WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.- Erica Lewis scored 12 points in her debut with Western Illinois as the Fighting Leathernecks were defeated by No. 23 Purdue, 70-37, in the team's season opener at Mackey Arena, Sunday afternoon.

Western jumped out to an early 6-2 lead over the Boilermakers at the 15:37 mark as the team forced three turnovers in the opening minutes of the game. Purdue regrouped and tied the game at six on a Brittany Rayburn jump shot with 13:59 left in the half. The Leathernecks would never lead again in the game, but tied the game two more times in the half before Purdue made a 15-2 run to take a 30-17 lead into the locker room.

The Boilermakers took advantage of 12 Western first-half turnovers, scoring 12 points off the turnovers.

"When you are playing a team that is bigger, faster and stronger, we have to take care of the ball better," said Western Illinois head coach Leslie Crane. "The players now understand why they have to do the things we tell them in practice on a daily basis, it will all make sense to them now."

The Leathernecks got within nine points in the second half (38-29) at the 14:58 mark, but a 32-6 run from the Boilermakers proved costly as they handed Western its first loss of the season. The Boilermakers scored 22 points off of 28 Leatherneck turnovers in the game.

Lewis led the offense with 12 points while Jordon O'Brien chipped in with 10 points. Ashley Lord and Michele Salvatori both added four points, respectively.

Defensively, Lord led pulled down a game-high nine rebounds while Jackie Barton grabbed five. Anne Borgertpoepping added four steals in the defensive effort.

"There is a lot of good we can take out of this experience for our players," said Crane. "A lot of it is getting the players the playing time they need to get us ready for conference play."

The Leathernecks will be back in action on Tuesday, Nov. 17, as they head to DeKalb, Ill., to face Northern Illinois at 7 p.m.

Postgame notes

Attendance record broken
Sunday's attendance at Mackey Arena for the game between Purdue and Western Illinois was the largest crowd to ever watch a Western Illinois women's basketball team as 8,710 watched Sunday afternoon. The previous record was at Western's game against Siena on Nov. 24, 2006 with 8,505 spectators.

Charity Stripe Woes
Western Illinois only took two free throw attempts in the entire game against Purdue (0-2) compared to Purdue's 22 attempts. Despite the unbalance in visits to the line, Purdue only shot 50 percent from the charity stripe.