ORUTerry Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 Purdue poised for ORU by JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer 3/14/2007 Say this much about Purdue: the Boilermakers are tournament-tested. Purdue, ranked 12th and 28-5 going into Saturday's NCAA women's first-round game against Oral Roberts, already owns three tournament championships this season. The Boilermakers won the 2006 Preseason WNIT with four victories in 10 days, including a championship-game triumph over Baylor in Waco, Texas. In mid-December, Purdue won back-to-back games over Texas-San Antonio and Boise State in Las Vegas to claim the Duel in the Desert. And March 2-5, they got three victories in Indianapolis to secure the Big Ten Tournament championship. "It's amazing what they've gone through in order to be Big Ten champs," first-year coach Sharon Versyp said after her team won the conference crown with a dominating 64-52 triumph over fifth-ranked Ohio State -- a game which the Boilermakers scored the first 21 points. "I can't say enough about their dedication and their belief in me and my staff to go through this journey together." ORU (22-10), seeded 15th in the Dallas Region, and Purdue will tip off around 9:30 p.m. Saturday (on ESPN2), some 30 minutes after Georgia Tech-DePaul. Versyp was hired in April to coach her alma mater, where she played from 1984-88 and was one of just seven women in the program's history to start all four years. Versyp still ranks in the top 10 of nine different statistical categories. In her seven seasons as a Division I coach at Purdue, Indiana and Maine, Versyp's career record is 154-70 (.688). On Tuesday, she was named Women's Basketball Coaches Association Region VI coach of the year. In November, Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said after the Boilermakers' 69-55 victory in Waco that Purdue was "a very poised basketball team" and "a team on a mission." Winners of seven in a row, Purdue drew a two-seed partly because its ratings percentage index is fourth nationally. One of the great things the Boilermakers did this season was win at Minnesota's Williams Arena, site of this week's games. They beat the Gophers there 58-55 on Feb. 1. "We're familiar with the atmosphere, which a lot of people aren't," Versyp said. "It's a very different facility. Hopefully we'll continue to play well there." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- John E. Hoover 581-8384 john.hoover@tulsaworld.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 The Purdue women are very tough this year. They are lead by Katie Geralds, who I used to live a few blocks from in the Indy suburb (and there are only a few Indy suburbs--Speedway, Lawrence, Beech Grove, Southport, etc.) of Beech Grove. I saw her demolish teams in high school for Beech Grove HS when they won the state championship easily her senior year. I never did attend a live girls high school game but all the games were shown on local cable in Beech Grove. She's a real true all-American and will be playing in the WNBA soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.