A halftime deficit wasn’t going to stop the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team from bringing home a win on Saturday afternoon, as one Lobo achieved a personal best in points.
Senior center Richelle van der Keijl notched a career-high 31 points as New Mexico (13-10, 8-4 MW) clinched another conference win, 82-72, on the road over San Jose State (7-15, 4-6 MW).
Three Lobos ended the night with double-digit scoring performances, but none more impressive than van der Keijl’s near-perfect 13-for-17 shooting from the field. She also reeled in 13 rebounds, giving her a double-double — her seventh of the season.
Lobo junior guard Cherise Beynon also put in work on the floor, tallying 18 points against San Jose State on 7-of-15 shooting.
Freshman guard Mykiel Burleson was also able to contribute scoring wise, as she scored 13 points on 3-of-11 shooting. She compensated for poor shooting from the field by making all six of her shots from the charity stripe.
The first quarter marked a back-and-forth battle between the two teams.
San Jose State’s Jasmine Smith — who had a team-high 24 points for the Spartans — started off the scoring in the game, hitting a layup a minute into the game. Van der Keijl responded by hitting a shot of her own to tie the game 2-2.
Halfway into the first quarter, the Spartans were able to get the lead up to as many as four points, but the Lobos stayed right on their heels. The quarter ended with van der Keijl hitting two free throws and a layup to close the gap to 20-19 heading into the second quarter.
A 3-pointer from San Jose State’s Dezz Ramos — the Spartans best scorer this season — started off the beginning of the second quarter. Ramos has also led the Mountain West in scoring, averaging 22 points going into Saturday’s game, but was held to just 14 by the Lobo defense.
With 1:30 left in the second quarter, San Jose State nailed another three to go up 45-36. But the Lobos finished the quarter by scoring the last four points to soften the blow and cut the Spartans’ lead to 45-40 entering the half.
The Lobos found their groove in the third quarter, outscoring the home team 29-9. New Mexico started the period by holding San Jose State scoreless for nearly five and a half minutes. During that same timeframe, UNM put up 22 points to seize control of the game.
New Mexico grabbed its largest lead of the night at the 1:14 mark in the third quarter, going up 67-47. The Spartans ended the third quarter on a 5-2 run, with the Lobos leading 69-54 going into the fourth.
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Burleson led the charge in the third quarter, scoring 11 of her 13 points in that period alone.
“I thought Mykiel and Alex were both really good, especially in the third quarter,” head coach Mike Bradbury said in a release. “Mentally, they attacked the basket and I think that got us scoring. We also got on the free throw line — we got in the bonus and that helped too.”
San Jose State outscored the Lobos 18-13 in the fourth quarter, but were never able to fully recover. The Lobos took the win on the road, 82-72, to keep them in third place in the Mountain West standings.
Despite getting the win on the road, the Lobos were uncharacteristically out-rebounded by San Jose State. The home team Spartans brought down 55 rebounds, significantly more than the 40 secured by the Lobos.
What did help the Lobos, though, was an improvement in shooting compared to their last game against UNLV. New Mexico shot 31-of-65 (47.7 percent) from the field, while holding San Jose State to 33 percent shooting.
Up next for the Lobos is a home conference matchup at WisePies Arena against the Air Force Falcons. The game is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.
Matthew Narvaiz is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz
