.png)
Senior center Desi-Rae Young was as aggressive as ever before in a season opening win for the back-to-back regular season and tournament Mountain West champion UNLV Lady Rebels.
UNLV outlasted LMU, 72-62, Monday, Nov. 6 from the Gersten Pavilion in California. For the second time in the last three years, the Lady Rebels have opened the season on the road.
So far in the head coach career of Lindy La Rocque, she is 73-19 in four years at the helm. Additionally, she sports a road record of 31-5 including this most recent season opening win.
UNLV will now return home to the Cox Pavilion for a three-game homestand beginning with a date against College of Charleston Friday, Nov. 10. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
After falling behind early in this one, compounded with an early 7-0 second quarter start for the Lions, the Lady Rebels used a late run to claw their way back into the contest. The deficit was cut to two as UNLV went on a 6-0 run before trimming it to a point on a 9-2 spurt.
Ultimately, the Lady Rebs would close the first half on a 19-6 run, taking a five-point lead into the locker room at halftime. Soon after, the team would come out and go up by 12 points while keeping its opponent never closer than eight.
Young caught fire in the third quarter scoring 10 of her eventual game-high 22 points. For a brief moment, she stayed down after a hard foul on the frontend of an and-one layup finish. In the same frame, she’d draw a charge with the team up 12.
The Desert Oasis High School product was aggressive from the start, attempting four field goals in the first five-plus minutes of the game. Young would finish with a 22-point, 16-rebound double-double with eight makes from the free throw line in 11 tries.
At halftime, UNLV found itself down -9 in the rebound category before closing the game up four in the same department.
Junior guard Kiara Jackson assumed her new role as lead guard for the program, recording 11 points on 4-of-14 shooting. Uncharacteristically, she went 1-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 60 seconds of regulation.
As a team, the Lady Rebels went the final five and a half minutes of the fourth quarter without a field goal.
Senior forward Nneka Obiazor hit a pair of buzzer-beating three-pointers in the first half en route to 10 points on 50% from deep. Her effort helped UNLV win the bench production battle, 26-14.