The Minnesota Lynx deadly sharp shooter Kayla McBride will be participating in the WNBA All-Star 3-point contest on Friday, July 19th. In 2018, McBride was the runner up for the All-Star 3-point contest under Allie Quigley. McBride will also be playing in the WNBA All-Star game against Team USA this weekend.
The Pennsylvania native was introduced to basketball by her father LaMont McBride, when he was officiating high school games and working at basketball summer camps. At the young age of 4, Kayla attended these same camps with her father. At those summer camps she was often the only girl and had to compete a lot harder. McBride had tons of experience playing with guys and eventually believed it was fun.
“You can’t be a punk. You can’t back down,” Kayla said. “I always wanted them to know my name after, that I was worthy enough for them to know my name instead of the girl on the court, because I was usually the only one.”
At Villa Maria Academy McBride led her high school team to several titles in 2009 and 2010. McBrides stellar performance in college with Notre Dame University is still remembered to this day. She won many awards like the ACC player of the year, NCAA Final Four All- Tournament team, WBCA All-NCAA D1 Team , ESPNW All-NCAA Division I First Team, USBWA All-America Team, AP All-America First Team, Wooden Award All-America Team, and Sports Illustrated All-America Team. McBride and the fighting Irish advanced to the NCAA National Championship game, but lost to UConn.
As the No.3 pick in the 2014 draft to San Antonio Stars, McBride is now in her eleventh season in the WNBA. In her first season she was named to the WNBA’ All-Rookie Team after averaging 13.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists per game and shooting 40.6% from the floor. McBride was also ranked number 6th from three point range with her 39.6% average.
After the San Antonio Stars relocated to Las Vegas, McBride was signed to a three-year contract and then to the Minnesota Lynx. McBride was in the WNBA All-Star game in both 2015 and 2018 where she did very well.
The Minnesota Lynx are leading the league in three point scoring with their 38.5 average. Head Coach Sheryl Reeves has found relying on McBrides three-point-shots as well as others to be working very well. McBrides ability to shoot the three lights out is what makes It difficult to defend her.
McBride’s shooting has helped the Lynx’s numbers overall, The sharp shooter is averaging 15.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.5 assist, and 1.3 steals per game. Despite the high averages of McBrides shooting there can be rough days that she has to play through it. McBrides ability to continue to play through her other abilities like defending, rebounds and making hard plays to get to the free throw line has helped the Lynx in many games.
“There’s pros and cons of being a shooter, you know you can’t make them all. I was really fortunate I was able to get some rebounds and help my team win the game in those ways”, McBride said after the Lynx win over the Chicago Sky.
Back in May, McBride led the Lynx to a 92-79 win over the Atlanta dream, with an almost perfect shooting performance. McBride put up 31 Points, 1 rebounds, 1 assists, and 6-7 from the Three-point-shot.
“It was crazy,” Collier said, turning to McBride. “Swish, swish, swish. You weren’t even hitting rim. It was like, ‘We need to get you to 30.’ It was so much fun. [Going] 10-for-12 is a crazy stat.”
The Lynx guard is expected to do extremely well in the 3-point contest on Friday. McBride has been one of the several people who are shooting the three outstanding this season and could very well take the win.
Kierra Richardson is a Journalism student at Ohio State University desiring to work in sports media.
