Neither team shot well. Both turned the ball over repeatedly.

Still, Penn State could have had the advantage in the women's basketball game yesterday because Purdue had lost its star center, Leslie Johnson.

But in a game that Penn State Coach Rene Portland compared to "two boxers slugging it out," Purdue continually landed the extra jabs that knocked the Lady Lions out.

At the final buzzer, the No. 21 Boilermakers (16-6, 8-3 Big Ten) moved a half-game ahead of No. 10 Penn State (16-4, 7-3) in the Big Ten standings with a 57-43 defeat.

"They had 24 turnovers. We had 26," Portland said. "The game was incredibly sloppy, and neither team shot very well. We had the opportunity to take advantage of them having a bad day, and then we turned around and had a bad day, too."

In a repeat of their road trip to the Hoosier state last season, the Lady Lions left with a split weekend. On Friday, they pulled out a 74-71 win against Indiana.

Yesterday, Purdue played without one of its best rebounders, Johnson, who announced Friday that she was leaving the team this season for personal reasons.

Stepping in for Johnson, Stacey Lovelace was held to seven points but dominated Penn State on the boards with 15.

Part of Penn State's rebounding woes came from the limited playing time of forward Angie Potthoff.

Potthoff was held to 1-for-6 shooting from the floor, five points and seven rebounds. She only played 24 minutes, and Portland said Potthoff will not make the trip to Michigan this Friday.

"She's been pretty beat up all season," Portland said. "We have every intention right now of shutting her down. She will not do anything from now until next weekend because of flat-out exhaustion."

Potthoff has been the mainstay of the Lady Lions this season, leading them in both rebounding and scoring. But that physical intensity has slowly drained the redshirt sophomore. Since the beginning of the season, Potthoff has lost 16 pounds, Portland said.

"We've been watching her fade away in the last two games," Portland said. "We're very, very concerned about her health at this time."

On Friday, Potthoff started to show signs of fatigue. Despite making 18 points and eight rebounds, she was slow on defensive transition, trailing several plays in the second half.

Several Lady Lions were off their games in yesterday's loss -- their first in almost a month.

None of the Lady Lions scored in double digits. Their leading scorer -- guard Tiffany Longworth -- hit three treys for nine points but also came away with seven turnovers. Forward Missy Masley was second in team scoring with eight points and seven turnovers of her own.

Overall, the team went 16-for-53 shooting and had 33 rebounds compared to Purdue's 46. The Lady Lions 26 turnovers were also a season high.

"We don't think anybody really stood up and took the challenge," Portland said. "We needed somebody to come up with the big shot for us today. We got it within three points, and we just couldn't get over the hump."

Down by 11 points, Penn State rallied to within three with about eight minutes gone in the second half. But Purdue continued to pick apart Penn State, holding the Lady Lions scoreless in the last four minutes.

On Friday, the Lady Lions struggled, playing catch up to Indiana for most of the game. Hoosier forward Lisa Furlin paced her team with 21 points.

But the final and most important shot belonged to Longworth, a native of Kokomo, Ind.

With Penn State trailing by two with a minute remaining, Longworth stepped to the top of the arc and sunk her third trey of the night. That gave Penn State the lead it needed to survive against the Hoosiers.