Brown’s 20-20 double-double lifts UNLV past Utah State despite team’s late offensive struggles

The 11-point finish on the scoreboard doesn’t tell the entire story of a pullaway win for UNLV as it made sure not to slip in a pit-stop road game at Utah State ahead of consecutive home contests.

After splitting each of its last two games, the Lady Rebels picked up a, 71-60, win over the Aggies Saturday, Feb. 7 from the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum. The victory gives the team seven road wins in 12 tries this season.

“It’s hard to win conference games on the road,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “I thought Utah State came out and played really hard and we didn’t match that early. I had confidence in our team and our ability to still execute and find a way to win.”

UNLV is now 16-7 on the year with an 11-2 mark in conference play. That mark is still good for second in the standings behind San Diego State at 17-4 overall and 11-1 in the Mountain West. The Aztecs won the first meeting of the season between the pair with one more meeting remaining.

Even with a couple Power 5 wins and a second-place spot in the standings currently, La Rocque feels if previous years are any indication, only one team will represent the league in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

“No,” La Rocque said. “I mean, I would love to but I know the reality of the selection committee and I don’t know all the other team stats but for us, we’re not getting in unless we win [our conference tournament].”

The Lady Rebels will look to continue their winning ways as this two-game homestand begins for the program. That stretch opens with a Wednesday, Feb. 11 home game against the Wyoming Cowgirls.

Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. from The Pavilion.

This most recent win had to come through defense as UNLV went nearly six minutes without scoring from the field on offense. In fact, it was over the final 5:47 of regulation that the team didn’t make a field goal.

While unsuccessful in live game action, during that time the Lady Rebs went 7-for-8 from the free throw line to close out the win.

“We might’ve gone without a field goal but we got to the free throw line a ton,” La Rocque said. “We were still scoring points and getting the right looks and making them guard us the way we wanted to.”

Just before the end of the third quarter, UNLV settled for three straight three-point attempts before its final possession of the frame. The team came up short on all of those long distance tries before sophomore forward Meadow Roland got downhill for a two-point bucket before the buzzer.

“I thought we had some good looks,” La Rocque said. “But for us it’s about getting to the rim, getting it inside. I thought Meadow did a good job, I thought that end of the third [quarter] field goal was huge. That kind of, again gave us good momentum heading into the fourth quarter.”

That reminder of mentality allowed the Lady Rebels to take a double-digit lead early in the fourth quarter before eventually leading by as many as 12 points in the final 10-minute session.

That advantage on the scoreboard was made possible after the UNLV defense held Utah State without a point for the first 3:43 of the fourth quarter. A scoreless drought for the Aggies that elapsed nearly five minutes once adding in the conclusion of the third quarter.

UNLV had a long scoreless drought of its own in the first half that lasted for more than three minutes. During that time, the home team went up six on the heels of a 7-0 run.

At halftime, the Lady Rebels had led for 49% of the game while the Aggies had led for 48% of the matchup.

“At halftime, we knew we were down obviously,” La Rocque said. “But it didn’t feel like that. It was more self-inflicted, it was more kind of on us. It was a two-possession game and we felt like we let a lot of our possessions get away from us. We knew we could change it really quickly coming out in the second half.”

It was a sloppy start in terms of taking care of the ball in the early going for UNLV with frontcourt standouts Roland and Shlebee Brown at the forefront of it. Four of the team’s five first quarter turnovers came from the duo.

Both players would settle down in the second with Brown finding her rhythm on the offensive glass. By halftime, she’d head into the locker room with a game-high nine rebounds, three of them on the offensive side.

Roland, on the other hand, led all scorers with 10 points at halftime. Ultimately, she’d score 12 points and bring down eight rebounds.

Brown would reach her double-double in the third quarter with her 10th rebound along with her ninth and tenth points of the game. Heading into the fourth quarter, she had tallied 12 points and 14 rebounds.

By the final horn, Brown’s stat line read a monstrous 21-point, 21-rebound day for the first-year Lady Rebel grad transfer. As a team, UNLV won the rebounding battle by 20.

Senior guard Jasmyn Lott added 13 points along with reserve guard Mariah Elohim. Fifth-year guard Aaliyah Alexander was the final player in double-figures with 10 points highlighted by six made free throws on her 10 charity stripe tries.