UNLV ends losing skid with second Power conference win of season

A late push and pullaway allowed UNLV women’s basketball to end a rare losing streak against a team that ended the program’s season not that long ago.

UNLV ended a three-game losing streak including a 0-2 road trip with a, 76-67, win over Creighton Wednesday, Nov. 26 from the Thomas & Mack Center. That marked the longest losing streak for the program since losing four straight in 2020, a year before the arrival of head coach Lindy La Rocque.

The Bluejays ended the Lady Rebels’ season back in 2024 as part of the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

This year’s UNLV team is 3-3 as it improved to 2-2 against Power conferences this season with both wins coming against the Big East conference.

After only two games in the Thomas & Mack Center excluding the Mountain West  Championships, this year’s UNLV Thanksgiving Turkey Tip-Off will be played entirely next door from the team’s regular home building, The Pavilion. La Rocque owns a record of 24-6 inside the Thomas & Mack Center including 23-2 over the past five seasons.

Now with an all-time record of 8-1 in the semi-annual holiday tournament, the Lady Rebels will now conclude this year’s festivities with a Friday, Nov. 28 matchup against the Northern Iowa Panthers. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. from The Mack.

Redshirt sophomore Meadow Roland cashed in on a dagger three-pointer with just over 31 seconds left in regulation. That ended a stretch of more than four and a half minutes without a field goal for the home team.

Earlier in the fourth quarter, UNLV went on a 10-0 run to build its largest lead of the game at eight points.

Roland’s big trey ball capped a night that saw her make just one field goal in the first half and it came three seconds before halftime. In that first half, she had just four points on 1-of-3 from the field.

In the end, Roland closed the victory with a game-high 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Her effort helped the Lady Rebs win the points in the paint battle, 34-20.

In addition, Roland added 12 rebounds to her stat line for her fourth double-double of the season. Moreover, her team won the rebounding battle by 10.

Perhaps more impressively, Roland executed the close of that performance while being a foul away from disqualification.

Sophomore guard Teagan Colvin’s start to the game almost all but ensured she’d be in for the biggest game as a college player. She opened the game hitting the first three of her career after opening with misses on her first 15 tries from deep. She’d go on to knock down two in the opening quarter on the way to 11 points on the night to go along with five assists and zero turnovers.

Transfer guard Destiny Leo scored nine points in the win but reached 2,000 points for her career. She spent the first five seasons of her collegiate career with Cleveland State.

Graduate forward Shelbee Brown flirted with a double-double with nine points, 11 rebounds and four steals. She is averaging three and a half steals per contest this year.

Defense is actually where things turned for UNLV. Creighton shot a very hot 7-of-9 from the field to open the game on the way to 8-for-13 shooting in the first quarter.

The Bluejays were hot from deep too to the tune of eight made threes on 16 tries in the first 20 minutes of game action.

In the second half, all of that changed. Out of halftime, the Lady Rebels held their opponents to just 30% shooting including a 36% mark from three-point range.

Those numbers came after a 44% field goal outing in the first half coupled with that 50% finish from deep.