When you're beginning to find your feet at the Division I-A level after nearly 30 years away from the bright lights, you're not going to take down an elite opponent... especially not in the third game of a young season.
Even in the face of daunting odds, however, any team can leave a mark on a credentialed foe, and that's exactly what the Seattle University women's basketball team did on Friday night in West Lafayette, Ind.
The Redhawks made a trek to the Midwest for the three-game Basketball Travelers Classic, an event - not a bracketed tournament - held at Mackey Arena on the campus of Purdue University. Georgetown and Dayton are also part of this four-team hoops festival (SU plays Georgetown today at approximately 4:25 p.m. Seattle time, and faces Dayton on Sunday at 10:15 a.m.), but the highlight of the weekend for coach Joan Bonvicini was Friday's tournament-opening clash with the big, bad Lady Boilermakers.
Purdue isn't just a Division I program from a power conference; coach Sharon Versyp led her 2008-09 squad to the elite eight round in the NCAA Tournament. Had Purdue faced Oklahoma and the Paris sisters (Courtney and Ashley) in almost any place other than Oklahoma City, the Lady Boilermakers might have advanced to the Final Four in St. Louis. As it was, Purdue had to play a de facto road game in the Oklahoma City Regional Final, falling to the Sooners by a 74-68 score.
Yes, this was the team - currently ranked 23rd in the country - Seattle U had to stare down on Friday. In half a decade, perhaps the Bonvicini Bunch can expect to enjoy competitive parity with a Big Ten ballclub, but for now, this encounter in Indiana was going to be significant for reasons other than the final score.
After dropping a 69-38 decision to Purdue, the Redhawks - true to their identity as a fearless assemblage of competitors - competed bravely against an elite eight outfit. SU left its mark, as this story from the West-Lafayette Journal & Courier so clearly indicates.
What is it that screams so loudly in an otherwise pedestrian account of a Friday afternoon basketball game in the opening weeks of a new season? Notice what Purdue's coaches and players had to say about the brand of defense the Redhawks threw at them for much of this game:
COACH SHARON VERSYP: I felt like we were in mud there for a little bit.
PURDUE GUARD BRITTANY RAYBURN: We were in the mud and we knew we had to get out of it as soon as possible.
Hmmm... mind-meld between player and coach? Did Versyp and Rayburn (a supreme zone-buster who led Purdue with 26 points, including five 3-pointers) consult on their terminology before the postgame press conference?
At any rate, that's a mighty high compliment to pay to SU's defense, which evidently told the Boilermakers that they can lay a venus fly trap with the best of 'em. It's fair to say that in the biggest game of this three-date dance in Indiana, the Redhawks succeeded in leaving a favorable impression on the people from Purdue.
Here's the box score from the game at GoSeattleU.com.
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