.png)
In nearly four full years as head coach of the UNLV Lady Rebels, Lindy La Rocque has only lost back-to-back games one time during her tenure.
UNLV hopped back in the win column after a, 84-63, win over Boise State Wednesday, Jan. 24 from ExtraMile Arena. The Lady Rebels were coming off their second loss of the season but their first conference loss of the season. In fact, it was the first Mountain West loss for the team in nearly two full years.
“There was a lot [of attention to detail] to be honest,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “Because we lacked that in the loss and I think we have to recognize that. Just the attention to detail, being locked in on the scout, playing hard – all those things were kind of our emphasis coming into the game and I’m glad to see them execute it.”
After the victory, UNLV improves to 9-1 on the road this season while running its overall record to 16-2. Prior to the team’s most recent loss, the program had won six straight and will now look to start another win streak.
A rivalry-juiced atmosphere awaits the Lady Rebels when they return home for a midday matchup with the Nevada – Reno Wolf Pack set for Saturday, Jan. 27. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m.
That will mark the start of a brief two-game homestand but will go down as the program’s first homestand since mid-November.
“We’re excited to be at home for consecutive games,” La Rocque said. “Just to kind of get some rest at home. We’ve got a huge game on Saturday, a rivalry game and we’ll be in the Thomas & Mack. It’s going to be a loud and passionate crowd, we need a ton of people there.”
Defense prevailed in the first quarter of UNLV’s 20-plus point win over Boise State as both teams combined to score 16 total points in the 10-minute frame. It took the home team more than seven minutes to convert its first made field goal of the game after opening 0-for-8 from the field.
The second quarter however, was nothing like the first as the Lady Rebels bolted out to a 12-0 start out of the break to go up 18 points. In the third quarter, the lead was pushed to 21 points.
“We never want to intentionally start slow,” La Rocque said. “For this game in particular, we had to adjust a little bit quicker to their defense. We kind of knew it was coming but it was more aggressive to be honest than we thought.”
It wasn’t an easy route the rest of the way as the Broncos fought back with a 13-2 run highlighted by a 9-0 spurt. During that stretch, the back-to-back Mountain West champs were without a point for about two and a half minutes as their once 20-point lead was trimmed to 12.
Not long after, UNLV would not only weather the storm but would extend the lead back to 20 points and ultimately to its largest of the game at 23 points just before the final buzzer.
Senior center Desi-Rae Young outscored Boise State in the first quarter, posting six to the opponent’s five. She’d rack up 10 points in the first half in the absence of junior forward Alyssa Brown who suffered a head injury in practice earlier this week.
“She’s in concussion protocol,” La Rocque said. “That’s kind of out of my hands, that in the medical staff’s. We want her to feel better, a little better everyday but then she’s got to go through the progression. To be honest, I don’t even know but it’s not day-to-day because there’s a protocol that she has to follow that is out of my hands.
“Whenever they tell me she’s good, she’ll be good but that’s not going to be tomorrow.”
Young recorded her fourth straight double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds. She now has eight doubles on the season and 43 for the collegiate career. As a team, UNLV won the rebounding battle, 42-28.
Though dominant on offense, her best efforts may have come on the defensive end as she helped hold Broncos bigs Abby Muse and Elodie Lalotte to a combined 11 points. Lalotte didn’t score her first basket until early in the fourth quarter.
“I think Desi’s just a gamer,” La Rocque said. “Whoever her matchup is on any given night, she’s obviously up for the challenge. Boise State for the last few years have had big post players that have been physical and battled.”
Junior guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas rattled home four made threes on her way to 16 points in the win. Fifth-year guard Ashely Scoggin reached double-figure scoring for the first time since Jan. 6 with 14 points and two made longballs.
Durazo-Frescas and Scoggin accounted for six of the team’s nine made threes as it finished with a 50%-mark from deep.
Senior forward Nneka Obiazor added 10 points off-the-bench for the Lady Rebels.