Gophers Lose To Purdue, Suffering First Big Ten Loss of the Season

One thing about basketball, no matter how good of defense a team has, they need to at some point put some numbers on the scoreboard to win. The game was a defensive battle with Purdue ending Minnesota 's four-game winning streak with a 55-40 victory. The loss was the Gophers' first loss at home.   Minnesota (17-7, 9-4) was led by Ashley Ellis-Milan and Brittany McCoy with 10 points a piece. Lakisha Freeman scored all of her 12 points in the second half to share Purdue scoring honors with teammate FahKara Malone.   Through the first 15 minutes of the second half, Minnesota had managed to score just eight points. The Boilermaker Malone's three-pointer from deep in the right corner was on its way to the bottom of the net as the shot clock buzzer sounded. That's how the second half went for the Gophers – even 29 seconds of great defense wasn't good enough.   The triple gave Purdue a 10-point lead at 45-35. Brittany McCoy answered with a three-pointer field goal of her own but the Boilermakers would continue to hold the Gophers down on the offensive end.   With four minutes left in the game, the Gophers trailed only by seven at 47-40, but the Gophers failed to score the rest of the way and scored just 13 points in the second half.   The Boilermakers owned a 27-24 lead at halftime thanks to three baskets on offensive putbacks. Minnesota , who shot 47.8 percent in the half, had a chance to tie the score at the end of the half, but Buford's three-pointer from the left baseline was long.   Malone drove in for a lay-up in the game's opening possession. The Gopher defense turned up the pressure as Purdue missed their next five shots from the field. Brittany McCoy and Jackie Voigt hit basket as Minnesota took a 4-2 lead. Wisdom-Hylton's first offensive putback tied the score at 4-4, one of five ties in the half.   Minnesota took its biggest lead at 18-13 on a Fox bucket at the 6:24 mark. Purdue answered with an 8-2 run that included three-pointers by Jodi Howell and Malone.   The Gophers' next game is at Michigan on Sunday at 4 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by the Big Ten Network .