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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 7 • 38 BY KYLE CHARTERS AND STACY CLARDIE W hitney Bays will try her best to take it easy as Purdue's practices get underway. The senior forward, Purdue's leading returning scorer, had offseason surgery for a "stress re- action" in her foot following last season. During the surgery, a screw was inserted into the foot. "I'll play through it this year," she said on Monday, as the Boil- ermakers opened official prac- tices for the 2014-15 season. "(Monday) in practice, I'm only going to do like 65 (percent). So I'll have shortened reps. So I should be doing everything but just lower reps. This summer be- cause practices were just an hour, I've been doing everything. But now that it's like three hours (it'll cut down)." Bays injured her foot in the fi- nal game of the season, Purdue's second round NCAA Tournament game. But she played through and had one of her best perfor- mances of the season against Oklahoma State with 21 points and 13 rebounds. But surgery soon followed, putting her in a boot for about two months after the season. But since, she's been able to work out to stay in as best shape as possible. "I have good days and bad days," said Bays, who knows in- juries, having had multiple knee surgeries over the years. "It's one of those things. It was hard at first. With my knee, I feel like, you know when something happens (fast). This is one of those things like, 'Am I doing too much?' "If I wake up the next day and I'm sore, we have to cut back. With your knee, it's like one-instance type of thing. It's been kind of difficult in that sense, know- ing what I can do, knowing what I can't do. It's been interest- ing, to say the least." Bays isn't the only Boilermaker dealing with recovery. Junior guard Hayden Hamby is back near 100 per- cent now, after hav- ing surgery to tighten ligaments in an ankle after the season. Last year, she played with them loose, a more annoying condition than anything else, but it needed fixed. She was full-go on Monday. "I'm feeling com- pletely back," she said. "I'm still doing a little bit of rehab, but it's good." That's not true of one of Purdue's newcomers. Fresh- man post Haley Bodnar is out until at least mid-December as she recovers from surgery due to a stress fracture in her Tom Campbell Whitney Bays had offseason surgery, so she'll take it slow during Purdue's preseason practices, which started on Monday. 2014-15 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE Date Opponent Time Nov. 9 FINDLAY (exb.) (BTN Plus) 2 p.m. Nov. 14 at Ball State 7 p.m. Nov. 19 GREEN BAY 5:30 p.m. Nov. 23 TOLEDO (BTN Plus) 2 p.m. Junkanoo Jam, Freeport, Bahamas Nov. 28 Texas Tech 3:15 p.m. Nov. 29 Geo. Washington/N Carolina 1/3:15 p.m. Big Ten/ACC Challenge Dec. 3 FLORIDA STATE (BTN Plus) 7 p.m. Dec. 7 at Dayton 2 p.m. Dec. 11 KANSAS (BTN Plus) 7 p.m. World Vision Classic Dec. 19 UC IRVINE Noon Dec. 20 DENVER 2:30 p.m. Dec. 21 WRIGHT STATE 2:30 p.m. Dec. 28 at Illinois (BTN Plus) 3 p.m. Jan. 1 MINNESOTA (BTN Plus) 2 p.m. Jan. 4 INDIANA (BTN Plus) 2 p.m. Jan. 8 at Maryland (BTN) 6:30 p.m. Jan. 11 at Iowa (BTN) TBA Jan. 15 WISCONSIN (BTN Plus) 7 p.m. Jan. 19 at Nebraska (BTN) 7 p.m. Jan. 22 at Minnesota (BTN Plus) 8 p.m. Jan. 25 OHIO STATE (BTN Plus) 2 p.m. Jan. 29 RUTGERS (BTN) 7 p.m. Feb. 2 at Indiana (BTN) 8:30 p.m. Feb. 8 PENN STATE (BTN Plus) 2 p.m. Feb. 11 NORTHWESTERN (BTN Plus) 7 p.m. Feb. 14 at Rutgers (BTN) Noon Feb. 17 at Ohio State (BTN) 7 p.m. Feb. 21 ILLINOIS (BTN/BTN Plus) TBA Feb. 24 at Michigan (BTN) 7 p.m. Feb. 28 MICHIGAN STATE (BTN) 2 p.m. March 4-8 Big Ten Tournament* TBA * Sears Centre, Hoffman Estates, Ill. All times ET W O M E N ' S BA S K E T BA L L : N E W S A N D N OT E S Double vertime BAYS FEELING GOOD For daily headlines on recruiting and other Purdue sports news, check out