Second straight year ends in semifinal loss for La Rocque’s Lady Rebels

UNLV’s Lady Rebels went from never trailing in the first half to being down double-digits in the fourth quarter on the way to having its chances at another Mountain West Conference tournament title crown extinguished.

As the two highest seeds remaining in this year’s Mountain West Championships, the two-seed Lady Rebels lost, 66-59, to the Colorado State Rams Monday, March 9 from the Thomas & Mack Center. Both teams claimed a double-digit win during the regular season ahead of its season-deciding matchup.

Colorado State will move on to take on No. 9 Air Force in the conference tournament title game. La Rocque began bidding for a chance in another postseason tournament immediately following the loss while still at the podium.

“Our locker room is disappointed in this game,” head coach Lindy La Rocque said. “But as I told them, we're sad because of the possibility of it being over, but I'm hopeful that it's not. I'm going to try my hardest to make that happen in some postseason play in whatever tournament that is.”

UNLV didn’t win the Mountain West’s regular season for the first time in the last five seasons this year while losing double-digit games for the first time under La Rocque. On the other hand, the program earned 20 wins for the fifth straight year including two wins against Power conference schools.

“Just sticking with it, honestly,” La Rocque said. “We've got a great group of young women, and together we've been through a lot. Personally it's been a very challenging year for me that you guys don't get to see, but I have a tremendous staff that had my back at all times. I had players that were picking me up on days that I needed it.

“That's what makes the journey right. Especially when it's hard. You know, I think you really see people for who they are and then when they show up, it's special.”

In UNLV’s first loss to CSU, it was a dominant first quarter by the Rams that set the stage for the outcome. This time around, it was a stellar fourth quarter that spelled doom for the Lady Rebels.

UNLV didn’t trail until the third quarter when a back-and-forth game broke out. Early in the fourth quarter, the hosting school found itself down double-digits on the way to trailing by 13 points ultimately.

In total, the Lady Rebels lost the second half by seven points.

“It's a 50/50 chance,” fifth-year guard Aaliyah Alexander said of the halftime message. “We have to play like we want it, and to come out and play hard through every possession.

At one point of the second half, UNLV sported a team shooting percentage of 29% from the field. It was a late push that saw the team finish with a final field goal percentage of 42% from the floor.

Junior guard Sydni Summers splashed home her lone made three-pointer of the game late in regulation to bring her team within three points with under 30 seconds left on the clock.

Earlier along that comeback trail, a Lady Rebel steal turned into two free throws for Alexander. On the next play, another steal led to a three by the combo guard.

Alexander drilled four threes in the loss during a 5-for-16 shooting night for 22 points including a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line.

“Aaliyah Alexander is here next to me because she's a warrior,” La Rocque said. “She's a senior. I feel like I've known her my whole life, and I've only known her two years. But she's a flat-out warrior, and she left it out there for us tonight and gave us every fighting chance that we had.

“I'm just extremely proud of her, and I hope I get to keep coaching her.”

Sophomore forward Meadow Roland did it through everything but her scoring in the game’s opening quarter with four rebounds and three assists to reflect her efforts.

Fifth-year forward Shelbee Brown followed suit with four rebounds and two assists before her first points of the game. In the first half, UNLV tallied nine assists on 11 made field goals.

“It started in the offseason,” Alexander said. “I think our team and our coaches do a good job of trying to do team bonding so we can just gel. Lindy, she recruits dogs, so we all want to win, we all want to fight hard and fight to the finish. That's how we were able to gel.”

Brown found herself with double-figure rebounds before halftime on her way to seven points and 12 rebounds. Roland added nine points and 10 rebounds in the loss.

Roland split a pair of free throws to keep it a three-point game with under 15 seconds left in regulation as UNLV attempted to climb back into the game. That miss came off the heels of a 1-for-2 trip from the line for Colorado State.

Brown didn’t play the final 4:10 of the game not long after committing her fifth turnover of the game.

“I think that caused a little bit of frustration for some of our players,” La Rocque said. “They're young player, and you try to help them out of it. But give Colorado State a lot of credit. I think as the game went on they got tougher and got more physical. I think that was the difference.”

With Roland and Brown not having their typical games, the Rams dominated in the paint to the tune of a, 28-10, advantage. In the first two games between these conference foes, neither team won the points in the paint battle by more than two games.

“We had some focus at the start of the game and I thought we had some good physical presence early,” La Rocque said. “As the game wore on, I think they got tougher and more physical. You know, we had some shots around the basket that typically go down that didn't.