Zoja Štirn's ACL Tear Leaves Purdue Down to 12 Available Players

Photo: Purdue Athletics. Official Zoja Štirn headshot, Purdue women's basketball.

Zoja Štirn, the Slovenian freshman Purdue planned to hand the ball to this winter, tore the ACL in her left knee and will miss the 2026-27 season, she announced on Instagram on Monday.

It is the second season-ending knee injury in Purdue's guard room in less than three weeks, and it leaves Katie Gearlds with 12 available players and Houston transfer Kyndall Hunter as the last healthy name from the point guard competition.

Start with what Purdue lost. Štirn is 5-foot-10, which is big for a lead guard in the Big Ten, and she arrived with more pro minutes than most college seniors. She won six straight league titles and three Women's Adriatic Basketball Association championships with Cinkarna Celje, and she debuted for Slovenia's senior national team in March. In one of those title seasons she averaged 10.6 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.7 steals, according to the Journal & Courier. The steals count matters most for this roster. A guard with that size who gets into passing lanes lets a coach pick up full court without giving away a mismatch on the switch.

Gearlds had already started building around her. Before the injury she called Štirn and Hunter a "one-two punch" at the point, and she praised the freshman for using her voice and understanding the game. Coaches say that kind of thing about a player they trust to run the huddle in a road gym, and that trust takes years to build in most freshmen.

Now add the first loss. Aysia Proctor, the North Texas transfer, announced on Sept. 23 that a knee injury suffered in practice would cost her the season. Proctor gave Purdue a different kind of guard. She averaged a career-high 14.1 points for the Mean Green, shot 39.3% from three, and made the American's second team. Purdue recruited one guard who could organize an offense and one who could punish a defense that sagged off the arc. Both are now in street clothes until next fall.

That puts the whole job on Hunter. The sixth-year guard is 5-foot-7, a former McDonald's All-American who started at Texas, went to Texas A&M, and averaged 9.2 points in 29 games with 16 starts at Houston last season. Gearlds said in September that Hunter has done a really good job of taking care of the basketball. Ball security is the first thing a coach wants from a point guard. Her bio also shows one start in 26 games at Texas A&M and 16 starts at Houston, so 30-plus minutes a night as the lead guard in Big Ten play would be a new load for her.

The real problem shows up in the second half of Big Ten games. A 12-player roster sounds like plenty until two of the missing pieces are guards. Every minute Hunter sits, Purdue needs someone else to bring the ball up against pressure, call the set and get the first pass into the right hands. Thin backcourts usually see that kind of pressure on film: presses after made baskets and traps on the first pass, aimed at whoever is not the primary ballhandler.

Purdue has been here before. Taylor Henderson tore her Achilles on the first day of practice last season and missed the year. She is back now and expected to contribute, which at least gives Gearlds a returning body who knows the system. The program has now lost a player before the opener in back-to-back seasons, and this time the hits landed on the same position.

The first look comes soon. Purdue hosts UIC in an exhibition on Saturday, Oct. 24 at Mackey Arena, then opens the regular season against IU Indy on Nov. 2. The exhibition is the game to watch for who brings the ball up when Hunter goes to the bench, because whoever gets that job is the real answer to the point guard question. Štirn's line in her announcement was that this is not the end of her story. Purdue's season will turn on the backup point guard minutes.

Sources

• Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue women's basketball endures yet another season-ending injury. Oct. 5, 2026. Štirn torn left ACL, out 2026-27; Instagram Monday; 12 available players; Gearlds "one-two punch" with Hunter; Štirn 5-10, Celje titles, Slovenia debut; Proctor Sept. 23; UIC exhibition Oct. 24; IU Indy Nov. 2; Henderson Achilles last year, now back.
• Mike Carmin: Purdue women's basketball report - Another season-ending knee injury. Oct. 5, 2026. ACL; Proctor later confirmed ACL; roster notes.
• The Purdue Exponent: Knee injury ends season for Purdue women's basketball transfer guard. Sept. 23, 2026. Proctor season-ending knee; 14.1 ppg, 39.3% from three, American second team.
• Mike Carmin: Guard Aysia Proctor will miss season after suffering knee injury. Sept. 23, 2026.
• Purdue Athletics: Zoja Štirn roster bio.
• Purdue Athletics: Kyndall Hunter roster bio. 9.2 points in 29 games with 16 starts at Houston; one start in 26 games at Texas A&M.
• Photo: Purdue Athletics. Official Zoja Štirn headshot, Purdue women's basketball.