Purdue Women's Basketball Receives Good News From Forward Avery Gordon
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With several players planning to enter the NCAA transfer portal on April 6, Purdue women's basketball received some good news this week. Avery Gordon, the team's 6-foot-7 freshman forward, announced that she will be returning for her sophomore season with the Boilermakers.
Gordon, a Brownsburg, Ind., native, just completed her first season in West Lafayette. She split time with Lana McCarthy and Kendall Puryear in the post, seeing action in 27 games and averaging 4.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Add us as a preferred source on Google"I am excited to be back next season and ready to get to work," Gordon said in a statement. "Looking forward to competing in front of the amazing fans in Mackey. I'm truly grateful to stay here and build something special."
Excited to be back in the black and gold💛🖤 pic.twitter.com/WtnBClAh8x
— avery gordon (@avery_gordon_) April 3, 2026
Gordon showed major potential, especially late in her freshman campaign. She scored 20 points and grabbed six rebounds in a game against Michigan State and had 17 points and four boards against Indiana.
The thing the limited Gordon was sharing minutes with McCarthy and Puryear. However, both players are planning to enter the transfer portal, which should open up plenty of playing time for the Brownsburg native.
Purdue's coaching staff will have some work to do in the transfer portal this offseason, but getting Gordon back on the floor is good news for the Boilers.
Six players already plan to enter transfer portal
Several players from Purdue's 2025-26 squad have already planned on entering the transfer portal. McCarthy and Puryear were the first to announce, with guards Kiki Smith, Nya Smith, Taylor Feldman and Tara Daye following suit.
McCarthy and Puryear both started their careers at Purdue and spent two years in West Lafayette, providing the Boilers with size in the post. Kiki Smith and Nya Smith, Feldman and Daye all transferred to Purdue for the 2025-26 season and are now departing after just one year.
Daye was the team's leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 12.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game. Kiki Smith ranked second with 10.7 points per game and Nya Smith scored 8.0 points per contest.
McCarthy averaged 7.8 points and 4.7 rebounds and Puryear posted 6.6 points an 3.2 boards per game. Feldman only appeared in seven games due to a back injury she sustained early in the year.
There are going to be a lot of holes to fill on the roster this offseason.
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Dustin Schutte is the publisher of Purdue Boilermakers on SI and has spent more than a decade working in sports journalism. His career began in 2013, when he covered Big Ten football. He remained in that role for eight years before working at On SI to cover the Boilermakers. Dustin graduated from Manchester University in Indiana in 2010, where he played for the men's tennis team.
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