Everything Purdue WBB Coach Katie Gearlds Said About 2025 Recruiting Class
Wednesday, Purdue women's basketball signed a three-person class to help prepare for the future. Coach Katie Gearlds and her staff landed four-star talents in Avery Gordon (Brownsburg, Ind.), Kira Reynolds (South Bend, Ind.) and Keona Douwstra (Amerstand, The Netherlands).
Gearlds was excited to sign the three prospects, especially landing two tremendously talented players from within state lines (Gordon and Reynolds). After inking the class, Gearlds met with reporters to talk about the 2025 class.
On what Keona Douwstra brings to Purdue ...
Gearlds: "I think the experience on the international level sometimes may be a little bit different than what we know here. Keona is a competitor by all means of the word. I think she's going to come in here and compete every single second. You love to have competitors.
"But she's skilled with it, too. I think, on tape when we first saw her, it was like, 'Whoa, this kid can play.' Then we went out to Phoenix and saw her play in person. She was more than we expected, especially on the defensive end. Her willingness to sit in a stance and guard and just be gritty and tough, but then her ability to score on the offensive end. She's just going to keep expanding, because she's a work horse. Excited to add her maturity to our ball club.
On adding two bigs in Avery Gordon and Kira Reynolds ...
Gearlds: "You can't teach size. I think we're going to have the opportunity to have one of the most talented frontcourts in the country — definitely one of the biggest with 6-foot-6, 6-foot-4 and Lana (McCarthy) is 6-foot-4 and (Kendall Puryear) a good 6-foot-2. It gives us some size inside, something we haven't quite had since I've been here.
"All of them have something to learn. Kira and Avery will come in here with a great foundation of skill. Just super excited to get them both here."
On adding two in-state players to the roster ...
Gearlds: "It's massive. I think back to the time when, if you were from the state of Indiana, you went to Purdue. It's kind of what it was. You look back to Stephanie (White) and Kelly (Komara) and Katie (Douglas) — the best players ended up here. I think we tried to do that with Jordyn (Poole) this year.
"You add Avery and Kira who are just dominant forces in high school from the state of Indiana. It's important to keep them in our backyard, especially when there's enough talent around the state of Indiana to be successful.
"I know we're a little bit away from competing for a national championship, but I think that's ultimately the goal. On that 1999 team, I think nine of the 12 were from the state of Indiana. It's been done here and hopefully something we can replicate."
On the growth of Kira Reynolds and Avery Gordon at the high school level ...
Gearlds: "Avery's conditioning at her size, her ability to move and she has some of the softest hands. She has the ability to catch really bad passes ... she can catch and score in traffic. When her body catches up to her size, she gets in the weight room a little bit more, just gets natural strength from being here and training at this level, it's different."
"Kira, the biggest jump for me has been her maturity and growth on the basketball floor. She plays for an AAU program that wins a lot of games and, as a post player, doesn't see the ball much. But you can tell she was committed to blocking shots and rebounding. Maybe that's why she's not ranked as high in the national rankings, which is wild to me, because her ability to impact winning by not touching the basketball is elite."
Related stories on Purdue women's basketball
PURDUE WBB SIGNS 3 RECRUITS IN 2025 CLASS: Purdue has signed a three-person class in 2025. The Boilermakers have landed three four-star talents, two coming from within the state of Indiana. CLICK HERE
GEARLDS CONFIDENT AFTER DEFEAT: Purdue suffered an ugly 102-58 loss to No. 6 Notre Dame on Sunday night. It's a tough pill to swallow, but Katie Gearlds still has a lot of confidence in her team. CLICK HERE
