Xavier's Jennifer Phillips wrestles Purdue's Camille Cooper for the ball. (Craig Ruttle photos) | ZOOM |

        BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — With about 16 minutes remaining in Monday night's Mideast Regional championship game, the Xavier women's basketball team appeared headed for St.Louis and the Final Four.

        The Musketeers went on a 15-5 run to start the second half and jumped out to a 47-39 lead. Their offense, which knocked and pinged in the first half, was fluid.

        Senior post players Jennifer Phillips and Taru Tuukkanen scored inside, and Nicole Levandusky hit a long 3-pointer.

        But the Purdue Boilermakers, with a roster filled with seniors who were sophomores on a national championship team, turned up their pressure defense, dominated the offensive board and hurt Xavier at their own game, free throws.

Taru Tuukanen | ZOOM |

        Purdue won 88-78, ending Xavier's season one game from its first Final Four.

        “They took us out of our game plan,” XU coach Melanie Balcomb said. “A lot of it had to do with what they did to us.”

        The loss ended Xavier's 21-game winning streak and was the last game for five seniors who were 98-29 in four seasons, including a 31-3 mark this year.

        “We played worse than we had all year,” said Phillips, who had 12 points before fouling out with 2:05 remaining. “We let them take us out of our offense.”

        Tuukkanen led all scorers with 23 points and played all 40 minutes.

        Levandusky had 19 points and led XU with 10 rebounds. She also fouled out, with 1:47 left and Purdue leading 78-68.

Reeta Piipari | ZOOM |

        “I was hoping my teammates would pull it out and we weren't done,” she said. “There was confidence. I wasn't giving up.”

        Regional most valuable player Kelly Komara led Purdue with 20 points, and Katie Douglas, held to two points in the first half, had 19 for the Boilermakers. Purdue made 28 of 32 free throws.

        Balcomb had said Xavier would have to stop Purdue's inside-outside offense. It didn't. The 30-6 Boilermakers got 40 points from its starting forwards and center and 39 from its starting guards.

        When Purdue pulled away, Xavier couldn't concentrate on any one area. The Boilermakers' offense was unpredictable and balanced.

Amy Waugh | ZOOM |

        Xavier, which had shot 49 percent on 3s for the first three tournament games, was 12 of 33 against Purdue, many shots coming as it tried to rally late in the second half. The Musketeers also were off their 3s in the first half, making 5 of 16.

        “We were taking a lot of perimeter shots and had only four points in the paint,” Balcomb said.

        Defensively, Purdue gave Xavier fewer open looks on its 3 attempts and challenged the passing lanes aggressively when the Musketeers tried to swing the ball around the arc.

        Purdue also was successful driving the baseline and lane, penetrating Xavier's defense and setting up short field goals for post players Camille Cooper and Shereka Wright.

Melanie Balcomb and Erin Hall | ZOOM |

        “This is an excellent team,” Balcomb said of Purdue. “They're great players. They're all (high school) all-Americans.”

        Xavier jumped out to a 6-2 lead thanks to a pair of 3-pointers by Jennifer Parr. She was scoreless in Saturday's win over Tennessee and played only 11 minutes, partly because she was hesitant to shoot when she was open.

        The Musketeers twice built their lead to eight points early in the first half. Levandusky hit two 3s in a row to stretch Xavier's lead to 12-4.

        But the Muskeeters went cold from the field but continued to shoot 3s. They were 5-for-16 on 3-pointers and 9-for-27 (33 percent) on field goals in the first half.

        Komara scored 10 points in a row for Purdue, pulling the Boilermakers even at 18. She led Purdue with 14 first-half points.

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Women's Sweet 16 pairings
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XAVIER (78)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Phillips        23   5-6   2-3   1-2  0  5   12
Levandusky      31  6-15   2-3  3-10  3  5   19
Tuukkanen       40  8-14   6-6   1-9  4  1   23
Piipari         36   1-8   0-0   2-3  2  2    3
Parr            28   5-8   0-0   2-2  1  4   14
Waugh           24  2-10   2-2   0-1  4  2    7
Kreager         16   0-0   0-0   2-3  0  3    0
Hall             1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Bell             1   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-61 12-14 11-30 14 22   78
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.443, FT-.857. 3-Point Goals:
12-33, .364 (Levandusky 5-12, Tuukkanen 1-2,
Piipari 1-4, Parr 4-7, Waugh 1-8). Team rebounds:
4. Blocked shots: 1 (Phillips). Turnovers: 19
(Levandusky 4, Waugh 4, Phillips 3, Parr 2, Bell,
Hall, Kreager). Steals: 4 (Levandusky 2,
Tuukkanen, Waugh).


PURDUE (88)
                      fg    ft    rb
               min   m-a   m-a   o-t  a pf   tp
Hurns           37   5-9   0-0  7-12  0  2   10
Wright          32   4-9   5-6   3-4  0  3   14
Cooper          28   6-9   4-5   3-6  1  3   16
Komara          38  6-12   6-7   0-3  5  2   20
Douglas         37  3-13 11-12   0-7  8  1   19
Hicks            2   0-0   0-0   0-0  0  0    0
Parks           14   1-4   0-0   0-1  1  1    3
Crawford        12   2-5   2-2   1-1  0  3    6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS         200 27-61 28-32 14-34 15 15   88
_______________________________________________


Percentages: FG-.443, FT-.875. 3-Point Goals:
6-12, .500 (Wright 1-1, Komara 2-5, Douglas 2-4,
Parks 1-2). Team rebounds: 3. Blocked shots: 1
(Wright). Turnovers: 11 (Wright 4, Parks 3,
Cooper, Douglas, Hurns, Komara). Steals: 8
(Komara 4, Wright 3, Douglas).
__________________________________
Xavier             32   46  -   78
Purdue             34   54  -   88
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None.  A: 4,092. Officials:
Melissa Barlow, Barbara Smith, Dock Sisk.

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