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It lasted nearly 30 straight games but the UNLV Lady Rebels’ Mountain West win streak was finally halted at 29 after a late dagger sunk the team at home.
New Mexico played spoiler for No. 25 UNLV as the team was defeated, 69-66, Saturday, Jan. 20 from the Cox Pavilion. The outcome put an end to a current six-game win streak for the Lady Rebels as well as the 29 consecutive conference wins.
It’s the first loss for the program in a Mountain West game since Senior Day in 2022 against in-state rival UNR. Moreover, the team suffered its first home loss since the same game, going 23-0 in home games in between.
“I think our team is very aware that we have a lot to improve on,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “We’ve honestly been talking about it all week. I don’t think we needed to lose this game for them to really believe it but they really believe it.”
UNLV entered the game as the 25th ranked team in the country but would leave with an updated 3-2 mark as a ranked team this season. The team is 12-0 in all other contests this year.
Now sitting with an overall record of 15-2, the Lady Rebels will return to the road for a date with the Boise State Broncos. That game is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 24 from ExtraMile Arena in Idaho. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
“We aren’t happy about losing,” La Rocque said. “We still have everything in front of us that we still want to do, we have plenty of time to right a lot of these wrongs, we’ve got to go play them at their place so it’s not the end of the world.”
New Mexico’s Viane Cumber nailed the dagger three-pointer that sealed the fate of UNLV with just under four seconds left in regulation. She was responsible for six made threes on the day on the way to the upset win for a team that needed more than three minutes to score its first basket of the game.
Despite the loss, the Lady Rebs claimed the largest lead of the game at nine points, even taking a six-point lead into the locker room at halftime. However, a fiery start from deep to start the second half put the Lobos right back in the mix of things.
New Mexico cut the lead down to a point after three made threes in the first two minutes and 31 seconds of the second half. Six of the team’s 10 made threes came in the second half with four falling in the third quarter. It was in that third quarter that the Lobos captured their first lead of the game.
“[Cumber] was shooting it from deep,” La Rocque said. “We’ve got to be more dialed into the awareness and the situation of the game and make some better adjustments to the players that are out there on the court.”
With one final chance to tie the game and send it into overtime, fifth-year guard Ashley Scoggin missed a three-pointer at the buzzer solidifying the team’s second loss in its last eight outings.
“They’re very upset in there,” La Rocque said. “I saw more tears in there than I’ve seen in a really long time. And that’s okay, we haven’t lost on this court at home in what? Almost two seasons?”
Aside from a second quarter where UNLV shot 56% from the field, the team struggled from the floor for the vast majority of the remainder of the contest. By the final horn, the Lady Rebels had been limited to just 38% from the field with a 35%-mark from long-range.
“[The Lobos] were doing a good job clogging the paint,” La Rocque said. “They’ve got some really quick defenders and I think our guards kind of just struggled a little bit getting downhill like we’re used to. To be honest, they play great transition defense and that’s where we get our mojo.”
Senior center Desi-Rae Young had a monster double-double with 24 points and a season-high 17 rebounds to go along with four assists, a steal and a block in 37 minutes played. She has now recorded a double-double in three straight games.
Young also knocked down two three-pointers after entering play with three on the year. Her most crucial miss of the night came at the free throw line with the team down a point. Young went 1-for-2 to tie the game with 24 seconds left but could never give UNLV the lead again.
“Desi did everything she [could] for our team,” La Rocque said. “How can we be mad at her? She got 24 and 17, what more can she do? We all have a little room to get better but I thought she pours her heart out out there and I think you see it. There’s no one more upset about this loss than her.”
Junior forward Alyssa Brown was the only other Lady Rebel in double-figures with 10 points with two made threes of her own. Young and Brown were two of three players with two made threes on the day including junior guard Kiara Jackson.