Purdue women’s basketball was unable to change its fortunes on the west coast, falling to Oregon 69-53 on Wednesday night in Eugene. The Boilermakers have now lost five straight games dating back to December 21st and are 0-6 a third of the way through Big Ten play this season.

The latest loss in the streak also marks Purdue’s seventh loss by 16 or more points this season, after having eight losses of double-digits all of last season.

The offense took awhile to show itself in Eugene, as Purdue and Oregon combined to shoot 2-10 in the early going, where it was a 2-2 game until the 5:57 mark. That’s when sophomore guard Sophie Swanson entered the game and provided scoring for the Boilermakers, having a quick five points to hand Purdue a 7-2 advantage at the 5:05 mark of the first quarter.

The Ducks then responded, outscoring the Boilermakers 11-2 over the final three minutes of the quarter, thanks to contributions from Peyton Scott and one time Purdue portal target Nani Falatea.

Purdue shot a respectable 45% from the field, but nine turnovers, leading to nine Oregon points was the difference in the opening frame.

The ball security woes compiled with shooting troubles in the second quarter for Purdue, who saw the deficit grow. The Boilermakers were 1-5 from the field and had five turnovers over the first five minutes of the quarter, while Oregon extended its lead to eight at the 4:55 mark.

Purdue went nearly nine minutes without a field goal in the second quarter as a Reagan Bass triple ended the drought with 49 seconds left in the first half, after Oregon had pushed the lead to 12. The Ducks responded quickly with a three of their own to take a 35-23 lead into the break.

Oregon quickly got the lead to a then high 14 to start the third quarter before three straight scores by Lana McCarthy and Rashunda Jones chopped that lead down to eight with 7:26 to play in the third. After a back-and-forth few minutes, McKenna Layden made it a seven point game with her second triple of the night.

That would be as close as the Boilermakers could get for the rest of the night. Oregon would then outscore Purdue 11-2 down the stretch of the third quarter, with the help of Deja Kelly and Phillipina Kyei who scored 13 combined in the quarter, to take a 52-36 lead into the fourth.

Despite best efforts from Rashunda Jones and McKenna Layden, the Boilermakers were unable to claw their way back into the game, watching Oregon coast to a convincing win in Matthew Knight Arena.

Another woeful offensive performances doomed Purdue’s chances of snapping its five-game losing streak, having 23 turnovers (leading to 25 Oregon points), as well as shooting a combined 42% from the field and 25% from three-point range.

Rashunda Jones led the way in the scoring department for the Boilermakers, with a team-high 17 points on 8-10 shooting from the field, as well as four rebounds and three assists. Jones returned to the starting lineup on Wednesday and has averaged 12.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists over the last three games.

McKenna Layden has come into her own of late, putting together the best performance of her young career, despite the loss. The sophomore had nine points and a career-high nine rebounds, which also paced the Boilermakers on the night. Over her last three games, Layden is averaging 7.6 points and 6.0 rebounds in an expanded role.

The transfer trio of Reagan Bass, Ella Collier and Destini Lombard were held in check in a frustrating night for the bunch, combining for just ten points on 27% shooting from the field and one assist.

Purdue will remain out west with a battle against Washington on deck for Saturday evening, where Katie Gearlds and company will look to get back in the win column for the first time in 2025.

EUGENE- The Oregon Ducks return home to Matthew Knight Arena after two road games to begin a three-game homestand starting on Wednesday as the Ducks face the Purdue Boilermakers. Wednesday’s matchup will mark the first-ever meeting between the programs, as Purdue is one of three teams in the Big Ten Conference that Oregon will face for the first time this season. The other two programs Oregon has yet to face are Michigan and Penn State. 

Oregon has been dominant at home this season, winning its last three home games while boasting a 10-1 record at Matthew Knight Arena. The Ducks will look to extend their home winning streak while also earning the team’s 13th win of the season over Purdue on Wednesday night. 

How to Watch 

The Oregon Ducks (12-5) return to Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon, to host the Purdue Boilermakers (7-9). Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. PT. The game will be streamed on B1G+. 

Preview 

The Ducks enter Wednesday’s matchup against the Boilermakers after a two-game road trip where Oregon defeated Penn State but fell to Ohio State. Oregon’s chance at an upset over the No. 9 Buckeyes last Sunday fell just short, losing the game 69-60. 

Despite the loss, multiple Ducks had successful outings. Guard Nani Falatea and Amina Muhammad led all players with 11 points each. Guard Deja Kelly added another 10, while center Phillipina Kyei contributed eight points and eight rebounds. Ohio native Peyton Scott scored seven points while grabbing a season-high eight rebounds. 

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Now, the Ducks look to redeem themselves from Sunday’s loss with a statement win over Purdue. The Boilermakers are trying to snap a five-game losing streak against Big Ten teams. Purdue has also trailed by 10 or more points after the first quarter in four straight games. 

Purdue has struggled to find consistency, compiling a 7-9 record. After the team’s loss to Michigan State on Jan. 1, the team held a meeting in an attempt to get back on track and find ways to win. However, in the team’s most recent outing, the Boilermakers fell at home 87-60 to the Michigan Wolverines. 

“We need to regroup. But we can’t afford to have another team meeting to do that. It just needs to be everyone buying in and going back to the team that we know we can be,” said Purdue fifth-year guard Ella Collier. “Whenever we are all at our best, and we’re all cheering for each other, and we’re not in our own heads, we can do some pretty good things together.” 

The Boilermakers will look to regroup Wednesday in Matthew Knight Arena as they face the Ducks in Eugene. However, this will undoubtedly be a daunting task for Purdue. 

The Ducks are an extremely deep and versatile squad that has proven they can excel on both ends of the court. Defensively, Oregon has forced more turnovers than their opponents in 12 straight games and 14 times this season. The Ducks have also recorded 10 or more steals in seven of the last 10 games. 

Olympic gold medalist Elisa Mevius is Oregon’s leader in steals, averaging 1.6 per game, while Kyei leads in blocks with 0.9 per contest. Kyei also leads the team in rebounding, grabbing 6.0 rebounds per game while also scoring 6.5 points per contest. 

Offensively, Oregon boasts one of the deepest benches in the country and the best in the Big Ten. Oregon’s reserves are averaging 29.2 points to lead the Big Ten and rank 14th in the nation. 

Not to mention, Oregon also features two of the top ten active scorers in the NCAA: Peyton Scott (9th) and Deja Kelly (10th). They rank first and second among active players in career points in the Big Ten. Both Kelly and Scott have surpassed the 2,000-point mark this season. The pair is the only set of teammates in the top 10 in scoring among active players. 

Prediction 

Facing the Ducks will undoubtedly be a tough challenge for the Boilermakers. Oregon’s deep bench means Purdue will have to defend multiple scoring threats, making it difficult to key in on just one or two players. Additionally, the Boilermakers will need to find a way to contain Kyei in the paint, where her size and skill can dominate both sides of the floor. Additionally, Oregon’s aggressive defense, which consistently forces turnovers, will likely disrupt Purdue’s rhythm. With the added advantage of playing at Matthew Knight Arena, where the Ducks have been nearly unbeatable this season, Oregon will likely come out on top.  

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Janelle Bynum’s journey to Washington, D.C., to begin her work as the U.S. representative for Oregon’s 5th Congressional District was a homecoming of sorts.

The Democratic former state lawmaker, who swam against a red wave in November to flip Oregon’s most competitive congressional district and make history as the state’s first Black member of Congress, grew up in D.C. She left the Beltway three decades ago, first to seek an engineering degree in Florida, then for a job at General Motors while she earned her master’s in business administration from the University of Michigan and finally for her husband’s home state of Oregon. 

She had hoped to work as an electrical engineer in Oregon’s Silicon Forest, but employers weren’t hiring in the 2002 recession. So, Bynum and her husband, Mark, took over his mother’s McDonald’s franchise and raised their four children — and when she had the chance to set policy as a member of the state Legislature, she pushed for state investments in the high tech industry to ensure young people graduating from high school or college aren’t turned away like she was. 

After winning a bruising campaign last fall against incumbent Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Bynum told the Capital Chronicle she’s looking for ways to make a difference for Oregon and find the “low-hanging fruit” on which Democrats and Republicans can agree. 

“I’ve always been an optimist and a person that would stare big challenges down, and I think just the success of my legislative career over the last eight years has proven that Number 1, I will always work across the aisle with my Republican colleagues, even when I don’t have to,” she said. “In this case, I do.”

Most people, she said, ultimately want the same thing — great schools for their kids, child care and good hospitals and doctors in their communities. She sees opportunities to work with Republicans on maternal health care, as research shows that babies born to healthy mothers are less likely to be premature or born with health problems and mothers with access to health care are less likely to die in childbirth. 

And she hopes Republicans and Democrats can work together to reduce the ferocity of wildfires, like the Santiam Fire that burned a scar across her district in 2020 and all but wiped out the cities of Detroit and Gates. Congress is now sparring over disaster relief for California’s ongoing wildfires, with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, pushing for “conditions” on spending.

Bynum also wants to bring her personal experience to congressional conversations about the NCAA. Her older son, Ellis, is a running back for the Oregon Ducks, and she believes it’s important for student athletes to be represented and protected from people who would take advantage of them as sports betting grows in popularity.

Highs and lows

Bynum is one of two new congressional members from Oregon, with Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter representing the Portland-based 3rd Congressional District. Both took the oath of office on Friday, Jan. 3, a day Bynum said was exhilarating. She took her oath of office with her family watching and spent time meeting with colleagues with offices on her floor of the Capitol. But on Monday, when she spoke with the Capital Chronicle, she experienced a profound low, with news that Arizona, not Oregon, would receive the last of three semiconductor research hubs. It was a blow for the state’s economy, and it especially stung for Bynum, who led legislative efforts to draw federal funding to Oregon. 

The Biden administration opted to place its three research hubs from the $52 billion 2022 CHIPS Act in New York, Silicon Valley and Arizona, skipping Oregon’s Silicon Forest. The administration went on to announce this week that it would award $53 million to HP in Corvallis and $45 million for Oregon State University’s microfluidics research, but those grants are far below the level of federal investment Oregon lawmakers hoped the state would receive from being named a research hub. 

“That center would have been an opportunity for us to grow the workforce, and opportunities that our students would have had to intern there and maybe potentially work there,” Bynum said. “So it was a huge missed opportunity for us, and I feel like I’m starting over from scratch again, screaming from the mountaintop like ‘Hey, these are good jobs. This is a good opportunity for our kids, and we have to invest in what we want,’ and we just missed the mark there. I’m bummed.” 

That day, Jan. 6, was also the anniversary of an attempted insurrection at the Capitol led by supporters of President-elect Donald Trump trying to block Congress from certifying his 2020 loss to President Joe Biden. It was a somber day, Bynum said, with many of her colleagues clad in black to watch Vice President Kamala Harris certify her own loss to Trump. 

“What I experienced in the electoral count acceptance was Vice President Harris exhibiting way more grace than was even fair to ask of her,” Bynum said. “She did her job. She put country over politics, and she did it with a very strong personal constitution. It was tough to watch.”

While she supported Harris and was disappointed in the results of the presidential election, Bynum said she’s open to working with Trump. She thinks they both believe in being disruptive because that’s how businesses advance and innovate. 

“What I stand firm on is not allowing him to be destructive,” Bynum said. “Destructive of our democracy, destructive of our families, destructive of our national integrity. That’s where I draw the line. And so where we want to be disruptive and shift the status quo in favor of working families and Americans, I’m willing to do that, but the destructive part, I’ll take a strong stance against that.”

Financial Services Committee

She’ll serve on her top pick of committee, the Financial Services Committee. During her first week in D.C., Bynum took her children on a tour of the White House and told them it wasn’t a coincidence that the Treasury Department is right next door. 

She has always been interested in understanding how money moves through the economy, she said, and she wants to make sure that Congress provides the infrastructure and oversight to make sure money moves in a way that unleashes opportunity for families and gives everyone a fair deal. 

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California and the ranking member of the committee, said in a statement that she was pleased to welcome Bynum. 

“Congresswoman Bynum has a strong track record of fighting to address the affordable housing crisis and lower rising costs for consumers and working-class families in Oregon,” she said. “I have no doubt she will draw on her background and expertise to continue this important effort and I look forward to working alongside her.”

Throughout her eight years in the Legislature, Bynum was one of only a few Black members and frequently the only Black woman. In Congress, she’s part of a historic contingent of 67 Black lawmakers, 62 of whom, including Waters, are members of the Congressional Black Caucus. 

“It’s been interesting to be in a much more diverse workplace, I will say that, and it’s been interesting to not have to explain myself as much in D.C.,” Bynum said. “And so I think, on behalf of the kids of Oregon 5 and the residents, I think that I’ll be much more effective here.”