ROSEMONT, Ill. – When McKenna Layden came to Katie Gearlds in the spring and told the Purdue coach that Layden's sister, former Boilermakers guard Madison Layden-Zay, wanted to talk to her, Gearlds was ready to congratulate her on starting a family.

"I thought she was coming to tell me she was pregnant," Gearlds said at Big Ten Media Days on Wednesday. "She’d been married for a year, it’s about that time, right, settle down and have a child?"

Instead, Layden-Zay had an announcement of a very different sort.

"She’s like, ‘Coach, I think I want to play again, I want to try to help you win, help Purdue win,'" Gearlds said. "'I think I can play.'"

The Kokomo native played four seasons for the Boilermakers from 2020 to 2024 and had one year of eligibility left because of the coronavirus pan

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