The women begin 1-0 during what can only be described as a transitional season.
Purdue women’s basketball really went through it in the offseason. First, all five starters have left the program either through graduation or transfer. That’s something that you rarely see in major college basketball. It’s tough to recover from that sort of roster turnover. Then, Purdue head coach Katie Gearlds signed a contract extension through the 2028-2029 season sticking to the idea of always having four years on a contract as a selling point to recruits. I don’t know if that still matters in this day of college basketball but there ya have it.
Now, Purdue opened their 50th season last night against the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons. The all new starting five for Purdue was Destini Lombard, Lana McCarthy, Reagan Bass, Rashunda Jones, and Ella Collier. The five starters for the Boilermakers contributed 55 of the teams 87 points. They also were able to grab 27 rebounds between them.
The team was led by Destini Lombard who scored 20 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. McCarthy looked impressive while posting a double-double. The true freshman who, according to Purdue sports website, became just the 15th freshman to start a season open for Purdue, dumped in 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Overall, 10 Boilermakers played in this game and all of them played 10 minutes or more. Gearlds is clearly still looking to lock in her rotation as the season starts.
The women are next in action Sunday night at 7:00 PM as they take on the 6th ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The game will be on FS1.