Purdue Commit Madison Layden Named Indiana Gatorade POY

With Dominique Oden and Ae’Rianna Harris both graduating after the season, Sharon Versyp will make a lot of scoring and playing time left behind. Good news for the Boilers though is that they have a pair of great players in the 2020 recruiting class, one of them being Northwestern High School product Madison Layden.

On Friday, before the Boilermaker’s game against Maryland, Layden was named the Indiana Gatorade Play of the Year after a stellar senior season. She beat out her teammate and Michigan State commit, Kendall Bostic, along with Sydney Parrish who will be playing for Oregon next season.

Junior Karissa McLaughlin also won this award during her senior season at Homestead High School in Fort Wayne for 2017. On the men’s side, Caleb Swanigan, who also went to Homestead was the last to win the award in 2015 before joining the Boilermakers.

Layden has had an outstanding high school career as she put up 2,360 points which are the most all-time in Howard County history. She is also a winner, as her team won back-to-back Class 3A State Championships when she was a sophomore and junior. Northwestern High School was then moved up a class to compete as a 4A squad before losing in the State Championship game in that division.

During her senior season, she had a stat line of 25.6 points, 6.4 assists, 4.2 rebounds and an eye-opening 5.1 steals per game. She also shot 42% from three-point range over her career which will be much needed as the only legitimate sharpshooters this season were Karissa McLaughlin, Cassidy Hardin and to a lesser degree, Lyndsey Whilby. Her ability to score and distribute will allow her to make a real impact as a freshman with Oden leaving.

She will be joined by Ra’Shaya Kyle of Marion High School in Indianapolis, Indiana as the two members of the 2020 recruiting class for Purdue.

Congrats Madison, Boiler Up!