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A miss at the buzzer of an overtime session helped preserve a three-point win for the UNLV Lady Rebels to keep the Mountain West leaders' win streak alive.
In a meeting of two of the top three teams in the conference, UNLV edged out Wyoming, 63-60, Wednesday, Feb. 21 from the Arena Auditorium. The Cowgirls entered play tied for second in the Mountain West, just three games behind the back-to-back conference champions.
“Obviously, we want to score more points,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “We were playing at altitude and I thought we just kind of had a slow start from the get-go.”
As the regular season winds down, the Lady Rebels just continue to win as it runs its current win streak to eight games. Through 25 games this season, the program has stacked a 23-2 overall record, still good for first place in the conference.
Wednesday’s win clinched at least a share of the regular season conference title for the third straight year.
“We set some goals way at the beginning of the year to win a regular season championship,” La Rocque said. “To clinch a share tonight is awesome, that’s huge. Winning it three times in a row, that’s pretty impressive. We celebrated that afterwards but we don’t want to share anything.
“We’ve got more games ahead to clinch it outright and get the job done the way we want to.”
UNLV will continue to chip away at an outright regular season Mountain West title Saturday, Feb. 24 with a renewal of the in-state rivalry with Nevada – Reno. Tip-off is slated for 6:30 p.m.
With time winding down in overtime, Wyoming missed a last chance heave from three steps past the halfcourt line.
Earlier in the overtime period, the Lady Rebels captured their second lead of the game and would keep it for good. To close regulation, the team went on an 8-0 run to force the extra five minutes.
“I think we were just battling back-and-forth,” La Rocque said. “I called a timeout with about four minutes or so to go in a six or eight-point game and told them, ‘It was going to be about stops and getting rebounds.’”
After trailing for the vast majority of the game, UNLV cut the deficit to two about midway through the fourth quarter but would have that spoiled with a 6-0 run over a 68-second span. The team led for just five minutes of the 45 total minutes played versus more than 37 minutes for its opponent.
After trailing the entire first quarter for the fifth time this season, the Lady Rebs picked up their fourth win in such instances. Freshman Amarachi Kimpson netted the team their first lead of the game on a finish inside the paint. She converted another layup late in regulation to tie the game at 53 apiece.
Kimpson closed the night with a game-high 16 points on 6-for-9 from the field off the bench.
Senior center Desi-Rae Young added 15 points and nine rebounds while battling Cowgirls center Allyson Fertig. About halfway through the third quarter, Young was assessed a flagrant foul after appearing to take a swipe at Fertig after a made basket.
“Desi plays with a lot of passion,” La Rocque said. “I think her frustration just got to her a little bit because she wants to win and it’s a great battle between her and Fertig down low. It’s physical and for both teams, that’s our first weapon.”
Fertig would finish with a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double after struggling against Young and UNLV for the majority of her career.
The Lady Rebels were able to secure the win after tallying just four assists on 23 made field goals as just two players reached double-figure scoring.
“It’s not our ideal style of play,” La Rocque said. “And we can try to force the issue a little bit but you’ve kind of also got to just do what is working. Winning is really tough and playing at their place is even tougher.”
As it often does, UNLV won through its defense against the Mountain West’s top scoring defense. Entering play, the back-to-back conference champs came in as the league’s top scoring offense.
An early switch from man-to-man into a full-court press which morphed into a zone defense. Both teams closed the night with 37% field goal percentages.
“We just weren’t guarding [Wyoming’s motion offense] well,” La Rocque said. “Switching to our zone takes them off their normal rhythm [...] I think this is the most we’ve played it in one single game all season.”