Defense in tow as Lady Rebels open new year with double-digit win over Cougars

It may have been the season opener but the defense for the four-time defending Mountain West regular season champion UNLV Lady Rebels looked to be in mid-season form.

UNLV downed Washington State, 64-51, Wednesday, Nov. 5 from The Pavilion following a 37-point win in the program’s lone exhibition game.

“It’s a win,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “I’m just really proud of our group, I thought we played really hard. Washington State [is] a great team, really physical. Obviously, it wasn’t our prettiest game but we made some big-time plays.”

La Rocque opens her sixth season at the helm of UNLV after having her contract freshly extended during the offseason. In five-plus seasons in her first head coaching gig, she has compiled an overall record of 129-30 while also having earned her first postseason win last year.

“I want to be present where I am,” La Rocque said. “I don’t idolize any other place or position or job or location because I think that’s just a distraction. I’m here, I love it here, I think this is the best place to be so that’s where I plan on being.”

With her Lady Rebels sporting a 1-0 record this season, La Rocque’s group will now turn its attention to DePaul ahead of Baylor as the program’s three-game homestand to start the year comes to an end.

The homestand continues Sunday, Nov. 9 from The Pavilion with tip-off set for 2 p.m. where the Lady Rebels will host the Blue Demons.

“That’s my hope, plan and purpose [to grow the program],” La Rocque said. “I’m proud of the success that we’ve had, I’m also greedy – we’re at no pinnacle. We’ve got a lot of steps to continue to take, that’s our plan and the scheduling is a piece of that.”

In the first five minutes of the game, the UNLV defense had forced five Washington State turnovers while presenting several different defenses to its opponent. This included falling back from a fullcourt trap to a 2-3 zone.

By the final buzzer, the Lady Rebels raced out to 20 points off turnovers but it failed to register a fast break point until the fourth quarter.

“We converted on some of the turnovers,” La Rocque said. “Can we continue to try and be more efficient? Sure. But it’s the first game in a long time so we’ll sure those things up.”

By the time that first fast break point came, UNLV had begun building its large lead. A lead that would ultimately reach as high as 15 points in the fourth quarter.

In the win, the Lady Rebels held its opponent to 4-of-20 from three-point range in addition to holding the visitors to 38% from the field.

Even with the victory, UNLV’s offense didn’t have the best night as the team combined to shoot 33% from the field with just two makes on 11 three-point attempts.

In retrospect, the team enters the season with nine new faces as it returns just five players from last year’s conference winning team.

Four of those five familiar faces are in the new-look starting lineup for La Rocque. Three of those familiar faces combined for 52 of her team’s 64 points in the win in redshirt senior guard Jasmyn Lott, graduate student Aaliyah Alexander and redshirt sophomore Meadow Roland.

“To have three [players] with 15 [points] or more, that’s terrific,” La Rocque said. “Honestly, I don’t always care who scores the points, I just want the points up there.”

Lott played in her first game with the program since the 2023-24 season after missing all of last season with a knee injury. Upon returning to the court, she sported a hefty brace on her left knee.

“It was really nice,” she said. “We played good, we got the win so that being the result for my first game back is really great.”

Lott finished the game with a career-high 17 points on 4-of-13 from the field while connecting on all eight of her free throw attempts.

“She’s been working really hard,” La Rocque said. “It’s been a long time for her. A career-high 17 points, 8-for-8 perfect from the free throw line. Honestly, that’s the Jas we know and she’ll probably be the first to tell you she can play better which is scary.”

Alexander led the team in scoring with 18 points on the same shooting numbers as Lott. In addition, she drained nine of her 10 attempts from the charity stripe.

Roland added 17 points of her own as the lone forward in double-figures for the home team. She did so on a crisp 7-of-13 from the floor while hauling in nine rebounds despite battling foul trouble.

As a team, UNLV won the rebounding battle by eight but reeling in 18 offensive rebounds helped handicap Washington State. Those 18 offensive rebounds turned into 18 second chance points for the eventual winners.