Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
0-1,0-0Sun Belt
Purdue
1-0,0-0Big Ten
Marshall Battles, but Falls in Season Opener at Purdue
11/10/2022 10:11:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Roshala Scott leads the way with 20 points.
Box Score | Coach Kemper Press Conference
WEST LAFAYETTE, In. – The Marshall women's basketball team dropped a hard-fought season opener, 73-61, to the Purdue Boilermakers. Junior guard Roshala Scott led all scorers with 20 points.
Marshall took a quarter to gel on the Mackey Arena court Thursday night, trailing 25-11 after one. Five straight points from Scott, and a layup from sophomore forward Samantha LaFon brought the Herd to within four at the break, trailing 37-33. LaFon was one of just three returning players from last season who played in the opener, as redshirt-junior Mahogany Matthews and senior Kia Sivilis also saw action. The rest of the lineup featured newcomers. In total, 10 players joined the Thundering Herd this offseason.
"It's not coach speak to say that we have no experience together at all," Coach Tony Kemper said. "So we didn't start great, but really battled back, had a really good second quarter, had a good third quarter, and I thought our fight was in the right place. I thought our togetherness was in the right place."
Marshall cut the deficit to one in the back-and-forth third quarter on a fastbreak jumper from Scott. Ensuing jumpers from Matthews and junior guard Abby Beeman kept the visitors to within a one-possession game late into the third. The Herd trailed 58-53 entering the final quarter.
Marshall continued to trade blows with the Big Ten opponent in the fourth, with another field goal from Matthews, as well as a jumper from sophomore guard Ashley Tudor. A Beeman jumper brought Coach Kemper's side to within three with just under five minutes remaining at 62-59, before Purdue held the Herd to without a field goal over the final 4:59 of the game.
"Give them credit, Coach Gearlds called a timeout with around five minutes to go and they really locked us down from that point forward," Coach Kemper added. "We couldn't get the ball to the spots that we wanted, so we will have to have better defense at the end and get the ball to better spots on the offensive end. But overall, this is something we can build on."
Purdue closed on an 11-3 run to take the season opener for both teams, 73-61.
UP NEXT
Marshall returns home for its home opener against West Virginia Wesleyan on Tuesday, November 15. Tip from the Cam Henderson Center is 6:00 p.m.
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