Two double-doubles from juniors Patrice McBee and Jada Buggs helped the host Purdue University Calumet women’s basketball team power to a 87-54 league-opening victory over Calumet College of St. Joseph Wednesday.
McBee (Monterey, Ind./Culver) scored 17 points on 7 of 14 shooting and pulled down a season-high 14 rebounds and teammate Buggs (Ellkhart, Ind./Elkhart) added 17 points on 6 of 13 shooting to go along with 11 boards to lead the Peregrines (3-0, 1-0 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference) to their seventh straight over the Crimson Wave (2-1, 0-1).
The Peregrines opened the scoring with a McBee layup 14 seconds into the contest, but Calumet College held strong throughout the first 12 minutes, as a Giacanna Ezell jumper cut Purdue Calumet’s lead to just three, 27-24, with 8:24 to go. The Peregrines would then go on a 10-1 run over the next four minutes, keyed by two buckets each from Buggs and McBee and a Stephanie Balon (Wanatah, Ind./South Central) layup.
Purdue Calumet led by 11 at the break, 43-32, but made its biggest run to open the second half behind a stingy defense that allowed just two Crimson Wave points in the first seven minutes of the second frame. The Peregrines outscored CCSJ 44-22 in the second period, with their largest lead at 35 (87-52) with one minute to play.
Cassidy Deno (Otterbein, Ind./Benton Central) and Balon each added 10 points and freshman Ellie Michalski (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) scored eight points and pulled down eight boards for the Peregrines, who shot 44.9 percent (31 for 69) from the field for the game.
Deno led with four steals and senior Kami Graber (Nashville, Ind./Brown County) had a team-best six assists to go along with six boards. Freshman Jessica Kiser (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville) had four assists off the bench.
Daryian Morris led the Crimson Wave with 19 points and 10 boards and teammates Ezell (16 points) and Latoi Merriweather (12 points) also reached double-figures for Calumet College, which shot 25.0 percent (20 for 80) from the field.
Purdue Calumet dominated on the boards, 64-38, and saw its bench outscore the Crimson Wave 35-2.
The Peregrines return to action Thursday when they travel to nonleague foe Indiana Tech in Fort Wayne, Ind. Game time is set for 6 p.m.