WEST LAFAYETTE — Purdue senior guard Abbey Ellis knows this season’s tournament will be unlike any other held before.
The entire Big Ten Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament is sold out for the first time in history.
Every one of the 13 games will be stuffed with 20,000 fans at Target Center to view every matchup as the first spark to begin March Madness is lit.
The 5-day event starts Wednesday and ends Sunday with the championship game tipping off at 11 a.m.
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It’s a massive culmination for women’s basketball. Not just for fans getting to watch NCAA career scoring leader Caitlin Clark of Iowa. But for the 15 other teams competing in what’s become one of the premier conferences for NCAA women’s basketball.
“It’s a lot time coming,” Ellis said. “Women’s basketball has been on the rise for a long time and I think we deserve to have a sold out tournament. The Big Ten is such entertaining and high quality basketball. We have the best players in the nation in our conference. It’s exciting for all of us to play in a big crowd.”
Ellis has experience playing in two different conference championships, having played in the Big West Conference version at Cal Poly before transferring to Purdue for the 2021-2022 season. The Boilermakers made the NCAA Tournament last season.
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“In the Big Ten the competitiveness and the atmosphere adds to the stakes of the game,” Ellis said. “I feel like in the Big West Conference you knew who has going to win and not a lot of disparity between the teams.”
Freshman Rashunda Jones will be joined by four of her fellow classmates making their Big Ten Tourney debuts.
“There’s no pressure on me,” Jones said. “It’s just a basketball game and we are here to play and have fun.”
Starting senior point guard Jeanae Terry has readied herself mentally as No. 12 seed Purdue (12-17) takes on Northwestern (9-20).
Purdue will need to win five straight games on five consecutive nights to win the Big Ten Conference Tournament. A feat no women’s team has accomplished.
“We know we have everything in the locker room and everyone we have on this team is all we need,” Terry said. “So that’s what we are going to come with.”
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue women’s basketball on Big Ten Conference Tournament sold out
