Hannah Sjerven stepped to the free throw line, crouched into her shooting stance, released the ball and banked in the 100th point as the crowd erupted.
The freshman center rattled home her second free throw attempt as well, scoring the final points of the 101-48 rout of Fort Lewis in the first women’s basketball exhibition game of the season Tuesday night in WisePies Arena, aka the Pit.
Head coach Mike Bradbury, who is in his first year at the helm for the Lobos, said the crowd of 4,433 provided a great game day atmosphere and the team got what it wanted out of the game.
New Mexico scored the first 13 points of the game, forcing Fort Lewis to burn a pair of timeouts along the way. The Skyhawks finally got on the board by hitting a three-pointer at the 6:27 mark, but the Lobos went on another 12-point run and led by double digits from the outset.
Bradbury said, for the most part, he thought the team played hard enough and had the right intensity. The team had a lull at the end of the first quarter, which spilled into the second, but never got into any real trouble.
The new head coach said he wasn’t sure why, but the team got outplayed for a five to six minute stretch in the early stages of the third quarter, and those kinds of things can’t happen.
“I think their coach probably got into them a little bit at halftime,” Bradbury said. “And I think their big kid came out ready to go and she whipped our big kid — and that’s not acceptable.”
Richelle van der Keijl and Kianna Keller, the two biggest “kids” on the team, did a lot of good things on the night. The Lobos outscored the Skyhawks 58-7 in the paint thanks in large part to the outstanding play of the two seniors.
Van der Keijl scored 11 points, going five of seven from the floor. Keller rejected three shots and snatched up nine rebounds, while also dishing a couple of pretty passes that led to easy layups.
Junior guard Cherise Beynon was the best player on the floor, statistically. She recorded a double-double, pouring in 20 points, collecting 12 boards and dropping five assists, all in just 20 minutes of play.
Beynon said the head coach’s message before the game was simple enough — attack. She did so right away, scoring the first four points of the game and driving the lane with tenacity the whole game.
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Even with a huge lead, the Lobos continued to attack at both ends of the floor, often showing out high to trap the ball handler.
“In our last scrimmage before the game…we weren’t so good defensively,” Beynon said. “So, I think we were trying to focus on defense as well.”
Freshman Mykiel Burleson got the start and made a lasting impression in her first action as a Lobo. The guard heated up in the second half, knocking down back-to-back three-pointers on her way to putting up 14 points in her debut.
“It was fun — the crowd was energetic, the team was energetic, all just positive vibes,” she said.
The Lobos had five players score in double figures, and every player on the active roster scored on the night.
New Mexico outscored Fort Lewis 25-7 in the first quarter en route to building a 32-point halftime lead. The team increased its lead every quarter, with the largest advantage swelling to a 58-point bulge.
Unfortunately, one Albuquerque native didn’t even get into the game. Bradbury said the opposing coach told him just before the start of the game that Fort Lewis’ Astrea Reed, who attended high school in Albuquerque, would not play.
Bradbury said he did not know the cause of Reed’s absence, but wished she could’ve played because of her ability to make an impact. Fort Lewis being without arguably its best player probably hurt the Skyhawks’ ability to compete.
New Mexico’s next test will occur Sunday when it squares of in another exhibition game, battling Eastern New Mexico at 2 p.m.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers football and men’s and women’s tennis. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
