Another close finish versus Arizona State goes down the drain as UNLV sinks under .500

It was another close finish for a second straight year for the UNLV women’s basketball program against the same Arizona State Sun Devils.

Similar to last year, the Lady Rebels didn’t have enough in the tank late to take down the Sun Devils losing one by a final score of 65-58 Tuesday, Nov. 10 from The Pavilion. Last year, Arizona State won on a last-second three-pointer by a current member of the UNLV roster now.

“We want to win these games and you can’t win these games if you don’t play them,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “We try to give our team great opportunities against really good opponents. We had them on our home court.”

With the loss on Tuesday, La Rocque has now lost 16 of her 20 meetings against Power conference school including being 0-2 this year. However, the seven-year head coach does own a 32-4 record following a loss.

Up next, UNLV will host Montana State Sunday, Nov. 5 with tip-off slated for 1 p.m. That will be the third game of this seven-game homestand ahead of the program’s first true road game.

The Lady Rebels faced their largest deficit of the game just before halftime at eight points. A sluggish start to the second half pushed that margin to 12 points.

Ironically enough, that would go on to be the best quarter for UNLV in the loss.

“Truly a great game,” La Rocque said. “It’s just a couple of possessions and we’re not totally disappointed with our play, we just want to do a couple of things better.”

The home team won the third quarter, 22-16, as it was the only quarter it won in the loss. Just about halfway through the frame, the team went on an 11-0 run to trim the deficit to a single point.

As a unit, the Lady Rebels forced the Sun Devils into 15 turnovers and scored 16 points off of them.

“I think it was our collective team effort to be more connected defensively and try to make it tougher on them,” La Rocque said. “Not just let them do what they want.”

Fifth-year senior guard Marley Washenitz was everywhere in that third quarter against her former team before ending her outing with 12 points and six rebounds before fouling out.

“Marley just has such great instincts,” La Rocque said. “Sometimes they’re even better off the ball and I think that’s when she got a lot of her steals and made some plays for us.”

Moreover, the team would tie the game at 46 apiece in that third quarter before holding Arizona State scoreless for three-plus minutes early in the fourth quarter.

Even with that, the team couldn’t grab a lead during the stretch. In fact, the lone lead the team held was in the first quarter when it was 5-4.

“They have a little bit of size and length,” La Rocque said. “I think they’re a very good defensive team. I actually thought we did a fairly good job taking care of the ball ultimately.”

Down three points, Washenitz played the passing lanes and came up with a steal but stepped out of bounds ahead of the fast break chance. In addition, sophomore Trystan James missed a pair of free throws still with her Lady Rebels down three.

“I think there were some positives,” La Rocque said. “The late-game execution, those are things we can’t truly replicate in practice. I think they got up 12 in the third quarter and I was proud of our fight.”

Arizona State’s defense had UNLV in shambles early, showcased best by the team’s 26% shooting mark after the first quarter. Senior guard Jasmyn Lott scored 10 of the team’s first 18 points on the night. She concluded her outing with a team-high 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting.

“I think just that confidence and infusing that,” La Rocque said. “I think [the] last game helped her for sure. I think it’s our staff and just her believing us when we’re telling her things and hopefully each game that confidence continues to build because we need her to get to her spots, be aggressive, look to score – all the things she’s good at.”

Junior forward Meadow Roland scored 11 points in the loss to go along with five assists and four rebounds. As a team, UNLV was outrebounded by nine while losing the points in the paint battle by 10 points.

“Constantly throughout the game, we’re trying to get her touches and get them in the right way,” La Rocque said. “She’s not a guard so she is reliant on people getting her the ball and of course, that falls on our coaching staff.

“I thought she had a better second half. I mean the reality is, I didn’t she played very hard in the first half, she had zero rebounds. I kind of challenged her at halftime to play harder and do some more things for us. I thought she had a much better second half and played hard and helped us get her to her spots.

“Some of that is relying on her too.”