Texas A&M's visit to the Midwest didn't turn out nearly as well as its previous one.
The Aggies won the national championship in Indianapolis in April, but the good shooting and clutch play that lifted them to the top was nowhere to be found on this trip an hour further up the road. Courtney Moses scored 15 points and Brittany Rayburn added 14 to help No. 13 Purdue defeat No. 4 Texas A&M 60-51 on Sunday in the Big 12/Big Ten Challenge.
The Aggies (6-1) saw their winning streak end at 12 games. A victory would have set a new school record for consecutive wins.
Texas A&M had averaged 80 points per game, but the Aggies shot 28 percent from the field and made just 13 of 27 free throws.
''When that target gets on your back, you've got to play a little bit better than we did today,'' Texas A&M coach Gary Blair said.
The Aggies might now face a losing streak - Texas A&M plays at Connecticut on Tuesday night.
''If I'm UConn, I can't wait for us to come in, because right now, we've got to become a better basketball team,'' Blair said. ''Right now, we've got a team full of excuses. We've got to find the solutions.''
Guard Sydney Carter, the team's No. 2 scorer with 13.5 points per game, finished with five points on 0-for-12 shooting. Adaora Elonu scored 12 points, Tyra White scored 11 and Kelsey Bone added 10 for the Aggies.
Purdue (7-1) bounced back after a 64-53 loss at No. 7 Duke on Thursday. It was Purdue's first win over a Top 5 non-conference opponent since beating Texas in 2009, and its first win over a Top 5 non-conference opponent with both teams ranked since the No. 7 Boilermakers beat No. 5 Kansas State in 2003.
The Boilermakers overcame 24 turnovers and 38 percent shooting.
Sam Ostarello had seven points, 12 rebounds and four steals and Chelsea Jones added nine points and five rebounds for the Boilermakers.
Ostarello got a steal early in the second half, and K.K. Houser drove and drew contact. She was called for a charge, and Versyp was issued a technical foul for disagreeing with the call. Texas A&M made the free throws to take a 37-29 lead, but the Boilermakers outscored the Aggies 31-14 from there. A 3-point play by Ostarello gave the Boilermakers the lead, and a 3-pointer and layup on a baseline cut by Rayburn pushed the lead to 49-42 with 7:36 to play.
The Boilermakers increased their lead to 56-47 on a pullup jumper by Rayburn with just under 2 minutes to play.
''Second half, it was just a little bit of a comedy of errors and good play on their part,'' Blair said.
Purdue took a 10-5 lead, but the Aggies pushed the tempo and went up 21-16 to force a Purdue timeout. The Boilermakers closed strong and trailed 32-29 at halftime.
Blair said the first half was filled with missed opportunities.
''I thought the game turned in the first half, when I thought we could have been up by 12 or so,'' he said. ''We didn't convert some of the easy opportunities when they were turning the ball over. We didn't convert.''
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Follow Cliff Brunt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cliffbruntap
