GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Purdue Northwest women's basketball team defeated Davenport 68-55 on the road Thursday night in conference play.
How it happened: PNW (6-11, 3-7 GLIAC) shot a season-high 52.6% from deep as
Abbie McDowell (Tecumseh, Mich./Tecumseh) drained five of the team's 10 threes on the night. Four of those treys from McDowell came in the second quarter alone. She finished with a game-high 19 points and tied her career-high with nine rebounds.
Reagan Courier (Delavan, Wis./Big Foot) scored 15 points while
Dash Shaw (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) and
Molly DeValkenaere (Milwaukee, Wis./Brookfield) each chipped in with eight points.
Kylie Schmidt (Francis Creek, Wis./Mishicot) added seven rebounds as five players grabbed at least four boards.
The Pride opened the game with an 11-2 lead after a pair of threes from Schmidt and Courier ignited the offense. Davenport rallied to gain a 12-11 advantage at the end of the first quarter, but a
Dash Shaw (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) layup started a hot-shooting second quarter for the Pride.
McDowell hit a three at the halftime buzzer – her fourth of the second period – to put the Pride ahead 36-23 at the break. PNW outscored the hosts 25-11 in the second quarter while shooting 9 for 12 in the frame. The Pride also went 7-for-11 shooting from beyond the arc over the first and second quarters.
Davenport (1-17, 0-10 GLIAC) made a late run in the fourth quarter to get back within single digits, trailing 55-48 with six minutes left. But, a layup from McDowell put the Pride back ahead by 11 with three minutes remaining. The Pride held DU scoreless for five minutes after the early threat from the Panthers in the fourth quarter.
Seven of the previous 10 meetings in the series between these teams were decided by single digits. PNW is 8-2 in those matchups.
Toni Grace led the Panthers with 14 points on 6-of-19 shooting.
PNW registered a 37-30 edge in rebounding and limited DU to 34.5% shooting overall. The Pride shot 51% from the field.
UP NEXT
PNW travels to No. 11 Grand Valley State for Saturday's contest in Grand Rapids. Tipoff is slated for noon CST. The Pride will also travel to Parkside on Monday afternoon, which serves as the rescheduled game from the originally scheduled contest against the Rangers on New Year's Day.
FOLLOW THE PRIDE
For all the latest information on Purdue Northwest Women's Basketball, please visit PNWathletics.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Pride (@pnwathletics & @PNWWBB) on Twitter. You can also find the Pride on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.
