The Minnesota women’s basketball team avenged an early Big Ten season loss they suffered at Purdue a couple weeks ago by crushing the Boilermakers 74-47 on Thursday night at Williams Arena.

It took almost 10 minutes for the Gophers to get on the board the first time they played the Boilermakers, but this time around Kiara Buford got Minnesota on the board just a minute into the game.  While it was a slow start for both teams, the Gophers slowly but surely continued to pull away, taking a 27-18 half time lead. 

The Gophers came out on fire in the second half scoring eight straight points, including a 3-pointer by China Antione, who then stole the inbounds pass and dished to Buford for an open jumper.  The run pushed the Minnesota lead to 19, and the Gophers easily held back any run attempted by the Boilermakers as they cruised to a 27 point victory, tying the Minnesota women’s basketball record for largest margin of victory over Purdue.

Buford led the way for the Gophers, finishing with a game-high 18 points.  Right behind Buford was Ashley Ellis-Milan with 17 points, and Antoine with 16 points.

Minnesota now travels to Northwestern to take on the Wildcats next Sunday at 2 p.m.