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Utter dominance is the best way to describe the first showing of the Mountain West Championships for the three-time reigning regular season conference champs.
UNLV ousted Fresno State, 83-35, Monday, March 11 from the Thomas & Mack Center as part of the quarterfinals of this year’s MWC. That makes it 13 straight victories for the No. 21 team in the nation.
“I thought our team played well,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “And this was the biggest game of the year because we don't get the next one without this one. We talked about that. I thought they had great intention and focus to come out and get the job done.”
Through 19 conference games this season, La Rocque’s group is 18-1 with two more Mountain West games to play to secure a third straight NCAA Tournament bid. Overall, this year’s UNLV team sports a 28-2 record after pushing its mark in the T&M Center to 4-0.
Nevada – Reno and Colorado State will be next up for the defending champs with that game slated for Tuesday, March 12 at 5 p.m. from the same venue.
After shaking off a slow start, the Lady Rebels overwhelmed the Bulldogs early and often in just the second meeting of the year between the conference foes. Earlier this season, UNLV took the first meeting by 14 points.
About midway through the first quarter, the team found its offensive rhythm to the tune of four makes in five tries. The floodgates officially broke open after back-to-back three-pointers by the Lady Rebels to open the second quarter.
By the final buzzer, the team shot a combined 12-of-21 from three-point range.
“I thought we took the right shots,” La Rocque said. “We don't just settle and kind of jack up a bunch of threes, but when you get great looks and we've got great shooters, they're very capable of shooting this percentage.”
The avalanche continued with a 12-0 finish to the first half coupled with a 13-0 start to the second half for UNLV. The final margin of victory of 48 points equaled the largest lead of the game for the top seed in the tournament.
“I think I don't keep track of how much we're scoring and how much they're not,” La Rocque said. “Whether it's the end of the first quarter or first half, we always want to finish strong and talk about there's two minutes, three minutes left. Let's get stops and scores.
“Then, of course, coming out of halftime, it's kind of the same message of let's start this thing out right, get some scores and some stops, and we can give ourselves some cushion.”
Freshman guard Amarachi Kimpson scored 10 of her 16 points in the first half including back-to-back crucial pick-and-rolls plays as the Lady Rebels caught their offensive rhythm. On consecutive plays where senior center Desi-Rae Young set screens, Kimpson got a floater to fall through contact before finding an open Alyssa Brown in the corner for a made three on the next.
Kimpson was named the conference’s Freshman and Sixth Player of the year yesterday.
“She's had a phenomenal year,” La Rocque said. “Her humbleness has kind of just made her maybe naive to the moment a little bit and she just goes out there and does what she does. Her teammates have great trust in her. Obviously we do. She's a confident player too.”
Kimpson was one-half of a two-headed monster at the guard position for La Rocque joining junior guard Kiara Jackson in leading the offense. Jackson pumped out 15 points on a very efficient 7-for-11 from the field including a buzzer-beating floater to close the first quarter.
As a duo, Kimpson and Jackson combined for 31 points on 69% shooting to go along with nine assists and eight rebounds.
The aforementioned Brown shared in the game-high with 16 points while also hauling in a game-high nine rebounds. Her effort helped UNLV win the rebounding battle, 45-31.
“It's amazing,” Jackson said. “She helps us in the paint, she's always talking. She brings so much energy. It's nice when she actually scores the ball too.”
Brown was aided in her low-post effort by getting 10 points from Young, who was named the Mountain West Player of the Year yesterday.
Everybody in uniform played for La Rocque’s championship group with no one playing more than 27 minutes in the 40-minute. Among those in uniform was transfer forward Macie James, who missed the last three games while battling an ankle injury.
“I just think it's critical,” La Rocque said. “Games are more intense [...] You've got to win the first, and now we've got to take it one step at a time, but it's just preparing us for tomorrow. So I thought it's huge. We're going to get some great recovery.”