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A pull-away victory solidified a 25th straight Mountain West win for the UNLV Lady Rebels including the conference tournament.
While running its current streak to five straight wins, UNLV beat Air Force, 76-64, Saturday, Jan. 13. The program has now won 22 consecutive against its conference foe including an undefeated 7-0 mark by current head coach Lindy La Rocque. It's been more than 10 years since the last time the Lady Rebels lost to the Falcons.
“I think everyone’s getting better,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “I think all boats kind of rise together. We know for sure that everyone wants to play their best against us and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
This year’s UNLV group is 14-1 through the first 15 games of the season. Its most recent win highlighted the start of a two-game road trip which will conclude in San Diego. The Aztecs will host the Lady Rebels Wednesday, Jan. 17 from Viejas Arena with tip-off scheduled for 11 a.m.
“We’re still very much in the early stages of conference play,” La Rocque said. “We know each of these games mean a lot but it's not like ‘Oh, we win this game and we win the championship.”
Despite facing a full-court press from Air Force early in the second quarter, UNLV raced past the defense for a 6-0 run that would push the lead to seven. That helped spark an eventual 11-0 run for the back-to-back Mountain West champs while keeping its opponent scoreless for more than four minutes.
The Lady Rebels soon would stretch the lead to 15 and eventually 18 before the final buzzer. In addition, the team used another 8-0 run to close the third quarter for a spurt of close to four minutes.
“Our best press offense is getting a stop on defense,” La Rocque said. “We have great point guards, [junior Kiara Jackson] is steady, she handles the pressure.”
Senior center Desi-Rae Young was a dominant presence once again with another double-double of 26 points and 11 rebounds. Seven of those 11 rebounds came on the offensive side of the ball.
As a team, UNLV wrestled 42 total rebounds away from Air Force on the way to winning the battle of the boards by 12. More notably, the team came away with 15 offensive rebounds to put up 16 second chance points.
Young helped power the Lady Rebs to a lopsided 44-24 finish in the paint.
Complimentary guard play carried the team through the majority of the first half as the backcourt of the aforementioned Jackson and fellow junior Alyssa Durazo-Frescas both recorded double-digit scoring nights.
Jackson posted 16 points and a team-high three assists while Durazo-Frescas chipped in with 11 points of her own.
“We always talk about some of the same key players,” La Rocque said. “Kiara’s got the ball in her hands, Desi’s scoring a lot of the baskets but they don’t do their thing without Alyssa Durazo-Frescas making three-point shots, [fifth-year guard Ashley Scoggin] making shots, [sophomore] Jasmyn Lott driving it to the basket. You can call them complimentary pieces because they don’t get much of the spotlight but they’re a huge piece to us being successful.”
While Jackson led the team with three assists, UNLV only recorded nine combined assists as a group. The nine tallied assists was one more than the Lady Rebels’ season-low which was recorded in the team’s season opener.
“Especially this game – road games are hard,” La Rocque said. “Wherever they’re at, no matter who you’re playing, it’s tough to win on the road. They’re comfortable, they like playing there – Air Force has altitude, we were battling different things.”