After Purdue fell behind by four at the start of the fourth quarter Sunday, April Wilson started to take over.
The senior point guard hit a three-pointer from the left wing, then danced her way through the lane on her way to a traditional three-point play. Then, she stole the ball at half-court, leading a fast break in which she assisted on Dominique McBryde’s three-point layup and foul shot.
Four minutes into the fourth, Purdue’s deficit had turned into a five-point lead and the Boilermakers won, moving to 6-2 on the season.
“Any good player, you become a great player when you know it’s time to take over,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “You’re deferring, but now all the sudden, you’re starting to see some openings. She wants to take that last shot, that’s where you become an average team or a very good team. She’s put us on her back.”
Wilson’s playing at an All-Big Ten level, averaging 15.3 points per game while shooting 43 percent from the field, including nearly 46 percent from three-point range. Those numbers are significant improvements from her career marks of 38 percent overall and 32 percent from outside the arc.
Wilson has plenty of motivation to improve. The Boilermakers won only 11 games last season, that’s a big one, and Wilson never felt she reached her potential. Injury was a reason why; she had broken a rib in the Maryland game in early January, but rather than sit she tried to play through it. That wasn’t always easy. The rib was tender, frequently took her breath away if bumped, and affected her shot.
Wilson scored about nine a game, down a point from the year before, and was a career-worst 35-percent shooter from the field, less than 24 percent from three-point range.
“I questioned my ability,” she said. “I questioned a lot, like why I can’t do things, but I was restricted. In hindsight, looking back, I wonder – even the other day, I was like ‘Why am I playing so much better this year?’ And people are like ‘Well, you were injured last year.’ And I’m ‘Oh yeah, I forgot about that.’ But yeah, I put a lot of pressure on myself because I expect so much out of myself and my team and I know that we’re better than what we put on film last year.”
Wilson, who has a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (averaging five per game) is doing her part, more than anyone could have asked.
“Being a senior and knowing it’s the last go-around, and you don’t get any more opportunities like this,” fellow senior Torrie Thornton said. “Also, (she’s motivated by) how we played last year and being hungry to be better and win this year.”
The Boilermakers are allowing only 55.6 points per game, the fourth-best mark in the league. They’re forcing more than 16 turnovers per game, with a plus-2.8 turnover margin that is No. 5 in the conference. Opponents are shooting less than 37 percent.
“Right now, we’re playing our best defense since 2011,” Versyp said. “You’ve got to win with your defense, make it contagious and a priority. It starts with our guards and I think they’ve done a great job and we take a lot of pride in it. It’s who we are and who we’ve always been since we got here in 2006. That’s our identity and I’m excited about us getting back to those things.”
Versyp hopes to have the backup point guard back for the start of Big Ten play on Dec. 31 at Michigan.
Murphy had been practicing, and playing a bit, with a brace on her lower leg, but it became too much to continue.
“We thought we could maintain it, didn’t practice much, just like we do with other kids who have stress reactions,” Versyp said. “She was behind the Eight Ball in September, didn’t train, didn’t do X, Y and Z. … We want to make sure we do the right thing so we have that extra body and have her scoring ability in the Big Ten.”
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