No. 7 Texas A&M beats Purdue 100-55

COLLEGE STATION, TX

"(Coaches) told us we should just take it out on Purdue," Sydney Carter said. "I think we did a pretty good job of that today. It just feels good to get back and know that we can bounce back from a loss like that and look better than we did the other day."

Danielle Adams tied a career high with 27 points despite early foul trouble and Texas A&M cruised to a 100-55 victory over short-handed Purdue on Thursday night.

"After that loss we came back to practice and just worked our butts off to put the Duke loss behind us," Adams said.

The Aggies (7-1) built a big lead in the first half and were up 63-35 with about 15 minutes remaining before using a 13-3 run to push their advantage to 76-38 with about 11 minutes left.

Texas A&M hit a season-high 10 3-pointers, three by Adams.

"After them losing to Duke, you knew they were going to come back ... and be ready and get after it," Purdue coach Sharon Versyp said.

Texas A&M coach Gary Blair wasn't surprised that his team played so well after the loss.

"This team is pretty resilient," Blair said. "We don't get too high or too low. The Duke game we know was just a missed opportunity."

The Boilermakers (4-3) entered the game with two starters missing and played most of the second half without a third after Brittany Rayburn was ejected with 17 1/2 minutes for elbowing Carter in the face.

Courtney Moses led Purdue with 26 points. The Boilermakers' Drey Mingo is recovering from bacterial meningitis, and KK Houser is out for the season with a right knee injury.

Versyp knows her team has a lot to work on, but is confident that things will get better know that the Boilermakers know Mingo is getting better.

"I'm very positive we will get back on the right track," she said. "The kids are positive. They feel normal again. We can now progress because we've got our teammate back and she's going to be OK."

Adams got her second foul 5 minutes into the game and her fourth with about 14 minutes remaining, but didn't foul again before going to the bench with 3 minutes remaining. It is the 17th straight game that Adams has scored in double figures.

Purdue had trouble dealing with Texas A&M's speed and had 26 turnovers to nine by the Aggies.

Rayburn's flagrant foul came after elbowing Carter in the jaw as Carter tried to steal the ball from Rayburn. Carter fell to the court in pain and Adams pushed a Purdue player after Carter was hit, drawing a technical foul.

After reviewing the play and discussing it for a couple of minutes, Rayburn was ejected from the game with Texas A&M leading 57-29. Carter went to the bench for a few minutes before returning to the game.

Carter said her jaw was pretty sore after the game, but that she would be OK. Adams knows she shouldn't have pushed a player, but said she felt she had to take up for her teammate.

"She's my bodyguard," Carter quipped after Adams talked about the incident.

Rayburn finished with six points. Texas A&M freshman Karla Gilbert scored a season-high 15 points and Adaora Elonu added 11.

Adams scored 10 points in the first five minutes of the game to help the Aggies build a 15-7 lead before going to the bench with her second foul. Texas A&M was up by 10 points later in the half before going on an 16-2 run powered by three, 3-pointers to take a 47-23 lead about two minutes before halftime.

The Aggies led 51-27 at halftime with a season high for first-half points.

It was Purdue's first visit to College Station and the first time these teams have met since 1995. It was also the last game in the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge that began Nov. 21. The Big Ten won 7-5.

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