WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue women’s basketball head coach Katie Gearlds announced the signing of guard Jelena Bulajić to the roster for the 2026-27 season. After spending her freshman year at South Florida, Bulajić will be the first Boilermaker in program history from Montenegro.
Bulajić appeared in all 31 games for the Bulls last season, where new Purdue assistant coach Bojan Jankovic was on staff. She made two starts in her freshman campaign and averaged 4.7 points and 1.9 rebounds over 16.4 minutes per game, finishing third on the team with 26 3-pointers. She posted four games in double figures and shot 50% or better from distance seven times.
Bulajić came to the United States after a has a wealth of international experience during her prep career between the Montenegro Senior National Team and several junior levels.
She was called up to the senior national team for the 2025 EuroBasket Qualifiers, where she helped Montenegro finish top of their group to reach the 2025 EuroBasket Tournament. Over eight games between the qualifying event and the European Championships, Bulajić averaged 2.4 points per game in her first senior-level tournaments.
Bulajić represented Montenegro at seven different EuroBasket events during her youth career. She averaged 12.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists over 46 games from 2022-25. She helped her nation win the 2022 U20 and 2024 U18 EuroBasket Division B titles.
She was named tournament MVP and to the All-Star 5 at the 2024 U18 EuroBasket tournament, when she finished third in the tournament in scoring with 21.1 points per game, while knocking down 18 3-pointers. She also finished with 13.1 points per game at the 2024 U20 EuroBasket, finishing 11th in scoring in the event.
Her first European Championship came as a 16-year-old playing in the U20 squad, where she posted 5.7 points and 2.4 assists per game, before having a breakout U16 Division B European Championship with 15.8 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per contest, ranking fifth in scoring for the tournament.