Bridget Perry had been rolling.
The senior forward had scored in double figures for seven straight games, averaging 13.7, before she took a hip to the head in a practice before Purdue played Ohio State on Jan. 15.
A concussion forced her to miss that game, and she was rusty coming back, scoring only three points, her lowest output since the season opener, in 25 minutes in a loss at Indiana Thursday.
“My timing definitely felt a little off, but I was off for five days,” said Perry, who is averaging 10.5 points and five rebounds per game. “That will come back, so I just need to stay confident and keep getting after it. It will come back.”
Purdue needs Perry in top form as soon as possible — the Boilermakers (12-8 overall, 3-3 in the Big Ten) face Michigan State (13-6, 3-3) at 5 p.m. Sunday in East Lansing — to help it end a two-game losing streak.
The Boilermakers haven’t scored much of late, only 56 in a five-point loss to Ohio State and 60 in losing by 14 at Indiana. But Perry has versatility, a much-needed commodity considering Purdue lacks depth.
“Bridget needs to be a scorer for us and she was, she was playing great,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “She was posting up, was going outside, was attacking, was playing pretty good defense, so we need all of that to come back.”
Before the IU game, Perry had only practice full contact for about an hour-long session the day before tip. It wasn’t enough to shake off rust. Now, though, she’ll have a couple days to prep for the Spartans.
“Concussions are the worst. I hate them,” Perry said. “You can’t do anything. I feel slow in my head. So obviously coming back, I wanted to do better, but you’re not running through the plays like you normally do. Sometimes, that’s a little rusty.”
• In the last two games, Purdue’s not been able to score late.
It was only two points in the final five minutes vs. Ohio State, then only four in the same span at Indiana.
“We need to have just really solid leadership when things aren’t going well,” Versyp said. “I think that’s where we’re struggling right now. When things go great, we’re really, really good, which most people are. It’s just that our leadership has to step to where if someone says something, they have to believe it, ‘Hey, we’re going to come down here, move the basketball and execute these next five possessions.’ Now, it’s action. Everybody has to be doing the exact same thing.”
That was a particular problem at Indiana, when Purdue was out of sync offensively and playing more individually than it generally has this season. But that’s fixable, Perry says.
“The intensity wasn’t there, we weren’t on the same page, we weren’t communicating,” Perry said. “We weren’t ourselves.”
• MSU coach Suzy Merchant is unlikely to be on the sideline Sunday evening, as the veteran takes a medical leave of absence.
It’s the second time this season that Merchant has been away, after she had also missed the Purdue game at Mackey Arena Jan. 4. But after returning for a few MSU games, she fell ill again vs. Rutgers last weekend and spent the night in a New Jersey hospital.
Since, she’s been sidelined.
Versyp, who has talked to Merchant to express her well wishes, says health, in general, is concerning in the coaching profession, given the time commitments.
“It’s stressful very single second,” Purdue’s coach said. “Nothing is good enough for anybody and you take the weight of the world for your team, for everyone in your program. It’s running a business, being the president of your business. It’s not easy. And when you think you’re taking care of yourself, you’re not. I think the fatigue factor, the stress every second, the not sleeping, the traveling and still recruiting, it takes a toll. You’ve got to try to eat right and sleep and try to exercise. I try to exercise three or four times a week and sometimes it doesn’t happen.
“It’s a hard balance.”
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