She might not be 100 percent yet suffering an Achillies injury last year, but WSU center Richelle van der Keijl’s performance helped Wright State set its Division I scoring record topping Otterbein 104-51 in the Nutter Center Monday evening.
Seven Raiders were in double figures Monday. Wright State head coach Mike Bradbury used the contest to give his bench extended minutes. Van der Keijl, a native of Delft, The Netherlands, played 17 minutes and scored a career-high 14 points. She nearly completed a double-double with nine rebounds.
“The first few minutes, that didn’t go so well,” van der Keijl said. “But I got into it and I hope I can keep that up going into the next game.”
Playing her first season in America has made things tough for van der Keijl, who is getting used to new rules and style of play.
She missed the entire 2013-14 season with the injury that she suffered in the first day of practice. After struggling coming off the bench for WSU this season, Bradbury hopes this effort can spark her confidence going into the rest of the season.
“We have in a lot of confidence in Richelle and I think she needs a little confidence in herself too,” Bradbury said. “Hopefully this will help her.”
Van der Keijl, who stands 6-foot-5, is also hoping that Monday’s performance proves she belongs on the court more often.
“I hope that I can use this game to prove that to play in the next games too,” van der Keijl said. “It is a lot harder (than what I am used to). I have to sprint a lot harder, there is a lot of running from one side to the other.”
Wright State improved to 6-2 on the season with the win.
The team used Monday as a makeup game after having a pair of contests cancelled in Maine Thanksgiving weekend. WSU used the contest as an opportunity to gather winter clothing donations for the needy. The Shoes 4 The Homeless program collected 138 pairs of socks, nine pairs of shoes, 30 gloves, 37 hats and one coat from the fans on hand.
WSU guard Tay’ler Mingo led the way for the Raiders with 18 points. Tayler Stanton had another impressive rebounding effort setting her career-record 18 rebounds to her 10 points. She is among the top 10 nationally in rebounds and leads the nation in offensive rebounding.
Stanton's backup, freshman Lexi Smith, reached double figures for the first time scoring 16 points. She has played over 20 minutes in back-to-back contests. She has seen an increased role in recent games and played alongside Stanton at times in Monday’s game.
“I really enjoyed (playing with Stanton) because if I wasn’t there to get the rebound, she was there,” Smith said. “She is really aggressive and I enjoy playing with aggressive players.”
Playing back-to-back days will be a good preview for the Raiders who play three straight days this weekend at the World Vision Classic hosted by Purdue.
Bradbury used the opportunity to try different combinations within his thin lineup. Bradbury only had nine healthy players dressed for Monday’s game.
“We have enough players, I don’t think that will be a problem,” Bradbury said about the upcoming weekend. "I thought we played hard and did the things we worked on. It is always tough (playing back-to-back days) but you have to do it and we're about to do it this weekend so if nothing else, it was good for that."
After Otterbein made a few tough baskets early in the contest to keep Wright State within six at 21-15, the Raiders went on a 22-4 run to quickly put away the Cardinals.
After the Cardinals had a 26-19 rebounding advantage in the first half, Wright State responded by outrebounding Otterbein 34-6 in the second half.
Fairborn native and Otterbein senior Chelsea Reed scored five points in her return to her hometown.
