WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue women’s basketball team is set to tip off its 51st season on Monday night when it hosts FDU at 7 p.m. at Mackey Arena. The game will be streamed on B1G+.
Tim Newton and Jane Schott will be on the call for the Purdue Global Radio Network on 95.3 BOB FM. Monday night’s contest will be one of 10 games this season that will air on select stations of the expanded statewide network.
Head coach Katie Gearlds enters her fifth year at the helm of her alma mater with roster featuring 10 newcomers, including the return of fifth year Madison Layden-Zay. Layden-Zay enters the season 38 3-pointers away from Purdue's career record of 244 held by Karissa McLaughlin.
Purdue rolled to a 118-42 win over Purdue Northwest in the lone exhibition contest last Monday. Seven Boilermakers finished in double figures, led by Lana McCarthy's 16 points. The Boilermakers shot a blistering 63.9% from the field, hit 10 3-pointers and dished out 31 assists on 46 made field goals. The 118 points were the third most scored by a Purdue squad in an exhibition.
The Boilermakers are 3-1 in season openers under Gearlds and 41-9 all-time in openers in program history. Purdue is 48-2 all-time in home openers. In the 2024-25 season opener against Purdue Fort Wayne, Lana McCarthy became the second Boilermaker freshman to record a double-double in a season opener and the 15th to start the opening game of a campaign.
GAME NOTES
• Purdue and FDU have never met in women's basketball.
• Head coach Katie Gearlds enters her fifth season at the helm of her alma mater after reaching the postseason in three of her first four campaigns, including an NCAA Tournament bid in 2023.
• Last year, the Boilermakers battled through injuries against one of the top-10 hardest schedules in the nation that featured 10 games against ranked opposition.
• Gearlds and the coaching staff attacked the transfer portal to welcome in six transfers to West Lafayette in First Team All-Big Sky Taylor Feldman (Northern Arizona), SoCon Freshman & Sixth Woman of the Year Nya Smith (UNC Greensboro), 2024 NJCAA National Player of the Year Kiki Smith (Arkansas), Taylor Henderson (UNC Wilmington), Tara Daye (St. John's) and Saige Stahl (Indiana State).
• Purdue's freshman class features Indiana All-Star and the tallest player in program history at 6-7 Avery Gordon, Israeli international guard with national team and professional experience Hila Karsh and hometown product Carley Barrett.
• Boilermaker fans will see a familiar face back on the roster with the return of Madison Layden-Zay. The elder of the Layden sisters returns after graduating in 2024 and getting married in September of that year. Layden-Zay is one of five players in Purdue history with 1,000 points and 200 3-pointers in a career, a list that includes Katie Gearlds.
• Layden-Zay is on the cusp of making Big Ten history as the sixth player in league history to amass 1,000 points, 200 3-pointers, 500 rebounds (needs 76), 300 assists (12), and 50 blocks. She would join Iowa's Caitlin Clark, Michigan State's Tori Jankoska, Indiana's Amanda Cahill, Ohio State's Jaz Shelley and current Purdue head coach Katie Gearlds.
• Lana McCarthy, Kendall Puryear and McKenna Layden are the lone returners from the 2024-25 campaign. The trio were some of the most consistent performers last year.
• McCarthy started 26 games as a freshman and was the 13th Boilermaker in program history to average 6.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
• Kendall Puryear finished fourth on the team in scoring last year with 72 points per game, coming off the bench in all but one game as a rookie.
• McKenna Layden posted 5.7 points, 5.5 rebounds per game with 23 made 3-pointers and 23 assists over the final 14 games of the season.