MINNEAPOLIS – Sophie Swanson scored a career-high 25 points and made a record seven 3-pointers, but it was not enough as the No. 12 seed Purdue women’s basketball team fell to No. 5 seed Nebraska 64-56 on Thursday afternoon in the second round of Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament.
Swanson powered the Boilermakers behind 9-of-13 shooting, including a 7-of-9 mark from behind the arc. Swanson’s nine triples were the most in a single game by a freshman and tied for fourth overall in Purdue history. It matched Brittany Rayburn’s Purdue single-game tournament record set in 2012 against Penn State.
The Barrington native also etched her name into the Big Ten record books, tying for most triples by a freshman in tournament history and placing fourth for most in a single game.
Abbey Ellis followed up her first career double-double with 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. It was her eighth straight game in double figures.
Jeanae Terry nearly reached 1,000 rebounds in her career. The fifth-year senior tallied 11 boards to go with four points, three assists, three blocks and three steals. It was just the fifth 3×5 by a Big Ten player this season. Terry finished with double-digit boards for the fourth straight game.
Purdue (13-18) shot 36.1% and had all seven triples come from Swanson. The Boilermakers took advantage of 19 Nebraska miscues to score a season-high 27 points off giveaways. Ellis and Rashunda Jones evenly split eight of Purdue’s 13 assists on the afternoon.
Nebraska (20-10) finished with a 41.1% shooting clip with a trio of players in double figures. The Cornhuskers won the rebounding battle 41-36 but managed just seven points off 10 second chance opportunities.
Defense set the tone in the first quarter with the two sides shooting a combined 8-for-33. Jeanae Terry started strong with four points and five rebounds in the opening frame. Purdue finished the final 4:30 of the period on an 8-2 run to take a 12-7 lead.
Sophie Swanson gave the Boilermakers a spark off the bench with seven points on 3-of-4 shooting, including a 3-pointer, in the second. Purdue forced eight turnovers in the second, but Nebraska connected on half its shots with four triples to tie the game at 25-25 at the break.
After both sides shot under 35% in the first half, the Cornhuskers used two runs of 10-plus points to pull away in the second half.
Ellis and Stevenson combined for a 6-1 run midway through the third to give Purdue a 31-30 advantage. Nebraska punched back with a 10-0 run, before Ellis converted an and-one opportunity and Swanson hit a triple to pull the Boilermakers back within three going into the fourth.
Swanson hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the fourth to keep it a one-possession game, but Nebraska rolled off 16 straight points until Mary Ashley Stevenson made a pair of free throws with 3:48 to play.
Down as many as 16, Swanson made three more 3-pointers and Jones connected on a floater in the lane in the final three minutes to pull Purdue all the way back within six.
Purdue became the only team in the nation this season to have three different freshmen record a 20-point performance.