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Days after securing sole possession of first place in the Mountain West, the UNLV Lady Rebels fought off the second place team while picking up some much wanted revenge along the way.
In a matchup of the conference’s top two teams, UNLV beat New Mexico, 62-56, Saturday, Feb. 3 from The Pit. This meeting was the first since the Lobos handed the back-to-back defending champions their first Mountain West in nearly two years.
Since losing that game, the Lady Rebels have won four straight games.
“It’s kind of become a little bit of a rivalry,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “In the last couple of years, they’ve had great teams, great players. Both teams play really hard when we play each other – it’s like we play harder against each other than we play against our other opponents which isn’t always good.”
With four more road games left on the regular season schedule, this year’s UNLV squad sports a 10-1 record away from Las Vegas. In total, the team is 19-2 this season in pursuit of a third straight Mountain West regular season championship.
“I think [staying the course] is a lot of it,” La Rocque said. “Just grind, grind, grind away the season. Now we’re kind of in the back half and this was a huge week for us. Wyoming at home and New Mexico on the road so we have to keep staying the course and trusting what we do.”
To wrap up this short two-game road trip, UNLV will now travel to Fresno State for a Saturday, Feb. 10 matchup from the Save Mart Center with tip-off squared away for 2 p.m.
In order to put the finishing touches on their most recent win, the Lady Rebels used a brief 7-0 spurt after the game was tied at 51 apiece. Senior center Desi-Rae Young got a tough paint basket to fall to put her team up six. Moments after, the group would push past the Lobos’ full court press for another layup finish.
“On our scouting report, we had it stated, ‘Big time players make big time plays.’” La Rocque said. “Desi had some huge plays especially in the second half and late in the game. We practice so many different situations with our team so when they started pressing there late [junior guard Kiara Jackson] is looking to break the press but then people are going to be available for her and we stay aggressive.”
Young closed the night with a game-high 27 points as she recorded her ninth double-double of the season. She raised her game when it mattered most with 13 fourth quarter points including two made threes which tied a season-high for her.
In the first half, UNLV built a lead as large as 12 points on the heels of a tough defensive start which kept New Mexico from finding an offensive rhythm. After shooting the lights out at the Cox Pavilion the last time out, the Lobos didn’t make its first three-pointer until late in the second quarter on the way to 2-for-10 from deep in the first half.
However, New Mexico would head into the locker room with some momentum after closing the frame with five makes in seven tries highlighted by a 6-0 run that held UNLV without a point for nearly three minutes.
“Just playing hard and being really locked into the scouting report,” La Rocque said. “[New Mexico’s Viane Cumber] still got two: one in the first half and one late in the second half but she was way off the line and I thought we were right there contesting it. That was a good player making a tough shot but I was proud of our team’s defensive focus.”
At one point of the third quarter, the Lobos would battle all the way back to briefly take the lead and eventually would go up by as much as three points. Missed free throws ultimately told the story down-the-stretch for the home team as it ended the game 4-for-12 from the charity stripe.
“We wanted to get better, cleaner defensive stops,” La Rocque said. “It takes away some of their momentum from drawing a foul if they don’t convert at the free throw line. We weren’t trying to intentionally foul but it just kind of worked out in our favor.”