WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue women's basketball team will square off with a pair of SEC opponents at the Baha Mar Pink Flamingo Championship in November in Nassau, The Bahamas. The Boilermakers will take on Florida on Nov. 20 and Georgia on Nov. 22, both games are listed at 4 p.m.
Purdue and Georgia have met twice before, both times in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 when head coach Katie Gearlds was a member of the squad. The Boilermakers fell 66-64 to the Bulldogs in 2004 in a back-and-forth bout, before Purdue evened the series in 2007 with a 78-65 victory powered by a 30-point, complete-game performance by Gearlds as a senior.
Purdue won all three previous matchups with Florida, with games coming in 1997, 1998 and 1999. Associate head coach Kelly Komara played for the Boilermakers in the final two contests, an 84-76 win in Gainesville on Dec. 21, 1998, and a 90-50 rout at Mackey Arena on Nov. 26, 1999.
The announcement Tuesday gives the Boilermakers three unveiled non-conference matchups for the 2023-24 season. Purdue will open the campaign on Nov. 6 in Los Angeles against future Big Ten foe UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.
Purdue enters the third year of the Gearlds era with a mix of veteran experience and youthful energy. The Boilermakers return All-Big Ten Second Team honoree Jeanae Terry, as well as Madison Layden, Abbey Ellis, Jayla Smith and Caitlyn Harper.
The Boilermakers finished with a 19-11 record on the year last season including a win over No. 2 Ohio State and reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.
Eight players arrived in West Lafayette this offseason. Gearlds signed five players out of high school in November for the No. 21-ranked class in the nation, before top-60 recruit Amiyah Reynolds committed in May. The roster was bolstered by transfers Mila Reynolds from Maryland and Alaina Harper from Grand Canyon.
Purdue's roster will have a sibling flair to it this year with three sets of sisters – Madison Layden and McKenna Layden, Amiyah Reynolds and Mila Reynolds, Caitlyn Harper and Alaina Harper.