DENVER – Jaela Richardson said she learned plenty while redshirting last year due to an injury.
 
But nothing is better than being able to play again.
 
"I just want to take advantage of every moment," she said. "I don't want to have any regrets. I try to remind myself that I wasn't playing last year. It's amazing to play. It's so much better than watching.
 
"You have a different type of bond with your teammates when you're shedding blood, sweat and tears with them in practice and in games."
 
Richardson, MSU Denver's 5-foot-10 freshman forward, is averaging 8.0 points as well as team highs of 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots heading into games this weekend at CSU-Pueblo (Friday, 5:30 p.m.) and New Mexico Highlands (Saturday, 5 p.m.). She's fourth on the team in scoring, tied for second in steals (1.0) and third in assists (1.8).
 
A starter for the first 10 games of the season, the versatile Richardson has come off the bench the past five games as MSU Denver coach Tanya Haave likes to insert her into the game in an area where needed.
 
"I'm not going to lie," Richardson said of her initial reaction to her new role. "I'm a competitor, and I want to be on the court first and I want to start. But I had to take a step back and look at what was good for the team. Because at the end of the day, all I want is for us to be successful."
 
Richardson's competitiveness has always been evident, particularly when considering that her workouts were elevated in sessions with her father during her final two years of high school.
 
Her father has a pretty good idea of what he's doing – he's Jason Richardson, who scored 14,644 points in 13 seasons in the NBA while playing for Golden State, Charlotte, Phoenix, Orlando and Philadelphia.
 
"Those workouts were intense – probably the hardest in my life, and I've had some intense workouts," Jaela Richardson said. "I like to work hard, and if I showed that in the workout, he would push me more."
 
After growing up in Saginaw, Mich., Richardson decided after her sophomore season – when she was unable to play in the summer due to injury – to move to Denver with her father.
 
"I had a lot of time to think, and I had the whole summer off, and my dad had always had it on the table that I could always come out and live with him," she said. "He had retired the year before. I thought it would be a better opportunity for basketball because I could work out with my dad, and the education was better here, plus the city is great and it was a chance to have a different experience. I took it all in consideration and I decided to move here.
 
"It was a hard decision because I left all my family in Michigan. I didn't know anyone. I had never lived with my dad before. It was a big adjustment, but I've grown from it and I appreciate it, and I wouldn't make any other decision."
 
She said her father never pushed her to work out with him, that it was always her idea. She said they'd work out two or three times a week during the season, then three or four times a week in the offseason.
 
"I would have to go up against him, and defend him, and he'd just take the ball and dunk on me or something stupid," she said, laughing. "But it taught me a lot."
 
In addition to her mother and stepfather back in Michigan, Richardson moved away from two stepbrothers. Now in Denver, she has two stepbrothers and a stepmother. She said she'll often play against the older of her two stepbrothers.
 
"I play against his team and they are super quick," she said. "That just makes my reactions even quicker."
 
She said growing up as the daughter of an NBA star is unusual, but that it's all she's ever known. There are benefits as well as drawbacks, she said.
 
"There are a lot of eyes on me," she said. "People just expect whatever from you because you're the child of someone famous. But I never let that bother me. I'm my own person and I'm going to do whatever I'm going to do. It was harder on me when I was younger, but as I got older I just realized that it's my own life. It's tough because he wasn't always around because he was working, but that's what I was used to.
 
"And it's been fun too. I've gotten to travel all over the world, experience things and meet people. I'm so grateful for those opportunities, and I've still continued to have that. The access I've had to recovery treatment, equipment and doctors has been amazing."
 
During two years at Cherry Creek High School, Richardson had a few options on where to attend college. Ultimately, she chose between MSU Denver and Alaska-Anchorage.
 
"I love the city," she said. "It's beautiful here, and I loved the team. I love the diversity of the team, and I really appreciated that. I just went with my intuition. I chose MSU Denver and I'm so glad I did because I love it here."
 
Richardson was injured right as practice began last season, leading to her redshirt season.
 
"I've never sat out a full year like that before," she said. "It was hard to adjust to not playing. But I learned a lot because I got to see things that I wouldn't have seen if I was playing. I started to understand a lot of the things the coaches were asking from us because I was watching it. I got a different perspective. It was hard in the moment, but now that I'm playing, I appreciate it."
 
On the floor this season, she's part of a balanced team with seven players averaging between 9.7 and 5.6 points per game. Twice this year the Roadrunners have had five players score in double figures.
 
"We have so much talent that it can be someone different every night," Richardson said. "There are nights I don't need to score, and I'm totally fine with that. It's nice to have stats, but I don't care. If I don't have any points and MSU Denver has more points than the other team, I'm totally fine with that."
 
MSU Denver (5-10 overall, 4-5 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) played two strong opponents at home last weekend, mounting a late comeback before falling to Dixie State, then challenging Westminster, ranked 17^th in the coaches' poll this week, in another close loss.
 
Now the Roadrunners play four consecutive games on the road, starting this weekend with CSU-Pueblo (3-11, 2-7) and New Mexico Highlands (1-13, 0-9).
 
"Even though we lost this past weekend, I feel like as a team we had a lot of growth," Richardson said. "I think we're to the point where we understand how we play. We're reading each other better on offense, and on defense we're playing together more."