Former Arizona forward Dominique McBryde to play for WHAI in New Zealand

Former Arizona women’s basketball standout Dominique McBryde has become quite the world traveler since she graduated in 2020. After previous stints in the women’s professional leagues of Hungary and Greece, she’s now on her way to New Zealand to play for new team WHAI in the GJ Gardner Homes Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa.

The team is part of a new league that will begin play on June 29. The league is a collaboration between Basketball New Zealand, GJ Gardner Homes, and Sky Sport. The opening game for WHAI will be on July 2. They will next take the court on July 5.

The league consists of five regional teams. Each team will play an eight-week season of six home and six away games. WHAI represents the mid-north region according to New Zealand Basketball. It is located in Tauranga City.

McBryde transferred to Arizona after two years at Purdue. She was a starter from day one on the 2018-19 and 2019-20 teams.

McBryde was part of the rebuild of Arizona women’s basketball under head coach Adia Barnes. She helped the Wildcats capture the 2019 WNIT title and become a ranked team in the 2019-20 season. Arizona looked to be heading for a seed as high as No. 2 in the NCAA Tournament in 2019-20.

McBryde never got the payoff for the 2019-20 season, though. The pandemic caused the 2020 NCAA Tournament to be canceled and the NCAA opted not to give winter athletes an extra year of eligibility like that spring’s athletes or all of the following academic year’s athletes. She began her professional career overseas shortly after her career at Arizona was over.

McBryde spent three years at Arizona, including her sit-out year in 2017-18. She averaged 7.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 27.9 minutes per game in her two years on the court for Arizona.