Feb. 1, 2005

LAS VEGAS -

UNLV at Utah game notes
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After a disastrous start to their Mountain West Conference season, in which they opened with three straight road losses, a trip home was just what the Lady Rebels needed as UNLV regrouped to upset first place New Mexico 63-60, and followed with a 25-point win over Air Force. UNLV now plays its fourth MWC road game in a key matchup at Utah on Thursday night at 6 pm in Salt Lake City, looking to repeat their success from last season when they broke the Utes' 29-game home win streak with a 68-60 overtime victory.

Two keys for UNLV in the past two games were rebounding and better shooting. Trailing by one at halftime to New Mexico, the Lady Rebels outrebounded the Lobos 20-8 in the second half to pull out the three-point win, and they shot over 49% in both victories. UNLV now leads the conference in both field goal percentage (43.8%) and scoring (70.5 points per game). Just like New Mexico, UNLV will face a Utah team that wins off its defense, as the Utes are second in the league in both scoring defense (53.5 ppg) and field goal percentage defense (36.7%).

Thursday's game is the first of two straight on TV for UNLV, as it's being broadcast live by CSTV, the first of three CSTV games in the regular season to feature the Lady Rebels (as well as UNLV's game at New Mexico on Feb. 26, and their Senior Day game against the Utes in Las Vegas on March 5). UNLV's game at BYU on Saturday will be shown live by BYU-TV at 2 pm.

Also of note, junior guard Sheena Moore is just 11 points away from becoming the 14th Lady Rebel to score 1,000 points at UNLV, as she stands at 989 entering Thursday's game.