1998–99 Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball team

The 1998–99 Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball team was the first Purdue basketball team to win a national championship. The team was undefeated in conference play, and finished the regular season with one loss.

1998–99 Purdue Boilermakers women's basketball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
1998–99 record	34–1 (16–0 B1G)
Head coach	Carolyn Peck (2nd season)
Home arena	Mackey Arena

Background

This season was Carolyn Peck's second and final season coaching Purdue's women's basketball team.[1]

Schedule

Non-conference

The season started off with two wins, including a road win at the University of Arizona. They lost their third game to Stanford, their only loss of the season. The team closed out their non-conference schedule with wins against 4th ranked Louisiana Tech and 20th ranked Florida.[2]

Conference

The team finished their conference schedule undefeated, winning sixteen games in a row. They played two ranked teams, beating them three times.[2]

NCAA Tournament

Purdue began the tournament as a number 1 seed in the Midwest region, played in Normal, Illinois. The team played Oral Roberts, winning 68–48. The team then played 9th seed Kansas. Purdue won that matchup 55–41. They moved on to play 4th seed North Carolina, winning 82–59 in the Regional semifinals. The last game in the Midwest region was played against 3rd seed Rutgers, which Purdue beat 75–62.[2]

Purdue moved on to the Final Four, played in San Jose, California. They played Louisiana Tech, the number 1 seed from the West region. Purdue won 77–63. They faced Duke in the finals, who was coached by a former Purdue coach. Two of the Duke players also formerly played at Purdue before transferring.[3] Carolyn Peck coached Purdue to a 62–45 win, in what was her last game before moving on to the Orlando Miracle. This was the Boilermaker's first national championship.[2]

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
11/15/1998*		No. 1 Tennessee	W 78–68	1–0	Mackey Arena (11,788) West Lafayette, IN
11/19/1998*		Arizona	W 65–58	2–0	(3,076)
11/22/1998*		Stanford	L 72–73	2–1	(4,553)
11/25/1998*		Valparaiso	W 92–51	3–1	Mackey Arena (7,920) West Lafayette, IN
12/04/1998*		Northern Illinois	W 83–55	4–1	Mackey Arena (8,048) West Lafayette, IN
12/06/1998*		Ball State	W 103–58	5–1	Mackey Arena (3,239) West Lafayette, IN
12/12/1998*		Ohio	W 92–52	6–1	(1,952)
12/19/1998*		No. 4 Louisiana Tech	W 71–65	7–1	Mackey Arena (13,547) West Lafayette, IN
12/21/1998*		No. 20 Florida	W 84–76	8–1	(3,188)
12/30/1998		Minnesota	W 73–52	9–1	Mackey Arena (9,330) West Lafayette, IN
1/5/99		No. 17 Penn State	W 53–48	10–1	Mackey Arena (7347) West Lafayette, IN
1/10/99		Iowa	W 71–69 ^OT	11–1	(4761)
1/12/99		Northwestern	W 76–46	12–1	Mackey Arena (7466) West Lafayette, IN
1/15/99		Michigan State	W 70–47	13–1	Mackey Arena (3519) West Lafayette, IN
1/18/99		Illinois	W 71–60	14–1	(10092)
1/22/99		Indiana	W 97–62	15–1	Mackey Arena (10039) West Lafayette, IN
1/24/99		Wisconsin	W 76–56	16–1	Mackey Arena (9960) West Lafayette, IN
1/26/99		No. 19 Ohio State	W 64–56	17–1	(8877)
1/29/99		Indiana	W 91–86	18–1	(5503)
1/31/99		Michigan State	W 80–66	19–1	(3519)
2/04/99		Providence	W 96–67	20–1	(321)
2/07/99		Michigan	W 70–64	21–1	Mackey Arena (12932) West Lafayette, IN
2/12/99		No. 15 Penn State	W 76–74 ^OT	22–1	(7151)
2/14/99		Ohio State	W 88–58	23–1	Mackey Arena (14123) West Lafayette, IN
2/19/99		Minnesota	W 63–61	24–1	(4902)
2/21/99		Northwestern	W 71–62	25–1	(2479)
2/27/99		Northwestern	W 79–56	26–1	Mackey Arena (7317) West Lafayette, IN
2/28/99		Ohio State	W 72–59	27–1	Mackey Arena (6123) West Lafayette, IN
3/01/99		Illinois	W 80–76	28–1	Mackey Arena (6459) West Lafayette, IN
3/13/99		Oral Roberts	W 68–48	29–1	(9169)
3/15/99		Kansas	W 55–41	30–1	(9501)
3/20/99		North Carolina	W 82–59	31–1	(9041)
3/22/99		Rutgers	W 75–62	32–1	(8844)
3/26/99		Louisiana Tech	W 77–63	33–1	(17773)
3/26/99		Duke	W 62–45	34–1	(17773)
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. L=Lexington Region. All times are in Eastern Time.

Source[2]

References

1. Montville, Leigh (June 14, 1999). "Miracle Worker Carolyn Peck won an NCAA title in her second year at Purdue. Her next trick: building a brand-new WNBA team in Orlando". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
2. "Purdue Women's Basketball Statistics". Purdue Sports. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
3. Pennington, Bill (March 29, 1999). "N.C.A.A. Tournament: Women's Championship; Purdue Completes Transfer of Power". New York Times. Retrieved October 15, 2017.