Lady Rebels lose 3rd in last 5 games, moving in wrong direction at worst possible time

UNLV women’s basketball picked a bad time to have one of its worst shooting performances of the season.

Having split its last four outings, the Lady Rebels were smacked, 77-61, by the Colorado State Rams Wednesday, Feb. 25 from Moby Arena. It’s the program’s first loss against CSU since 2021 after having won the last 10 meetings.

Moreover, the team dropped to 7-7 on the road this season.

Following this past week, it’s been confirmed that UNLV will not win the Mountain West’s regular season crown for an unprecedented fifth straight year. Additionally, the team is attempting to keep pace with Boise State in hopes of snagging the No. 2 spot in the conference standings ahead of the Mountain West Championships.

With its 13-5 conference record and 18-10 overall record, the Lady Rebels will shift their attention to the final two games of the regular season. Those 10 losses this year are the most in a single season under head coach Lindy La Rocque.

UNLV will wrap up its final road trip of the season Saturday, Feb. 28 from Save Mart Center against Fresno State. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.

In the latest loss, the Lady Rebels led for all of 17 seconds. Ironically enough, those 17 seconds with the lead came following the first make of the game.

UNLV opened the game by knocking down its first shot attempt before missing on its next six tries as it ended the first quarter with a 4-for-15 shooting mark. The team even closed the first half with just one make in eight tries on the way to finishing the night with 33% shooting numbers from the field and an even worse percentage from beyond the arc.

Colorado State took its unrelenting lead in the first quarter on a 9-0 run. Before the end of the frame, it would go on another long run, this time an 11-0 push while going up by as many as 17 points.

In the win, the Rams shot 41% from the floor and matched that percentage from deep as well.

Sophomore forward Meadow Roland was responsible for that early lead after she knocked down a long trey ball to get the night’s scoring started. She’d proceeded to miss her next nine shots from the field as she headed into the final 10-minute session with that one field goal make and three fouls including a technical.

Roland would bounce back in the fourth quarter to finish with a 17-point, 12-rebound double-double despite her 6-for-17 shooting mark.

Fifth-year guard Aaliyah Alexander was the first player in double-figures for the Lady Rebels on the way to leading the team with 18 points on 5-of-15 shooting. She missed her final five shots of the game including three from downtown after starting 2-for-2 from deep.

Transfer guard Mariah Elohim had perhaps her coldest shooting performance in her first year as a Lady Rebel. Through three quarters, she had just three points on 1-of-9 from the field.

Elohim got the start again in the absence of senior guard Jasmyn Lott, who missed her second straight game after taking a shot to the face in practice last week.

With La Rocque limiting the rotation to just seven players, UNLV’s bench was outscored 22-10 by the home team’s bench. Things got even tighter with fifth-year forward Shelbee Brown and junior guard Sydni Summers each fouling out of the contest.