UNM’s van der Keijl suddenly gaining plenty of attention
Richelle van der Keijl is not accustomed to receiving star billing.
The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team’s 6-foot-5 senior did only a handful of interviews in three years at Wright State before she transferred to UNM as a graduate student last summer. She exceeded that number Tuesday alone after a monster 31-point, 13-rebound effort in the Lobos’ 82-72 win over San Jose State on Saturday.
Media members suddenly wanted to talk to van der Keijl, who didn’t seem to mind in the least. Nor did she mind getting 17 shot attempts, most of them against man-to-man defense Saturday — rare circumstances for van der Keijl.
“Yeah, I don’t always like being double-teamed,” she said. “It does get frustrating, especially when I can’t catch the ball or have turnovers. But I know I need to score for this
team and it’s good for me being in that role. It’s basically what I wanted when I came here.”
Lobo coach Mike Bradbury, who also coached van der Keijl at Wright State, has enjoyed seeing her excel in a more prominent role.
“It’s really just about opportunity,” Bradbury said. “She used to be our fourth or fifth option (at Wright State) and we almost never threw her the ball. We have to throw it to her this year and we did that a lot Saturday. I’ve never seen Richelle happier than she was after that game.”
Van der Keijl figures to have more scoring chances tonight when the Lobos (13-10, 8-4 Mountain West) entertain Air Force (3-17, 1-9). Like San Jose State, the Falcons have limited height.
Bradbury does not expect Air Force to adopt a similar approach to defending van der Keijl, however.
“San Jose State was the first team that really played her one-on-one all season,” Bradbury said, “and they’ll probably be the last. I expect we’ll have to get back to finding creative ways to score.”
Creativity has ended up being a key ingredient in Bradbury’s first Mountain West campaign. Injuries and a post-laden roster have forced him to continually adjust tactics. And yet, UNM remains firmly in the MWC chase. The Lobos stand in third place with six regularseason games remaining.
“I think it’s Colorado State’s to lose,” Bradbury said, “they’re the best team. But we’re hanging around and could still finish anywhere from second to ninth. We’ve got zero margin for error, but we’ll keep on plugging away and do everything we can.”
UNM’s already thin margin for error dwindled with Jaisa Nunn’s recent season-ending knee injury. Without Nunn, the Lobos lean heavily on van der Keijl and junior point guard Cherise Beynon, and opponents defend accordingly.
“I feel like if someone else steps up on offense we win,” van der Keijl said.
Such was the case Saturday when Mykiel Burleson chipped in 13 points to support van der Keijl and Beynon, who scored 18. Three other Lobos chipped in six points or more.
“Our players just have to do what they’re capable of,” Bradbury said. “We kind of have to mix and match from game to game, but I couldn’t be prouder of the group. They’ve bought in to what we’re trying to do.”
Bradbury smiled when asked about the challenges of trying to get the most from an inherited and injury-shortened roster.
“Sometimes these years are really fun,” he said, “because they really test your skills. You really get to coach.”
He then added, “I wouldn’t want to do it every year, though. Having the best team is fun, too.”