Howard leads No. 13 Purdue women past Indiana - Fox News

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. â€"  Purdue's Antionette Howard had all the answers Thursday night.

If the Boilermakers needed a defensive stop, she got it. If they needed an offensive rebound, she grabbed it. If they needed a physical presence inside, Howard was willing to scuffle.

The fifth-year senior scored a season-high 20 points, had eight rebounds and a career-high four steals, leading No. 13 Purdue past archrival Indiana 82-60 with the best all-around performance of her career.

The Boilermakers (16-3, 6-0) are still the only Big Ten team unbeaten in league play and have now won nine straight since mid-December and six straight over the Hoosiers.

Without Howard, all of those streaks might have ended in Bloomington.

Instead, Howard made sure they didn't.

Clearly, the game didn't start out according to script. Leading scorer Brittany Rayburn was held without a basket for more than 15 minutes and finished just 3 of 8 from the field on a night she passed her coach on school's career scoring list. Rayburn finished with 14 points.

The Hoosiers also managed to connect on 54.2 percent of their shots in the first half against one of the nation's top defensive teams.

But Howard bailed out Purdue, time after time, with aggressive play and strong defense.

She connected on 9 of 21 shots, had six offensive rebounds, one block and one assist, and she almost single-handedly derailed every Indiana rally in the second half.

The Hoosiers (5-14, 0-6) were led by Aulani Sinclair with 20 points and Jasmine McGhee with 13, not nearly enough to end their losing streak that is now at six in a row.

Howard made sure of it.

After Purdue forced six turnovers in the first seven minutes and jumped to an 18-8 lead, the Hoosiers charged back. They used a 10-4 run to close to 31-28 late in the first half, then watched the Boilermakers run off six straight points to make it 37-30 at the half.

That's when Purdue got back in synch.

The Boilermakers opened the second half on an 10-5 run, extending the margin to as much as 52-36 when KK Houser hit a 3-pointer with 15:11 to play in the game.

Indiana closed the gap to 53-40, but Howard answered with a layup .A few moments later, the Hoosiers were back within 57-44, but Howard answered with a three-point play and another layup to make it 62-44.

The Boilermakers closed it out with a late 9-0 run.