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The first-place and No. 25 ranked UNLV Lady Rebels returned to action after a week off but it resulted in a familiar finish, a win for the back-to-back defending Mountain West champions.
In the only meeting of the season between these conference foes, UNLV put away Fresno State, 63-49, Saturday, Feb. 10 from the Save Mart Center. The program has now won its last seven outings against the Bulldogs.
Overall, the Lady Rebels are 20-2 on the year as they picked up their 34th conference win in their last 35 tries. Now the regular season schedule will return to a two-game weekly format whether both contests are played at home or away.
UNLV will now return home for a brief two-game homestand beginning with a Valentine’s Day matchup against Colorado State. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. inside the Cox Pavilion.
Junior guard Kiara Jackson recorded her first career points-rebounds double-double after tallying a previous career-high nine rebounds three times prior this season. She finished with a game-high 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Senior center Desi-Rae Young posted her 10th double-double of the season with 10 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. She shook off a slow 2-for-5 first half start, scoring six of her 10 points in the second 20-minute session.
Eight rebounds from junior forward Alyssa Brown helped the team win the rebounding battle by 16. The collective effort of the group helped outscore Fresno State, 40-26, in the paint.
The final stamp of the game came on defense as the Lady Rebs held the Bulldogs without a point for nearly half of the fourth quarter. That wasn’t the first instance of a long scoring drought for the home team as it scored its first bucket of the second quarter at the 5:43-mark.
Both teams struggled to get much offense going in the first quarter but a 10-0 run to take a double-digit lead by UNLV helped set the tone as Fresno State went without a basket for nearly three and a half minutes. The lead would grow to as large as 19 points in the road win for the Lady Rebels.
Freshman guard Amarachi Kimpson was one of five UNLV players with at least one steal and the only player with two to go along with 10 points on 4-for-7 from the field.