| | Associated Press
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue coach Kristy Curry was
dissatisfied with the Boilermakers' defense in the team's first two
games of the season.
|  | | Purdue's Camille Cooper (42) battles Texas' Stacy Stephens (41) and Lindsey Ryan for a rebound as the Boilermakers posted a 71-49 victory.
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She sent her team a message on a blackboard during practice:
effort, intensity and energy.
The Boilermakers (No. 6 ESPN/USA Today; No. 4 Associated Press) showed all three in the 71-49
victory Sunday against Texas in a Preseason NIT semifinal game.
Purdue will play No. 8 Louisiana Tech in the title game Monday.
"I think about the simple fact that together we can do anything
we want this year. I think our team understands that," Curry said.
The Boilermakers (3-0) went on a 23-10 run to start the game and
cruised to a 32-17 halftime lead. The defense pressured Texas (2-1)
into 22 turnovers and 30 percent shooting from the floor.
"We hardly recognized us," Texas coach Jody Conradt said. "We
were not anywhere close to the team we had been the first two
games. I think we had a brain lapse and forgot the two things that
got us here, which was good defense and solid play. Our shot
selection was really not good."
The Longhorns were the first team this year that didn't
double-team center Camille Cooper, and she made them pay with a
double-double, scoring 19 points on 8-for-13 shooting and grabbing
10 rebounds.
"I was just lucky they didn't double-team like a lot of teams
do, so we definitely knew we had to go inside first," Cooper said.
"That was one of our keys to the game and I think it proved
successful."
Curry said she went inside more because she felt her players
could take advantage of Texas' youth.
Katie Douglas scored 13 and Shereka Wright added 10.
Texas led 4-2, but never got close after that. The Boilermakers
opened a 67-44 lead in the second half.
Stacy Stephens led Texas with a career-high 15 points and Tracy
Cook had 10.
Both teams combined for 43 turnovers.
Curry was an assistant coach for three years under Louisiana
Tech's Leon Barmore.
"He means the world to me," she said. "If there was somebody
else I could be playing, I'd rather be playing somebody else."
Purdue won five Big Ten championships and the 1999 national
championship, but had never played in the Preseason NIT. Of the NIT
Final Four teams, only Louisiana Tech had ever participated in the
event. The Lady Techsters won the WNIT in 1996, and beat Virginia
72-59 earlier Sunday to advance to the championship game.
The Lady Techsters defeated Purdue 94-62 last December.
Texas will play Virginia (No. 15 ESPN/USA Today; No. 13 AP) in the consolation game.
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