WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue women's basketball team is set for its lone exhibition ahead of its 2021-22 campaign with a 2 p.m. tip Sunday against Findlay at Mackey Arena.
Head coach Katie Gearlds will be back on Purdue's sideline for the first time since Feb. 22, 2007, against Iowa when she was a senior for the Boilermakers.
Tim Newton and Jane Schott return on the airways this season. While the Boilermakers will feature on 95.3 BOB FM throughout the regular season, Sunday's exhibition will have audio streamed to Purdue Stretch Internet. The game will also be streamed through B1G+
GAME INFORMATION
Purdue vs. Findlay
Sunday, Nov. 7
Time: 2 PM
TV: B1G+
Radio: Purdue Stretch Internet
Live Stats: PurdueStats.com
A NEW ERA
Gearlds was elevated to head coach in late September, accelerating a previously announced succession plan that brought her back to campus as an associate head coach in March and giving her just 47 days before the first game of the season next Wednesday at Western Kentucky. An All-American for Purdue from 2003-07, Gearlds is the youngest full-time head coach in the Power 5 and one of eight former WNBA Top-10 picks to roam the sidelines this season.
NOTES
• Purdue has faced Findlay just once in an exhibition before, an 84-25 win on Nov. 9, 2014.
• The Boilermakers have won 41 straight exhibition contests.
• Purdue enters the year with 887 all-time victories, good for 40th in NCAA Division I history. Notre Dame is the only program to start after Purdue's inaugural season in 1975-76 and have more wins.
• Purdue brought in six newcomers between a trio of freshmen and transfers, including Jeanae Terry from Illinois.
• Freshman Jayla Smith is the 10th Indiana Miss Basketball in program history, after winning the award in 2021. The elite list of Boilermakers includes 2003 honoree Katie Gearlds.
• First-year head coach Katie Gearlds picked a trio of first-time captains for the 2021-22 roster in Madison Layden, Cassidy Hardin and Jeanae Terry.
• Layden was the only rookie from the Big Ten with at least 65 assists and 45 steals during the regular season, totaling 69 dimes and 48 swipes.
• A pair of Boilermakers gained international experience during the offseason for the 2021 Women's AfroBasket. Nyagoa Gony was named to the first South Sudan roster in history, while Rokia Doumbia guided Mali to runner-up honors at the tournament.