Box Score SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 15 Purdue University Northwest women's basketball team overcame a scrappy Indiana South Bend squad to pick up a 75-73 conference victory Saturday on the road.
The win was the Pride's (20-6, 15-2 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference) fifth-straight and tied PNW for the most CCAC wins since the 2013-14 season, when then-Purdue Calumet finished 15-2 en route to a regular-season conference championship.
The 20 wins also gives 10-year head coach Tom Megyesi his sixth-straight 20-win season, as PNW has went a combined 132-50 over the past six seasons following Saturday's victory.
PNW senior Cassidy Deno (Otterbein, Ind./Benton Central) (Otterbein, Ind./Benton Central) led the way for the Pride, scoring 22 points and classmates Darien Thompson (Anderson, Ind./Anderson) (Anderson, Ind./Anderson) and Katie Wampler (Scottsburg, Ind./Scottsburg) (Scottsburg, Ind./Scottsburg) added 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Thompson's performance helped her eclipse the 1,000-point mark for her career, making the point guard the 21st player in PNW women's basketball program history to join the century club. She needed just eight entering the game, and went into halftime with 12, as the Pride held a slight 37-25 advantage after trailing by as many as 12 in the first quarter.
That lead was just four, 55-51, heading into the fourth quarter, and IUSB (9-17, 5-12) was able to rally to take a short-lived, one-point lead (60-59) on two free throws by Loren Vukovitis at the 6:42 mark. But PNW would answer with several defensive stops and a layup and jumper by Deno to regain a lead the Pride would not relinquish, as PNW connected on 6-of-8 in the final five minutes to seal it.
Purdue Northwest shot 41.5 percent (27-of-65) from the field compared to 45.3 percent (24-of-53) for IUSB, who stayed in the game by making 7-of-16 (43.8 percent) from downtown compared to just two makes for PNW.
But the Pride capitalized on 16 points off 14 IUSB turnovers and outscored the Titans 28-9 in second-chance points, finishing with 19 offensive rebounds.
Junior Ellie Michalski (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) led the way with 10 total rebounds and chipped in seven points and four blocks and freshman Shae Rhonehouse (Fremont, Ind./Fremont) (Fremont, Ind./Fremont) added eight points and four rebounds in the win.
Paige Avery scored 20 points and Brianna Blackwell added 14 to lead IUSB in the loss.
Purdue Northwest returns to action Wednesday, Feb. 8, when the Pride host No. 1 St. Francs (Ill.) starting at 5 p.m. CT at the Fitness & Recreation Center.
