The Gopher women's basketball team won its fifth straight game Thursday night, holding Purdue to two points in the fourth quarter and pulling away for a 65-45 win in West Lafayette, Ind.
Destiny Pitts scored 27 points, all but four in the second half, while Kenisha Bell added 17 points and nine rebounds for the Gophers (18-7, 7-7 Big Ten).
Purdue trailed by a bucket going into the final quarter but the Gophers forced them to miss all 11 shots from the field the rest of the way. The Boilermakers (16-11, 7-7) also committed eight turnovers in the fourth quarter in their fifth loss in six games.
It was the Gophers' sixth win in nine road games this season under first-year coach Lindsay Whalen, and their third straight Big Ten victory away from Williams Arena.
The win kept alive the Gophers' chances of finishing in the top four in the Big Ten standings, which would give them a double-bye at the conference tournament next month in Indianapolis, Ind.
The Gophers sit in seventh place in the Big Ten, but their 7-7 league mark is just one game behind Michigan and Northwestern, who are tied for fourth place.
The Gophers lost at Michigan earlier this season but have beaten Northwestern twice. Next up for the Gophers is Sunday afternoon at The Barn against Penn State, which is 3-10 in league play.