Northwestern edges No. 21 Purdue 71-68

Jan 9, 2014, 10:46 pm

EVANSTON, Ill. -- Maggie Lyon scored 20 points and Christen Inman added 18 more as Northwestern edged No. 21 Purdue 71-68 on Thursday night.

Northwestern (11-4, 1-1 Big Ten Conference) opened the second half with an 11-4 run to take its first lead of the game, then used a 15-2 burst sparked by an Inman layup to build a double-digit margin at 61-47 with just under nine minutes to play. The Wildcats later held off a Purdue rally down the stretch to cement the win.

Alex Cohen and Lauren Douglas contributed 10 points each for Northwestern, which shot 44 percent from the field and hit 6 of 12 from 3-point range.

Purdue (10-4, 0-2 Big Ten) closed the gap in the final minute pulling within a point on an April Wilson trey to make it 69-68 before the drive stalled.

Camille Redmon led the Boilermakers with 14 points and 10 rebounds.