WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – National and regional media will descend on the Target Center in Minneapolis for the 2023 Big Ten Women's Basketball Media Day next Monday, Oct. 9. Purdue head coach Katie Gearlds will be in attendance alongside senior Madison Layden and fifth-year seniors Jeanae Terry and Abbey Ellis.
The 2023 edition of the league's media day will be the third for Layden and Terry.
Gearlds will open Purdue's proceedings with her press conference televised on the Big Ten Network and the Fox Sports App at 10:40 a.m. ET. Coach Gearlds and the student-athletes will join the Big Ten Network studio desk for a live segment at 1:10 p.m. ET.
The Boilermakers will meet with various members of the Big Ten Network's live and digital media teams throughout the day, as well as stop by stations for NBC, FOX, CBS and the NCAA.
Beyond the live Big Ten Media Day sessions and the local media availability, fans will have their first chance to meet the 2023-24 Boilermakers during the annual Purdue Fan Day at Mackey Arena on Oct. 21. More details, including practice and autograph times will be announced later.
Purdue will play its lone tune up before the season starts against Quincy at home on Oct. 29. The 2023-24 campaign opens on the road at presumably preseason top-5 UCLA on Nov. 6 at UCLA.
Gearlds enters her third campaign back at Purdue going for her third straight postseason appearance, after taking the Boilermakers to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017. Gearlds joined Carolyn Peck and Linn Dunn as the only Boilermaker head coach to improve Purdue's win total in each of their first two seasons.
Purdue's roster features five returners with a quartet of starters Madison Layden, Caitlyn Harper, Abbey Ellis and Second Team All-Big Ten honoree Jeanae Terry. Jayla Smith, who provided significant production off the bench last year, enters her junior campaign in West Lafayette.
Eight newcomers will get their opportunities to make an early impact this season. Transfers Mila Reynolds from Maryland and Alaina Harper from Grand Canyon join a stacked freshman class. The five signees – McKenna Layden, Rashunda Jones, Emily Monson, Sophie Swanson and Mary Ashley Stevenson – were tabbed No. 21 in the nation last November, before top-50 recruit Amiyah Reynolds made her commitment to Purdue in May.
Prior to this season, no sisters had ever played for Purdue. The 2023-24 roster features three sets of sisters in the Reynolds, Laydens and Harpers, the most of any team in the nation this season.