WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue women's basketball team enters its second of a four-game homestand to start the year with a 7 p.m. tip Thursday night against Eastern Michigan on B1G+.
PROMOTIONS
GAME NOTES
- The Boilermakers own a 3-0 all-time record against Eastern MIchigan.
- The Boilermakers rallied in the fourth quarter to beat IU Indy 81-73 on Monday night at Mackey Arena. After a slow start offensively and trailing by 11 points in the second quarter. Purdue closed the game on a 35-18 run over the final 12 minutes.
- Avery Gordon showed off the gains she made during the offseason, finishing with 16 points and a career-best eight rebounds and 24 minutes.
- Jelena Bulajić put together an all-around performance in her Purdue debut, going for 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists, all career highs.
- Hannah Wickstrom made a living at the line against the Jaguars, going 9-of-12 to post a game-high 21 points. The junior ranked 29th in the nation last year with 146 free throws at UC Riverside. The Melbourne, Australia, native is 67 points shy of 1,000 for her career.
- Kyndall Hunter notched her seventh career game with 20 points or more with a 21-point outing against IU Indy, while playing a career-high 37 minutes.
- Nine players made their Purdue debuts on Monday night - Wickstrom, Bulajić, Hunter, Taylor Henderson, Averi Aaron, Maya Zilbershlag, Katka Šedivá, Keona Douwstra and Anjela Minja.
- After missing last season with an injury, Henderson played her first minutes as a Boilermaker, following a 599-day layoff from her final game at UNC Wilmington at the end of the 2024-25 season.
- Maya Zilbershlag saw limited action in the season opener after missing all of summer workouts with the Boilermakers. The freshman led her native Israel to its best finish at the U20 Euros, finishing second, before guiding her country to the U18 B Euro title and earning MVP honors. She averaged 16.1 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists over her two 2026 summer events.
HANNAH'S HAMMER
- Junior Hannah Wickstrom drew interest from teams across the country in the transfer portal after spending two seasons at UC Riverside.
- The Australian international leads the team with 21.0 points per game, while going 9-of-12 at the line (75%)
- Wickstrom has reached double-digit scoring in 40 career games with 23 outings of 20 points or more.
- Wickstrom was one of the elite scorers in the country in 2025-26, averaging 23.4 points per game, good for fifth nationally. She was named a Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year semifinalist.
- The Australian international was the only player in the nation to average better than 20 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game last season.
- She joined Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and Iowa State’s Audi Crooks as the only four players in the nation with a usage rate of 34% or higher (Wickstrom – 34%), a true shooting clip of 55% (Wickstrom - 58.2%) and turnover rate under 15% (Wickstrom – 13.6%).
- Much of Wickstrom's second-year growth came from constant work in the weight room and on the court.
- She is the second Boilermaker from Australia, as well as the second from Melbourne, after Abbey Ellis (2022-24), who was the first transfer in program history to amass 1,000 points. The two Aussies actually talked a couple times during Wickstrom's recruitment before she chose Purdue.
- Much of Wickstrom's balance and agility came from doing ballet and gymnastics when she was a kid.
- She wears No. 7 for her father, who wore the same number during his professional career in Australia.
JB FOR 3
- Sophomore guard Jelena Bulajić joined Purdue during the offseason after spending her freshman campaign at South Florida, alongside assistant coach Bojan Jankovic.
- Bulajić is averaging 17 points, 7.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.
- She set career highs in points (17), rebounds (7), assists (6) and minutes (37) in the season opener against IU Indy.
- Prior to averaging 4.7 points per game with the Bulls, the first player from Montenegro in Purdue history had extensive experience representing her country.
- She earned her first senior team call-up for the 2025 EuroBasket and its qualifiers.
- In seven junior events at various age levels, Bulajić averaged 12.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists.
- In the 2025 U18 EuroBasket, she finished fifth in scoring with 16.0 points per game,
- She averaged a career-best 21.1 points per game in the 2024 U18 B event, ranking third in scoring, winning MVP honors and guiding her team to the tournament title.
- Back in Montenegro, she spends time at her parents' coffee shop that overlooks the Adriatic Sea.
KYN CAN PLAY
- Kyndall Hunter is the experienced veteran of the roster in her sixth year of college basketball. She joined the Boilermakers after playing 29 games with 16 starts at Houston in 2025-26.
- Hunter was a vocal leader throughout summer workouts to accelerate the international newcomers' growth.
- She played two years at Texas A&M. Hunter was the only addition to the roster this season that had previous experience at Mackey Arena. Her 2023-24 Aggie squad lost to Purdue 72-58, but Hunter was out for the year due to injury.
- She was a McDonald's All-American in 2021 alongside high school teammate Rori Harmon. The duo spent two years together at Texas.
- Off the court, Hunter spends time playing with her mini poodle Pluto and building LEGOs.