Nov. 19, 2004

Box Score

LAS VEGAS - Injuries continue to strike the UNLV women's basketball team, as they lost their fourth starter and second in as many days, while UCF's Celeste Hudson scored a game-high 22 points to lead UCF to an 60-58 upset win over the Lady Rebels in the Cox Pavilion on Friday night in women's college basketball action from the Cox Pavilion. It was the home opener for UNLV (1-2), while the Golden Knights won in their season opener.

UNLV, already playing without senior forward Sherry McCracklin and junior forward Nikki Hitchens, was without senior center Amy Loftus, who sprained her ankle on Thursday, while junior guard Nejlah Clark was injured in a collusion on a fast break with 18 minutes left in the second half, and did not return to the game. The Golden Knights took advantage of the Lady Rebels' sudden lack of depth in the post, as they won the rebounding battle 37-35, and shot 51% for the game, including 54.2% in the second half.

The Lady Rebels led for most of the first half, and were up 27-23 on a layup from Sheena Moore with two minutes on the clock. UCF though hit three straight shots to end the half, and Shalya Smith's layup with 11 seconds left gave the Golden Knights a 29-27 lead. The lead increased to four in the beginning of the second half, before a Shana Coleman trey put the Lady Rebels back up 34-33. The lead changed hands three more times, with Kisha Lee tipping in a missed layup to make the score 46-43 in favor of UNLV.

A 9-2 spurt however gave UCF the lead back, and they would hold onto it for the rest of the game, with Hudson burying two three-pointers during the run. A Latosha Pace trey brought UNLV within one, 52-51 with 8:22 to go in the game, but the Lady Rebels were held to just one-of-13 from the floor the rest of the game. UCF could not pull away, and two missed front ends of one-and-ones in the final 30 seconds by Hudson gave UNLV a chance to tie the game. Following her first miss, Sequoia Holmes was fouled on the other end, and hit both to bring UNLV within 60-58, and Hudson missed again with 25 seconds left. The Lady Rebels called a timeout to work out a shot for Sheena Moore, but her driving layup with just off the mark, and a putback by RanDee Henry was off as well, but the ball went out of bounds back to UNLV with 1.8 seconds left. Holmes' jumper in the paint was then blocked, giving UCF the two-point win.

Senior forward RanDee Henry led UNLV with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Pace came off the bench with 11 points off three treys. Moore, who came in averaging 28 ppg, was held to just four on two-of-13 shooting. Holmes scored a career-high nine in her first career start. UNLV shot just 33.3% for the game, and 27.3% (6-of-22) from three-point range.

Hudson paced UCF with a game-high 22 on 9-of-17 shooting, and was four-of-eight from three-point range. Ali Roberts added 11 points, while Takira Allen posted 10.

UNLV returns to action next Saturday, hosting the Lady Rebel Shootout. Villanova and North Carolina tipoff in the first game at 2 pm, while UNLV takes on UT-Arlington at 4:30 pm in the Cox Pavilion.