The Big Ten Conference announced their women’s basketball honors Monday evening and it featured three Boilermakers at the end of the year.
Purdue’s three honorees were Kayana Traylor, Fatou Diagne and Madison Layden. All of which had good season’s for Sharon Versyp and the women’s basketball squad that struggled for the majority of the season.
Newcomer, Madison Layden was named to the 2021 Big Ten All-Freshman Team by both the media and coaches. Layden was highly thought of coming out of high school and stepped up to grow as the season progressed without Karissa McLaughlin. She finished the regular season with a respectable line of 8.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game as well as showing her defensive prowess snatching 2.2 steals a game. Her 8.3 points came on 43% shooting from the field while hitting her three pointers at a 39.6% clip. She had some struggles early, as all freshmen do, but Madison Layden has the tools to become an all-time great at Purdue.
Purdue’s leading-scorer Kayana Traylor, got the highest honor out of her teammates being named to the All-Big Ten Second Team by the coaches. The media named her Honorable Mention, but it was clear she played at an All-Big Ten level throughout this season. As mentioned before she led the team with 14.8 points per game while also leading in assists per contest too with 3.8. Traylor was the heart and soul of this team, carrying them as far as she could some games. If either Brooke Moore, Layden or McLaughlin can help carry the scoring next season, they will find more success.
The final Boilermaker honored was Fatou Diagne, being named Honorable Mention by the media and is also Purdue’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree this season. A redshirt-senior, Diagne has worked tremendously hard to get to where she is today, and it shows as her teammates adore her. She tallied 8.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 54% from the field. If Diagne does indeed move on following this season, she will be severely missed both on and off the court for this Purdue program.
It was a bit surprising to see Brooke Moore did not receive any honors, considering her play this season. She is second on the team in scoring at 12.0 points per game and hitting her three pointers at a 33% clip. Moore is a score first guard compared to Traylor and Layden who also have the ability to set up their teammates, but she deserves recognition even if honorable mention.