LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Sam Ostarello heard all the talk for the past week about how the Liberty Lady Flames rebound better than anyone in the country. Then the Purdue senior went out and showed she's pretty good at hitting the boards herself. <\/p>\n
Ostarello scored 10 points and grabbed 17 rebounds as fourth-seeded Purdue routed Liberty 77-43 Sunday in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. <\/p>\n
''I wanted her to wear a Liberty jersey yesterday, so she just sort of proved me right,'' Liberty coach Carey Green said. <\/p>\n
The Boilermakers (25-8) improved to 19-1 in the first round with their 16th straight victory to open the tournament. They will play No. 5 seed Louisville, a 74-49 winner over 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee, in the second round Tuesday night in the Oklahoma City Regional. <\/p>\n
No. 13-seeded Liberty (27-7) hadn't played a Big Ten team since 2005 when the Lady Flames beat Penn State for their first NCAA tournament win. Liberty had the nation's best rebounding margin with a 17.5 edge per game, but couldn't beat Purdue on the boards in ending a 14-game winning streak. <\/p>\n
Courtney Moses scored 21 points, going 5 of 8 from 3-point range for Purdue. KK Houser added 15 points. Ostarello came in leading the Big Ten with 9.9 rebounds per game and set the tone as Purdue had a 40-38 edge on the boards. <\/p>\n
''I was just really focused on that assignment,'' Ostarello said. ''They're the top rebounding team in the nation by margin, and they get a lot of their points on second-chance opportunities, which is my defensive rebounds. So I just needed to go in there and every board was going to be mine. And if not, my teammates were going to clean it up.'' <\/p>\n
Devon Brown led Liberty with 21 points. <\/p>\n
Purdue was up 33-17 at halftime and by 35 late in the game as the Boilermakers won their fifth straight. They had this game so in control that 12 Boilermakers played. Purdue's reserves outscored Liberty 28-8. <\/p>\n
''Our defense was the key to set the tone for us to be able to get up and down and run,'' Purdue coach Sharon Versyp said. ''And for us to be able to have our bench come in and score 28 points I think was very big for us.'' <\/p>\n
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The rest is here:<\/p>\n
Purdue women beat Liberty 77-43 in NCAA 1st round<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- Sam Ostarello heard all the talk for the past week about how the Liberty Lady Flames rebound better than anyone in the country. Then the Purdue senior went out and showed she's pretty good at hitting the boards herself. Continue reading