money McDowell finds hoops home at Purdue Northwest
Abbie McDowell has found a basketball home.
The Tecumseh graduate left University of Detroit-Mercy after two seasons and ended up in Hammond, Indiana at Purdue University Northwest near the Indiana-Illinois border. In her first season with the Pride, McDowell started 20 of her 24 games, averaged nearly eight points a game and made an immediate impact on the squad.
"It was a great experience,” McDowell said. “It was great getting back to playing basketball like I love.”
McDowell was a highly touted athlete while at Tecumseh, surpassing 1,000 career points, being All-SEC three times and earning All-State recognition. She chose UD-Mercy to continue her athletic career.
As a freshman in 2019-20, she appeared in 29 games for the Titans, averaging nearly nine minutes a game and receiving the team’s Academic Excellence Award. As a sophomore, however, she appeared in five games for the Titans under a new head coach.
She left the squad after a tumultuous season.
“It wasn’t the best of situations,” she said. “I hope people can learn from that experience.”
She entered the transfer portal, along with several other team members, and was contacted by the Purdue Northwest head coach via a direct message on Twitter. She connected with the coach and made a visit.
“During the visit I got a phone call with some team members and the coach left the room and let me just talk to the team members,” she said. “I love the trust she had in her team. When I left the visit, I knew I was going to go there.”
Purdue Northwest is a Division II school that plays in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with schools like Grand Valley State University, Ferris State University and Wayne State University.
McDowell, the daughter of Mike and Julie McDowell, joined the Pride and loved it immediately. During the pre-season she came down with COVID-19 and missed the first two games of the season.
“I came back for the third game of the season, and I wasn’t expecting to play very much,” McDowell said. “When I got onto the court, I played almost 20 minutes and I think I scored 10 points. I caught my groove a couple games later and ended up starting the rest of the season.”
McDowell scored a season high 20 points against Quincy in a game that she played 44 minutes. She made five 3-pointers at Davenport and had a 10-rebound game against Northwood. She ended up making 32 3-pointers, shooting 65 percent from the free throw line and averaging 7.8 points a game. She played 25 or more minutes in 12 games. The Pride finished the season 8-18 overall and 5-14 in the GLIAC.
The criminal justice major will be a redshirt junior next year and has two years of eligibility remaining.
“I’m planning on using it,” she said. “I love it here, my team, my coaches. It’s been such a great time. I’m very happy with my decision to come here. It’s great to be still playing basketball and having a good time with it again.”
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: McDowell finds women's basketball home with Purdue Northwest
