In the basement of Central Michigan's McGuirk Arena more than a month ago, Brittany Rayburn offered up a question.
"Are we a fluke?" Rayburn asked following the Dec. 12 loss to Central Michigan in which the Boilermakers blew a 12-point second-half lead and lost by 13.
That loss, coupled with a 28-point beatdown by Notre Dame the day before at Mackey Arena, left the Purdue women's basketball team asking a lot of questions.
Nine wins later, it appears the Boilermakers have answered Rayburn's question and responded in a way a team with six seniors and plenty of experience should react.
"It was a wake-up call," Rayburn said Saturday. "The Notre Dame game was embarrassing. You can make excuses left and right for the game but it shouldn't have been that big of a loss on our home court.
"Central Michigan, I wouldn't say we were throwing a pity party or anything but it showed we didn't come back from that big loss. It was devastating to our whole team and this is the way we've turned it around."
The winning streak has been filled with close games, a buzzer-beating basket, Rayburn's 12 3-pointers, key defensive stops, important road victories and sole possession of first place in the Big Ten Conference standings.
"We needed the Central Michigan game to get us going," Rayburn said. "You don't want to go through your season comfortable. You have to get a challenge and playing in these close games is great for us."
Purdue seeks its 10th straight win tonight against Michigan State at Mackey Arena. The Boilermakers haven't enjoyed a 10-game winning streak since the 2006-07 season, coach Sharon Versyp's first year.
"You never want to lose a game like that but sometimes it brings you back to reality and helps you re-focus," sophomore guard Courtney Moses said. "The whole weekend in general, the two losses made us sit back and re-group and get back on track. It was bad but a lot of good came out of it."
The loss to Central Michigan was puzzling because of how Purdue started this season.
Despite losing senior Drey Mingo to a knee injury in October, the Boilermakers won their first six games, lost a hard-fought battle at Duke and rallied to beat Texas A&M -- the defending national champions.
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But the two losses in a span of 48 hours raised questions where this team was headed.
"No, I wasn't concerned," Versyp said. "It's the resiliency of our team. What happened last year and how we enjoyed Europe, all those things have been a big part of our success this year."
The lost weekend remains a reference point for some, but not for all.
"It should always be that way, I think," junior Sam Ostarello said of not forgetting the loss.
Said Moses: "I feel like it happened a year ago. It seems so far away. We're looking ahead and not behind."
What's ahead is a much tougher Big Ten schedule, starting tonight against the Spartans, the defending league champions. This week, the Boilermakers will play three times in six days, capped by consecutive road games at Northwestern and Iowa.
A busy schedule is nothing new. Already this season, Purdue has played four games in six days and endured a three-game in five-day span. In fact, the Boilermakers were a combined 7-0 during those two hectic stretches.
"It's a veteran squad and everybody has been through this," Moses said. "We're prepared for it. The coaches do a great job of taking care of our legs."
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