakers (No. 13 ESPN/USA Today, No. 12 AP) defeated Washington 88-64 on Friday night. Katie Gearlds scored 31 points and Lindsay Wisdom-Hylton had 13 points, eight rebounds and a school-record tying seven blocks. Andrea Plouffe led Washington (0-2) with 16 points and Cameo Hicks added 13. Purdue shot 58 percent from the field and made 10-of-14 3-pointers.

Now, the Boilermakers can look forward to playing No. 16 Baylor. "We're going to have our hands full," Gearlds said. "They're a very good basketball team, and we've got to come ready to play. If our minds are not in it, they could easily beat us by 20 points." ...

http://sports.espn.go.com:80/ncw/recap?gameId=263212509:cool: Baylor students will be admitted FREE to the game, courtesy of the BU Athletic Department. And it's FREE on the computer, too. :)

[Scamp]

Gearlds, Lawless lead Purdue into 2006-07
Mechelle Voepel's take on the Boilermakers
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/preview2006/columns/story?columnist=voepel_mechelle&id=2653712

[Scamp]

BAYLOR, PURDUE
Meet in Championship Game

Purdue and Baylor have survived three rounds each of the Preseason Women’s National Invitation Tournament and will play Sunday for the championship title. Purdue, ranked No. 12 in the nation, travels to No. 16 Baylor for a 6 p.m. CT tipoff in the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

The championship features two veteran programs. Baylor captured the national title in 2005 under current head coach Kim Mulkey. Purdue, which won the national title in 1999, has won its first three games in 2006 under newly signed head coach and former Boilermaker Sharon Versyp.

Both teams finished last season with a 26-7 record after advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

The road to the WNIT finals has stayed close to home for both programs. Baylor beat North Texas, Hofstra and No. 22 BYU, all at home. Purdue defeated Belmont, Hartford and North Carolina State, all in home games. Purdue plays No. 23 Washington at home tonight before traveling Saturday to Baylor.

In last year’s Preseason WNIT championship game, Connecticut defeated Oklahoma 82-62.

http://www.womensnit.com/index.htmSo far this morning, The Google isn't bringing me any news about today's game. :confused: Patience, Scamp, patience! ;)

[Bob_Ballew]

Scamp, you might as well pack your bags and move to Waco. ;)

[spooky]

:cool: Baylor students will be admitted FREE to the game, courtesy of the BU Athletic Department. And it's FREE on the computer, too. :)

I'm really glad the administration decided to pay for the students admission. It's hard enough to draw a consistent student crowd as it is, and tournaments like the WNIT where they have to pay knocks the student attendance down to near zero. Heck, there were plenty of adult regulars who didn't make the BYU game because of the extra effort of calling the ticket office or making an extra trip to get a ticket that wasn't included in the season package.

The administration has plenty of critics down here, but one area they've been consistently great in is the support they've given the women's basketball program. This is the 4th time in the last 10 years or so that we've played in a WNIT tournanment, both pre and postseason, and have yet to play a game anywhere but Waco. That doesn't happen without alot of fan suuport, or without a huge financial investment by the school, and buying tickets for the students is definitely part of that support.

[Scamp]

Scamp, you might as well pack your bags and move to Waco. ;)Don't think I haven't thought about it. As hard as it's raining today in Seattle, I'm tempted. But only if Baylor goes secular!

Nice editorial in the Waco Trib today: http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2006/11/19/11192006waceditorial2.html

Editorial: Post-season pre-season
Sunday, November 19, 2006

Who knows where fate will guide the young Baylor Lady Bears, who have but two seniors this season?

Coming off three consecutive Sweet 16 finishes, one could expect too much.

Then again, one could underestimate. Today at 6 p.m. at the Ferrell Center they play for the title in the pre-season Women’s National Invitational Tournament.

In advancing to face 12th-ranked Purdue, the 16th-ranked Lady Bears played before an uncharacteristically modest audience of 3,003 Thursday night at the Ferrell Center.

Their 84-58 thumping of No. 22 Brigham Young University announced to all concerned that Baylor is going to be good, even as some of its players grow up.

Pack the house.

[wildcatfan]

Will there be any live video?

[Scamp]

Audio (pre-game show is on) and video and gametracker are all FREE! :) You may have to sign up with cstv, however, so get to it.

http://baylorbears.cstv.com/:BU:

[swok34]

OU still allows the students in for free to women's basketball. Actually, I think every sport except football and men's basketball.

and the game is on. You do have to have to register through CSTV, but that's all.......

Purdue leads 9-4.

[YCN]

A couple of minutes ago I watched a Purdue player park in the lane for at least 15 seconds.

The officials need to get on the ball there.

[Guns Up!]

Purdue leading Baylor 51-41 11:28 left in the game

[YCN]

Baylor can drop the lead to three at 54-51 if Danielle Wilson hits her free throw after the TO. Wilson has had a sensational second half, with several blocked shots, excellent rebounding and denial defense, and all around hustle on the court. She's a keeper.

Baylor was stagnant and listless on offense and defense in the first half. It's like a different team on the court now, as they are playing MUCH better in all phases of the game.

Free throw no good, Purdue ball...

[sybarite]

It is hurting that Morrow and Tisdale are 2-14. Morrow is better than that.

[YCN]

It is hurting that Morrow and Tisdale are 2-14. Morrow is better than that.And just a moment ago Morrow took an ill-advised shot on the fast break, then reached in and fouled on the rebound, then out of frustration got a technical. Baylor's very lucky that Purdue didn't burn them for 4 points there.


59-52 7-1/2 left.

[YCN]

Must not have been that much time left, less than five now, same score.

[sybarite]

Wisdom-Hylton, Purdue's leading scorer, played on the U20 team with Courtney this summer.

[swok34]

Purdue wins 69-55.

Baylor was down by as much as 16 and came back to within 4.

That was when Morrow picked up the technical. You could just hear the air sucked out of the gym when that happened.

[YCN]

I'm afraid that Baylor's listless first half was the reason for this loss. For most of that half there was very little movement in the offense, few picks, passes were not crisp. And if a team is playing in a zone, you are their best friend if you don't move or make picks. And surprisingly, Baylor's perimeter defense just wasn't up to the usual standard against this veteran Purdue squad.

They'll get it figured out, this was a great learning game for them. They made a strong run for a while against Purdue, but the game ended with Purdue sporting the same 14 point lead they had at halftime, 69-55.

Maybe they'll also figure out that listless offense means poor shooting percentages and hurts their defense as well. All in all, there were a lot of promising indicators in this game, and a lot of things to work on.

[Scamp]

Wisdom-Hylton, Purdue's leading scorer, played on the U20 team with Courtney this summer.Oh, you...OU fans! :rolleyes: Bringing Courtney into every thread on HoopScoop. :p Will you never quit? ;)

[swok34]

Oh, you...OU fans

One OU fan made that comment; please don't lump us all together.

[Scamp]

Oh, you...OU fans

One OU fan made that comment; please don't lump us all together.Sorry about that...just kidding.

[swok34]

Sorry about that...just kidding.

I know you were, but some of us OU fans may see things just as you do.

[Scamp]

I know you were, but some of us OU fans may see things just as you do.Ahhh...now I get it! ;)

[spooky]

That was when Morrow picked up the technical. You could just hear the air sucked out of the gym when that happened.


Bingo. That mistake right there pretty much ended any chance we had of pulling it out.

I agree, too , with YCN about our stand-around offense tonight. We were like that for the first few minutes against BYU before getting it in gear. Hopefully that'll come around with experience.

I was majorly impressed with Purdue. I think player for player we are on par with them, but as a team they were superb. Very sound, mostly mistake-free basketball, and they knew what to do and when to do it. Wisdom-Hylton (hope I got that right) has a pretty midrange jumper, and made more than a few with a hand right in her face, and Gearlds is money, though I could have done without her cocky moves like shushing the fans after she made a 3-pointer. Theye didn't go very deep at all, so they really need to avoid the injury bug, but if they do they should be a major factor in the NCAA's.

Bernice was amazing again, she just needs a little more help, and how about Danielle Wilson with 5 more blocks. Those two also made the all-tournament.

[sybarite]

If either of you were offended by a benign observation about a participant in the game, you need to get your harummph activators deactivated.

[Michael]

Bingo. That mistake right there pretty much ended any chance we had of pulling it out.

I agree, too , with YCN about our stand-around offense tonight. We were like that for the first few minutes against BYU before getting it in gear. Hopefully that'll come around with experience.

I was majorly impressed with Purdue. I think player for player we are on par with them, but as a team they were superb. Very sound, mostly mistake-free basketball, and they knew what to do and when to do it. Wisdom-Hylton (hope I got that right) has a pretty midrange jumper, and made more than a few with a hand right in her face, and Gearlds is money, though I could have done without her cocky moves like shushing the fans after she made a 3-pointer. Theye didn't go very deep at all, so they really need to avoid the injury bug, but if they do they should be a major factor in the NCAA's.

Bernice was amazing again, she just needs a little more help, and how about Danielle Wilson with 5 more blocks. Those two also made the all-tournament.

A couple of things on depth and the false notion that Purdue is so much more of a veteran team then Baylor. Baylor started 1 senior, 1 junior, and 3 sophmores. Purdue started 2 seniors, 1 junior, 1 sophmore and one freshman. In the first half we had one of our seniors on the bench with foul trouble for all but the first two minutes. We had another of our starters, the sophmore Jodi Howell sitting out all but 13 minutes of the game because of knee problems. In the second half, One of our bench players turned an ankle and she was unable to go although she gave it a short try later on. In total Purdue played 2 seniors, 1 junior, 3 sophmores, and one unheralded freshman. Baylor played 1 senior transfer, 1 junior, 3 sophmores and 3 freshman, although one of the frosh only played 1 minute. Slight edge to Purdue in experience, but listening to the Baylor announcers and Kim Mulkey after the game you would have thought Purdue only played upper classmen except for acknowledging one time that we started a freshman at point guard. In December Purdue gets added help in the back court with a volleyball player joining the team and Kalika France coming on board once she graduates from Maryland at semester break. We will also find out if 6'4" Natasha Bogdonova will redshirt this season or be able to play after tearing an ACL playing for the Russian junior national team this summer. Hopefully Howell's knees do not give her problems all year like tonight, and there probably won't be too many nights that we have to go without one of our posts in each half, but tonight we weathered 2 injuries and 1 senior in first half foul trouble to beat a good team on their floor for the WNIT title. Congrats to Baylor on a strong second half run, they had me concerned for a long time there.

Michael

[YCN]

Amplifying on the idea of the relative experience of the teams, I thought it would be interesting to see just how many games the two teams players had participated in, how many starts each team had, and how many total minutes. It gives the "big picture" of the experience of each team.

Comparing all of the players used in the game, Purdue's players had:

56% more games (332/213)
94% more starts (175/90)
70% more minutes (7906/4652)

That includes Bernice Mosby's stats from her time at Florida. (83 games, 48 starts, 2229 minutes)

[Michael]

Amplifying on the idea of the relative experience of the teams, I thought it would be interesting to see just how many games the two teams players had participated in, how many starts each team had, and how many total minutes. It gives the "big picture" of the experience of each team.

Comparing all of the players used in the game, Purdue's players had:

56% more games (332/213)
94% more starts (175/90)
70% more minutes (7906/4652)

That includes Bernice Mosby's stats from her time at Florida. (83 games, 48 starts, 2229 minutes)

That does put the "young team" comments more into context.

Michael

[Scamp]

Purdue cool as Baylor boils

... “I thought the whole momentum of the game shifted after the technical,” Mulkey said. “I didn’t see if (Lawless) slung an elbow, and Jessica was responding to it. And you know what, it doesn’t matter. You just don’t need to do that at that particular juncture in the game. And we never could get the momentum back.”

“It just allowed us to take a deep breath,” said Gearlds, who was 3-of-5 on three-pointers and 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. “That was a huge momentum swing for us.”

In the first half, Purdue had momentum and everything else on its side. The Boilermakers shot a sizzling 56 percent from the field (18-of-32), baffled the Lady Bears with their zone and took a 40-26 lead into the locker room.

“Because we’re so young, we’re struggling to find who’s going to score for us in the zone, who’s going to penetrate, who’s going to flash,” Mulkey said. “I don’t know why they play that zone, but it’s good. I don’t know why they play it, because they’ve got some athletes that can guard you down there. But it’s very effective.”

What the zone did was take away the Lady Bears’ bread-and-butter. Instead of working the ball into the paint, they were forcing long-range shots. ...

NOTES: The Lady Bear guards combined to hit just six of 31 from the field and 3-of-14 of their three-pointers. ... Joining Gearlds on the all-tournament team were Mosby, Wilson, Wisdom-Hylton, BYU’s Dani Kubik-Wright and North Carolina State’s Marquetta Dickens.

Baylor set the WNIT tournament record with 40 blocks in four games, and Wilson’s 20 blocks broke the mark set at 12 by Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris last year.

http://www.wacotrib.com/sports/content/sports/college/2006/11/20/11202006wacladybears.htmlJust as with the NCAA tournament, only one team goes home a winner from the WNIT. The Lady Bears came in second. Not bad at all. :BU:

[Michael]

[quote]“Because we’re so young, we’re struggling to find who’s going to score for us in the zone, who’s going to penetrate, who’s going to flash,” Mulkey said. “I don’t know why they play that zone, but it’s good. I don’t know why they play it, because they’ve got some athletes that can guard you down there. But it’s very effective.”[quote]

Purdue plays that zone because they only have 9 total players able to play at the moment. Of those 9, one is a raw freshman that won't play much this season at all and one is a sophmore shooting guard learning to play point that was not ready to go up against a team like Baylor. That makes it 7 available players. One of the starters, Jodi Howell, has had surgery on both knees and sometimes suffers after plane flights. She played 13 ineffective minutes total in this game. Erin Lawless, our #2 scorer got into early foul trouble and sat almost 18 minutes of the first half, meaning from about the 14 minutes left poitn in, Purdue made no substitutions because we were playing everyone fit to play without 2 fouls. In the second half, Danielle Campbell turned an ankle less then a minute after entering the game, so that again reduced Purdue to 5 players ready and able to go. You have to play zone in games where your depth is seriously limited like that to slow the game down and protect against foul trouble.

Michael

[BearLady]

Well, Purdue's zone was very good, regardless of the reason why they used it.

As usual, YCN's observations were very good. Hopefully we learned a lot from that game and can take the good things into the match-up against LSU tomorrow. I hope to see us:
- not standing around;
- working for good shots, even against a zone;
- not rushing our shots (especially the frosh!).

I also liked the fiestiness that Morrow brought. Not the actions that led to her T, but the fact that she can bring passion. She's always been so quiet and smooth that it almost looks like she's just gliding along out on the court. A lot of her shots look like they take no effort at all. Now I know that's not the case, but her poise just makes it look like that. So I liked finding out that Jessica can have a lot of passion. I have a feeling nothing else needs to be said and that we won't ever see a similar action from her in the future.

One more thing: Wilson seems to have REALLY big hands! :)

[Bob_Ballew]

I was very impressed with Danielle on defense. She really held her position on several plays and altered many shots with her long arms. I would like to see her more aggressive on the offensive boards. She is a keeper for sure and will only grow with experience. I have already seen her progress over these first few games. I also like it when Kim plays the big lineup.

[swok34]

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20061120/capt.86a99267cd1c4360a93f61386f370d41.purdue_baylo r_basketball_txra106.jpg

Whatever Kim finds questionable, the guy behind her agrees :D

[BearLady]

good one, swok ! :D

[Scamp]

The Waco Trib today has a 45-picture photo gallery from that game. :) http://www.wacotrib.com/photos/content/sports/slideshows/ladybears_purdue/index.html