On the outdoor court near her home in Erie, Pa., in the tangle of bodies beneath the rim, Kayla McBride stood out. It wasn’t height or athleticism that set her apart. It was gender.
No one called her “Kayla” or “McBride.” No one referenced her with a term of respect. The guys simply called her “girl.” As in, “I got girl,” or “You’re covering girl.”
The rough-and-tumble of boys did not intimidate her. The elbows, the hard screens, the collisions — they were part of the game. All she wanted was to be called by her name. At the start of every game, nobody knew what it was. But at the end? After getting knocked down, jumping back up and scoring at will?
The road to respect ran through young alpha males. The path to a better game and high school stardom, to Notre Dame and the first round of the WNBA Draft — ran through the species Lamont McBride encouraged her to challenge.
“My dad always told me I needed to play against guys because they were bigger, stronger, faster,” says McBride, the 5-11 guard the Stars drafted Monday with the third overall pick. “That’s what made me so competitive.”