Keller gets her shot, totally owns the moment

Kyndall Keller says she could feel something special brewing the moment she walked into Seattle University's Redhawk Center on Monday night, when Montana arrived for its off-day practice.

She was sure she had just come upon her kind of place, something more bandbox than spacious arena, with seating for 999 and walls packing everything in tight.

"I was thinking, gosh, this is kind of a shooter's gym, where someone could go off. I just kind of felt it," she says.

Less than 24 hours later, Keller and her Lady Griz teammates walked off the floor with their first road win of the season in hand.

Keller, who totaled five points through the season's first three games, scored 17, going 4 for 5 from 3-point range in Montana's 61-55 win, a game the Lady Griz led from start to finish.

Keller scored 14 of her points in the second half, 14 of her team's 30, as the Lady Griz held off every charge the Redhawks made.

"Something clicked. I was on it," she says. "I was ready and just really locked in. I was feeling it. I woke up ready to play, I guess."

If that sounds ephemeral, like she was able to catch lightning in a bottle for one afternoon in Seattle, that would be doing a disservice to the work she put in to make that moment possible.

As her coach, Mike Petrino, says, Keller "is a Blue Pony from Havre with a blue-collar work ethic." In other words, Tuesday was earned. And repeatable. This was no fleeting performance.

"Sometimes kids want to skip the process of what it takes. She didn't. She embraced the work. Tuesday was the result of a lot of hard work. She deserves the credit for that," he says.

"What I love about Kyndall is that you can coach her hard, she embraces competition and she's all about the team. You'll go far with those kids."

When Petrino, who was hired for his current position in April but had been a Lady Griz assistant coach the previous four seasons, met with his team for the first time last spring, via Zoom, he spelled it out.

How Montana returned less than 50 percent -- in some cases much less than 50 percent -- of its production in almost every statistical category from the season just past.

Like 30.8 percent of its scoring and less than 15 percent of its 3-point shooting.

The opportunities are there, he told the 15 players, eight of whom were newcomers to the program, come take them. Keller took it to heart.

Already known for her offseason work that led to two state titles and Montana Gatorade Player of the Year honors as a senior, Keller committed even more time, more sweat.

"I've heard from multiple people how hard Kyndall worked all summer, so all the credit goes to her. She put in a really good summer," Petrino says.

So Tuesday was no fluke. It's going to happen again. And again and again. She is four games in, with more than a hundred left to be played. Lucky us.

If Seattle's gym gave Keller a spark, her teammates only added some fuel on Tuesday afternoon, jumping out to a 16-4 lead with Keller cheering from the bench.

It was 16-6 when she entered the game for the first time. In her first 30 seconds on the court, she had a steal, then got the ball to Jordyn Schweyen on the other end. Her assist on the 3-pointer made it 19-6.

On Montana's next possession, Keller got the ball well beyond the 3-point line, to the left of the top of the key. The distance didn't matter. She was a shooter in a shooter's gym. She nailed it from 25 feet out.

"I wanted to get in there and do well. Just from the get-go, it was exciting and fun. You could feel we had the momentum, and we kept it rolling for a while," she says.

"I was confident and just let the ball fly. I was feeling that shot. When I hit it, I was jacked."

Montana led 31-20 at the break, but the Lady Griz would see a different Redhawk team in the second half. Seattle's energy and aggressiveness had been turned up a few notches in the locker room.

It was down to a three-point game, 39-36, when Keller entered the game at the 4:26 mark of the third quarter. The Redhawks were in the process of grabbing the momentum.

Not for long. Her 3-pointer from the right corner, just seconds after entering the game, extended the lead to six.

Less than three minutes later, Sophia Stiles got the ball to Keller on the right wing. Her feet were set, the stroke was pure, the ball released with the confidence of a senior. The lead was back to nine.

"It's great her teammates found her. That's what we do, we rely on each other," says Petrino, whose team has had three different players lead the team in scoring through four games.

With Seattle still lingering within five, 53-48, and the fourth-quarter clock ticking under 3:30, Keller hit the shot that ended the Redhawks' comeback attempt for good.

Stiles got the ball at the top of the key and quickly swung it to the other side. Keller was spotted up in front of the Lady Griz bench. No rim was necessary. It was all net. Montana led 56-48.

Her teammates watching from the sideline behind her reacted appropriately. They had just witnessed the winning shot. Ball game.

She played less than 20 minutes, 19:38 to be exact, but Montana was +6 when Keller was on the court, best on the team, or what just happened to be the game's final margin.

A good chunk of those minutes (8:14) came in the fourth quarter. When the final period began, Seattle's Bree Calhoun had 21 points. When the game was over, she had 23.

"It wasn't just the offensive end. She helped bring the ball up against their press with Sophie. Then we switched her on to their hot scorer," says Petrino.

"After that we held (Calhoun) to two points, so Kyndall got it done on all ends. She was dialed in in all areas."

It wasn't luck. It was preparation meeting opportunity. "You go out there when you get your shot and show them what you can do," she says.

She did, and she owned it. It was a first but it won't be the last.

University of Montana Athletics

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Kyndall Keller

Jordyn Schweyen

Sophia Stiles

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