Bridget Perry has found a home on the baseline.
So much so, that the forward was comfortable going with her off hand for a reverse layup in the Boilermakers’ win over Eastern Michigan Saturday.
“I’ve been working on my right hand a little bit,” Perry said. “I was happy when that went in. I was like ‘Oh, right-handed. OK.’ (laughing).”
A sign of Perry’s expanded offensive game. The senior is averaging 10 points per game this season, about the same as last year, but her efficiency is up. And that’s because she’s been able to more regularly hit jumpers, consistent from 15 feet and expanded outward, as well. She’s hit nine three-pointers already this season — Purdue (9-4) has only one non-conference game left, noon Wednesday vs. IUPUI in Mackey Arena — only two short of her total from her junior year.
Perry is hitting almost 46 percent of her shots, 36 percent from three-point range. And that outside shooting has helped open up other parts of her offensive game.
“It’s something that in the offseason, we all have worked on,” said Perry, who scored a season-high 19 vs. the Eagles. “And I wanted to make it more consistent this year. It’s one thing I feel like I’ve worked on my four years here, getting my outside shot more consistent especially from three.”
But Perry has thrived on the baseline as much as anywhere else. There, she’s able to hit a jumper, drive toward the hoop or jump-and-dish to the far corner, a quick change-of-direction that Purdue uses to try to get opponents off balance.
“The baseline is a really good tool, even just attacking and setting someone up from the baseline,” Perry said. “Using that baseline almost as a wall from the defender, jumping out of bounds, making passes. And you can almost use the basket as a guard for you, use it to protect you from a defender, use it for a reverse layup.”
Purdue has used the offense effectively in the past, particularly when it has had Stretch 4s, like Drey Mingo or Whitney Bays. The 6-foot-2 Perry might be a little undersized as a 4, yet she shares some of those same abilities.
“Now (we can do that) with BP because she can do a lot of different things,” Coach Sharon Versyp said. “She has good touch around the basket. She can do a reverse layup and obviously do a power move and knock that shot down. Those are the things we haven’t had and it’s great that now it has evolved.”
• Purdue plays a matinee Wednesday, inviting in Austin Parkinson’s Jaguars (8-3) in to Mackey Arena.
It’s a chance for the Boilermakers to win their seventh straight game following a 1-3 start, before the beginning of Big Ten play on Dec. 31.
“We didn’t start great, then lost two experienced players,” Versyp said, referring to season-ending injuries to Bree Horrocks and Tiara Murphy. “If you think we’d be where we’re at right now, a lot of people wouldn’t think that. But we always believe in that, but we’re trusting and believing one another, but now we know the core that we have.
“… We’ve just got to stay solid with who we have and keep growing and keep believing in ourselves.”
• It’s education day for Wednesday’s game, with about a 1,000 kids from local elementary schools attending on their last day of school before winter break.
It’ll make for a festive atmosphere inside Mackey. It was the last time Purdue did so, when there was an audible and constant buzz inside the arena, but that came with a bit of a problem. Oakland, the opponent then, also wore gold and black, causing a bit of confusion about who was to be cheered for.
IUPUI shouldn’t pose that problem, with the Jags likely in a combination of red, white and black.
“It’s a different environment to bring to a different group of people,” Versyp said. “We’re hoping for fun and exciting. We’ll do an education thing in Lambert prior to the game.”
