Purdue Sports Update: Feb. 5

WBB notches first conference win

Behind five players in double figures and celebrating Alumnae Day, the women’s basketball team rolled to an 84-71 win over Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon at Mackey Arena.

The Boilermakers (8-14, 1-10) finished with five players in double figures, led by a career-high points from freshman Kendall Puryear. The rookie from Lee’s Summit, Mo., was an efficient 8-of-10 from the field and 2-of-3 at the line going against reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Serah Williams.

Purdue sophomores combined for 39 points in the win. Sophie Swanson attacked the rim to post a season-high 17 points, including a career-high 8-of-8 at the line. McKenna Layden narrowly missed out on her first career double-double matching her personal bests in points, 3-pointers and rebounds with 12, four and nine, respectively. Rashunda Jones chipped in 10 points, while dishing out a team-high five assists.  

Ella Collier tallied 15 points on 5-of-6 from the field with a trio of 3-pointers.

Purdue matched its season high tally with nine 3-pointers, coming from five shooters, as well as 17-of-19 free throws This is It marked the second consecutive game Boilermakers had four or more players score 10+ points and the team collectively shooting 50% from the field, going 29-of-58 on the night.

 Defensively, Purdue forced 11 turnovers to score 16 points, while surrendering just eight points on 11giveaways.

The women’s basketball team dropped a road contest on Jan. 27 at Illinois 74-38.

Kendall Puryear led Purdue (7-13, 0-9) in scoring with 10 points, her sixth game in double figures this season and second straight. Rashunda Jones tallied nine points.  

The Boilermakers shot 28.6% from the field.

Purdue tallied 13 assists on 16 made field goals, led by five from Jones.Destini Lombard, Ella Collier, McKenna Layden and Sophie Swanson connected on their four made 3-pointers on the night.

Illinois (15-5, 5-4) finished the night with a 49.1% clip from the field and went 8-of-19 from behind the arc. The Illini were led by Kendall Bostic’s double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Purdue took Nebraska to the wire in a 74-68 loss Jan. 30 in Mackey Arena. The Boilermakers trimmed a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit down to three with two minutes to play but could not erase the gap.

Rashunda Jones exploded for a season-high 20 points, going 5-of-10 from the field and 10-of-10 at the line. It was the sophomores’ fourth 20-point performance of her career and three shy of her career high.

McKenna Layden continued her hot streak with a career-high 12 points on 4-of-6 shooting from behind the arc, matching the most triples in a game by a Boilermaker this season.

Sophie Swanson finished in double figures for the first time since Dec. 21 with 11 points from 4-of-6 from the floor with a trio of 3-pointers. Destini Lombard posted her 15th in double figures this season with 11 points.

The Boilermakers (7-14, 0-10) shot an even 50% (24-48) from the field and connected on a season-high nine 3-pointers, finishing the night 9-of-20 from distance.

Purdue stood firm on the defensive end, holding the Cornhuskers (16-5, 7-3) to two made 3-pointers. Freshmen posts Kendall Puryear and Lana McCarthy teamed up to limit Alexis Markowski to two rebounds on the night, after grabbing 21 in the matchup last year.

Purdue won the battle on the boards 29-28 and flipped five offensive rebounds into seven point, as Nebraska scored three points on eight second chance opportunities.

The Boilermakers will have the week off before heading to Rutgers for a 2 p.m. tip on Sunday, Feb. 10 on B1G+.

Wrestling Halted at #13 Illinois

The Wrestling team fell in a 35-8 dual decision at No. 13 Illinois in Huff Hall on Saturday (Feb. 1) afternoon.

Two nationally ranked Boilermakers were victorious in the loss, including one bonus point win and one ranked victory.

No. 1 Matt Ramos had no rust coming out of the bye week, earning a 19-1 technical fall over Caelan Riley at the top of the card.

Winning in just 2:32 with a furious offensive pace, it was the fastest tech fall of the redshirt senior’s career.

Ramos’ win put him back on top as the national tech fall leader with 12 this season, tied with one other wrestler (No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink, Penn State, 165 pounds).

No. 7 Joey Blaze also prevailed at 157 lbs., beating No. 31 Jason Kraisser 8-1 for his sixth ranked victory of the year.

The sophomore Blaze improved to 4-0 in Big Ten Conference action after a takedown, a pair of reversals and a riding time point secured his match win.

Also of note, redshirt freshman Orlando Cruz took No. 12 Edmond Ruth down to the wire with a 2-0 lead heading into the third period.

The Crown Point, Indiana, native gave up a takedown in overtime, but ultimately impressed in a hard-fought 5-2 decision loss (SV-1) to the No. 12-ranked wrestler at 184 lbs.

The Boilermakers fell to 8-4 (1-3 B1G) after the Fighting Illini (9-3, 4-1 B1G) took six bonus point victories and two decisions in Saturday’s dual.

UP NEXT

Purdue will hit the road one last time in the regular season next weekend, making stops at Wisconsin (Friday night) and Minnesota (Sunday afternoon) before returning home for the final two duals.

Friday night’s bout with the Badgers is set for 10 p.m. ET at UW Field House in Madison. Big Ten Network will host the live broadcast.

Sugiyama’s Top-5 Performance Leads Purdue to 4th-Place Finish in the Desert

Starting the spring, Momo Sugiyama picked up where she left off in the fall with her second consecutive Top 5 performance to lead Women’s Golf to a fourth-place finish at the Match in the Desert. The senior Boilermaker used a 3-under 33 on the back nine to fire an even-par 72, tying for fifth individually.

The Boilermakers shot 299 (+11) in the 18-hole tournament, finishing behind three teams ranked in the nation’s Top 25. No. 24 Kansas, the hosts of the event, claimed the team title with a three-shot victory (+2) over No. 7 Arizona State (+5). No. 17 Texas A&M (+7) were four shots clear of Purdue. The Boilermakers, ranked 33rd nationally, finished ahead of San Jose State (+12) and Baylor (+15), who entered the tournament ranked 39th and 27th, respectively. As a team, Purdue led the field with 16 birdies.

Sugiyama earned her 10th career Top 10 as a Boilermaker, including the sixth time placing in the Top 5. After not finding a birdie on the front and making the turn at 3-over, she recorded three birdies on the back nine. Playing the final 11 holes bogey free, Sugiyama worked her way back to even par and jumped into the Top 5. The senior finished strong with back-to-back birdies at the par-3 17th and the par-5 18th.

Another veteran, senior Jocelyn Bruch, carded a 73 (+1) to tie for eighth. The performance was Bruch’s best of the season and also her third career Top 10. The Carmel, Indiana, native made four birdies throughout the day, including a trio on the back nine. Bruch played the par-5s 2-under to rank third in the field in par-5 scoring.

Jasmine Kahler and Natasha Kiel added 77s (+5) to contribute to the team’s score. Kahler bounced back from a tough opening nine, picking up three birdies on the back for a 35 (-1) coming into the clubhouse. Kiel ended her round on a positive note with a birdie on her final hole of the day.

Purdue returns to the links in six days. Kicking off the month of February, the Boilermakers serve as hosts of the Puerto Rico Classic at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (Feb. 2-4).

MTEN: Purdue Upends Brown

The men’s tennis team continued their undefeated start to the spring season, improving to a 4-0 record with a 4-3 victory vs. Brown on Saturday afternoon.

Leading 3-2 with two courts going the distance, Nour Fathalla sealed Purdue’s victory with 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 result at the No. 4 singles position. Fathalla, a freshman, remains undefeated in 2025 with a 4-0 record in singles and 2-0 record in doubles.

The nearly three and a half hour match concluded with Stefan Simeunovic at the No. 2 singles position was locked in a battle with Oliver Worth that not only required three sets, but tiebreakers in each of the last two before falling 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3).

Freshman Maj Premzl had himself a day, picking up a win at the No. 5 singles, his first at the position this year, behind 6-4, 6-3 and making quick work of Brown’s James Lian. With the result, Premzl improves to 4-0 in singles this spring.

The Boilermakers went without the reigning Big Ten 2024 Fall Champion Aleksa Krivokapic, who was competing at the Davis Cup in China while representing his home country of Montenegro.

Up next, the Boilermakers will travel to Cornell in their first road test of the year next Sunday, February 12 at Noon ET.

T&F: Gilkerson, Pegher Take Wins in Final Day at Midwest Classic Invitational

Indoor Track & Field ended its weekend at the Midwest Classic Invitational with two victories and nine total top three finishes. Wins on Saturday came from Bode Gilkerson in the high jump and Lauren Pegher in the mile.

Men’s Notes
• Gilkerson won his second meet of the season in 2.05m (6-08.75) and has cleared at least 2.05m in three of his four appearances.
• Kaden Stewart tied Gilkerson at 2.05m (6-08.75) but missed an attempt on an earlier height to put him in second place. It was a season-best jump for Stewart.
• Jahn Riley took third in the 60m (6.99) and led off for a 4x400m relay team that finished second (3:13.48). He split 47.48 in the race.
• Hugh Jacobsmeyer in the mile (4:09.49) and Neris White in the 300m (8:11.63) both took fourth in their respective events.

Women’s Notes
• Pegher won the mile in 4:49.43 for the fastest time by a Boilermakers’ freshman in the last 15 seasons. She was less than two seconds from entering the program top 10 overall.
• Payne Turney finished second in the mile (4:50.25) in her first appearance in the race this season.
• The 4x400m relay team finished second in 3:39.82 and Alexia Smith split 53.82 at the leadoff leg.
• Britannie Johnson took third in the shot put with a personal-best 14.79m (48-06.25). It was the furthest by a Boilermaker this season.
• Caroline Jordan took third in the 3000m in a personal-best 9:52.85 for the fourth-fastest time by a Boiler this season.

Next Up
The Boilers’ combined events group will travel to the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Feb. 7-8.

3rd Diver of the Week Sweep Among Trio of B1G Weekly Honors

Jordan Rzepka and Daryn Wright teamed up for their third Big Ten Diver of the Week sweep of the season, bringing aboard Campbell Scofield as the league’s Freshman of the Week honoree as Swimming & Diving claimed a trio of weekly awards.

All three Boilermakers won an event as Purdue hosted Indiana for the final co-ed meet of the season at the Morgan J. Burke Aquatic Center. Rzepka and Wright posted decisive victories in platform diving in a Friday evening spotlight session of the Boilermakers’ premier event. Saturday, Scofield was victorious in the 200 butterfly for the fourth straight meet dating back to the Purdue Invitational in November.

Rzepka and Wright are both four-time Big Ten Divers of the Week this season while each winning the award seven times in their careers. Wright has been recognized after each of her last four weekends of competition dating back to November. She has joined Emily Bretscher (2019-20) and Amanda Miller (2006-07) as Purdue’s women’s divers to be four-time honorees in a season.

Among the men, Rzepka is Purdue’s first four-time honoree since Olympian Greg Duncan won the award five times in 2019-20. Bretscher and Duncan swept the league’s weekly honors three times that season.

For career honors, Wright stands alone in second and Rzepka third in the program record books.

Scofield’s winning time of 1:58.21 was another NCAA provisional qualifying time (B Cut) while coming up just shy of her Purdue season-best mark (1:58.07) that has moved her into fifth place in team history. She has joined Pat Broderick, Luke Fortner, Holden Higbie, Hannah Hill, Brady Samuels, Rzepka and Wright as active Boilermakers to be recognized as a Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Scofield is the Purdue’s first such honoree this season.

Rzepka was victorious on platform vs. IU for the second year in a row and Wright has now won the event at home vs. the Hoosiers twice in her career. She bested 2024 Big Ten champion Skyler Liu in the process. Sophie McAfee won on 1-meter Saturday on Senior Day as the Boilermakers won three of the four diving events in the annual dual vs. IU.