For a period Wednesday, Dominique McBryde was rolling.
The sophomore, mired in an offensive slump much of the season, drove confidently down the lane for two points late in the third quarter, then had an up-and-under layup. She scored Purdue’s first basket of the fourth off a feed from a teammate, then a few minutes later converted after grabbing an offensive rebound.
It was likely her best stretch of the season, made better in that it helped Purdue hold off Michigan State for the Boilermakers’ first Big Ten win of the season.
“There was a couple times I scored, once or twice, and my teammates kept feeding me the ball,” said McBryde, as Purdue hosts Penn State at 2 p.m. Saturday. “Coach gave me a lot of opportunities to score and I made the most of them. That helped with confidence around the team, with other people also knocking down shots and finishing off Michigan State.”
McBryde has been on an uptick since the start of the Big Ten season, scoring 11 in the opening loss at Northwestern, then 10 vs. Michigan State. Those games broke a string of eight consecutive in which she scored in single-digits, three of which she had zero, two and two points.
“I struggle with confidence with me being in a sort of a slump,” McBryde said. “But my teammates have always had my back and they’ve had confidence in me and reassured me with my post player and my defensive rebounding and stuff like that, so I think it’s helped a lot.”
The holiday break seemed to give the 6-foot-2 forward a good mental break. And then, too, she watched film of a year ago, when she scored a career-high on 10-of-12 shooting vs. Rutgers, trying to recall what had made her so effective as a rookie.
McBryde is trying to get back to those things, the inside moves that are hard for opponents to defend, while also expanding outward. In the offseason, she worked on her perimeter game, hoping to become a better jump shooter, but that’s not yet shown up in games. At least vs. Michigan State, however, she showed a willingness, taking two jumpers, one a three-pointer from the top of the key.
It looked and felt good, but missed. Still, she tried.
“More people have been sagging off me and that clutters things in the paint,” she said. “It keeps people from being able to drive and attack, so at least looking to shoot more and having people play out on me will help our offense a lot.”
Now, Purdue just needs to keep McBryde going, as she gives the Boilermakers a legit interior option and a third scorer to go with Ashley Morrissette and Bridget Perry.
“The only way to get confidence is to be able to play well,” coach Sharon Versyp said. “And you saw that gleam in her eye again and you saw no hesitation. There’s going to be teams that do different things with her, but how she played and she showed emotion and was able to score, do good things, that’s what she needs.”
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