The loss eliminates the Spartans from the Big Ten Tournament and advances Purdue on to the semifinals for a matchup with the tournament’s No. 1 seed Penn State at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday after No. 2 seed Ohio State and No. 6 seed Nebraska square off at 5 p.m..

As the lights dimmed on the her team’s chances in the Big Ten Tournament, MSU head coach Suzy Merchant said the game came down to the ability to stop Rayburn, and they just couldn’t on Friday night.

“I thought (Purdue) came out of the gates really strong I thought both offensively and defensively,” Merchant said. “ I thought defensively they got into (freshman guard Kiana Johnson) and we couldn’t get a flow going early offensively, and that’s kind of her responsibility, to make sure that we’re flowing a little bit from that side. And obviously Brittany Rayburn was insane. That’s the best way to put it.”

Entering the game, Rayburn was ranked 10th in the conference in three point percentage and has been a scoring threat for the Boilermakers all season.

In the two previous matchups against the Spartans — a 67-52 home win on Feb. 19 after a 67-49 loss on the road on Jan. 23 — Rayburn combined for 28 total points in a what seems like modest efforts, by comparison.

“Definitely it’s never good, especially if she’s hitting everything. I mean, literally everything,” junior guard Jasmine Thomas said. “But, I mean, defensively, it was just hard to watch, just because you know you want to go out there and stop that player. But you still have to have somebody to step up and do that job as well.”

Even with Rayburn’s play, sophomore guard Klarissa Bell said the loss came down to not being able to match Purdue’s energy at both ends of the floor.

“In the first half, they came out and had a 7-0 run, and I think that kind of turned momentum a little bit — Rayburn got off on us, which I would say is my fault because I was guarding her,” Bell said.

“They had a lot of energy, and I don’t think we matched that energy today.”

The Big Ten Tournament concludes Sunday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse (4 p.m, ESPN2). Following the conclusion of the tournament, the Spartans are forced to wait a week before learning their fate on Selection Monday, which falls on March 12.

Despite an early exit from the Big Ten Tournament, Merchant said she expects to hear her team’s name called for the Big Dance.

“I think we’re an NCAA Tournament team — I really do,” Merchant said. “I mean, we have 20 wins. We’ve got some key wins, playing really well down the stretch. We had one bad 20 minutes and a kid (Brittany Rayburn) that went absolutely insane. That doesn’t happen very often, that situation where a kid is that hot. And so we can learn from it.”