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The UNLV Lady Rebels escaped the Utah State Aggies winning, 73-62, for their second win on the road in the Mountain West Conference.
The win gave UNLV a season sweep over its conference foes.
“It wasn’t pretty but I was really proud of our effort, and showing the fight to get the win on the road,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said.
UNLV will head back home to face off against Silver State rival, the Nevada Wolf Pack, at the Cox Pavilion Saturday, Jan. 30 at 5 p.m.
The Lady Rebels now move to 5-3 in the Mountain West Conference after sweeping the Aggies. They have the third best conference record, with just one more lost than Colorado State (7-2) and Fresno State (6-2).
The win moved UNLV two games behind New Mexico, placing them in fourth place and one game out of first place with a 7-6 overall record.
The Lady Rebels still had motivation from their previous game against the Aggies and came out strong in the first half.
It almost seemed as if UNLV would run away with the game and win in another blowout fashion.
“We felt like we had it going in the second quarter, then we kind of got back on our heels in the third when they made a run,” La Rocque said. “But we have such a young group, the crowd was getting loud in the second half, I was proud of how we responded.”
After holding the Aggies to just nine points in the second quarter, the Lady Rebels took a commanding lead 36-21 at halftime.
That was the fewest points allowed by UNLVs defense in a quarter this season.
The Lady Rebels’ defense kept their physical presence, forcing the Aggies into 24 turnovers, coming away with 15 steals.
“We relied on some of our past experiences, we kept our composure and made some big free throws and got a huge road conference win,” La Rocque said.
Utah State wouldn’t go away easy as it pushed the tempo in the second half.
A pair of huge three-point shots came late in the game, one at the 3:47 mark by redshirt sophomore forward Delaynie Byrne to make the score, 62-56.
The second three-point shot came from freshman guard Jade Thomas at the 2:11 mark to run the score to 67-59.
Those two shots were the turning point of the game, as the Lady Rebels were able to close out the Aggies to record their first sweep of the season.
Offensively, UNLV recorded 17 turnovers, not taking care of the ball in important games could prove to be crucial.
Freshman forward Desi-Rae Young recorded her second double-double of the season, with 15 points and 11 rebounds with three steals.
The Lady Rebels took advantage of the free throw line the entire duration of the game, forcing the Aggies to commit 28 fouls.