Big Ten Conference slate continuation of Purdue women's basketball's challenging schedule

Big Ten Conference slate continuation of Purdue women’s basketball’s challenging schedule

Posted by author December 28, 2024 Basketball

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WEST LAFAYETTE − This is Reagan Bass’ favorite time of the college basketball season.

The Purdue women’s basketball senior transfer from Akron doesn’t have to worry about tests or getting to classes.

It’s winter break and that mean’s it’s just ball.

It also means the Big Ten slate has arrived and for the Boilermakers, it’s a brutal start to the conference season.

“Growing up, you always dream about playing in the Big Ten,” Bass said. “I have some friends who play in this conference and now that’s my reality.”

Already having lost a heartbreaker to a top 10 Maryland team, Purdue resumes league play Sunday at No. 22 Iowa in one of the most raucous environments in the sport. That’s just the first of five straight ranked foes, including Maryland, that Purdue opens Big Ten play with.

“We challenged ourselves, maybe too much, but at the same time we’ve got a group that’s been in the gym working and understanding that the Big Ten is a marathon, not a sprint,” Purdue coach Katie Gearlds said. “That’s the ultimate goal is to put yourself in a position to be ready to go in January and February.”

The Boilermakers’ non-conference schedule included teams currently ranked second (South Carolina), fourth (Notre Dame) and 15th (Kentucky). In spurts, Purdue showed it could compete with two of them and also had Maryland on the ropes before fading late.

“Playing South Carolina, Kentucky, those ranked teams I feel like prepared us for conference play,” transfer guard Destini Lombard said. “When I was getting recruited (out of the transfer portal), that was my main focus, a team that would play top teams, top competition, top players. I wanted to challenge myself to play on a higher level my last year of college basketball.”

Despite the non-conference gauntlet, the Boilermakers, perhaps wisely, scheduled two mid major opponents ahead of this upcoming stretch.

Those wins over Miami (Ohio) and Indiana State supplied an extra dose of confidence before resuming Big Ten play with a 7-5 record.

From here on out, though, there’s no gimmies.

Now the Boilermakers hope they can take the spurts of good showcased against some of the nation’s best teams and extrapolate that through 17 games in the next two months.

“It’s a one game at a time mindset,” Lombard, Purdue’s leading scorer. “We get through one game and then we prepare for the next. Throughout the course of this conference play, our goal is to win, make it to the tournament and make it to the big dance.”

Sam King covers sports for the Journal & Courier. Email him at sking@jconline.com and follow him on X and Instagram @samueltking.