Feb. 12, 2005
Box Score
LAS VEGAS - UNLV overcame a season-high 31 turnovers by shooting 57 percent, including 72 percent in the second half to give the Lady Rebels a 77-54 win over San Diego State in Mountain West Conference women's basketball action from the Cox Pavilion on Saturday afternoon. UNLV, who dominated the boards with a 46-18 advantage, including a 23-5 edge in the second half, improved to 12-10 overall and 3-5 in league play, while San Diego State fell to 7-14, and 1-7 in the MWC.
The first half was an offensive struggle for both teams, as the Lady Rebels jumped out to a 10-2 lead four minutes into the game. However, they made just one field goal over the next eight minutes, and San Diego State pulled within two, 12-10, on an Ashley Cheesman layup with 9:59 to play. UNLV took control of the game by turning the tables on SDSU, holding the Aztecs to no field goals and just three free throws for the next 8:32. A 13-3 UNLV run during that stretch expanded the lead to 25-13 with 2:20 to play, and after Michelle Elliott broke the scoring drought for SDSU with a trey, UNLV scored the last four points of the half for a 29-16 edge going into the break.
UNLV scored the first four points of the second half to open a 33-16 advantage, and never led by less then 14 points the rest of the way. San Diego State used a late 6-0 run to close within 15, 63-48 with just over four minutes to play. The Lady Rebels answered with 10 straight points to take its largest lead of the game at 73-48 with 1:51 on the clock.
Senior forward RanDee Henry led all scorers with her 10th double-double of the year, 18 points and 14 rebounds. She was joined in double figures from UNLV by Sheena Moore with 12 and Brittney Thomas with 11. UNLV also got 22 points off its bench, highlighted by nine from Nikki Hitchens and eight from Amy Loftus. UNLV was 18-of-25 from the floor in the second half for 72%, and finished the game 28-of-49 for 57.1%. They also shot 70.4% (19-of-27) at the line. Though the Lady Rebels finished with 31 turnovers, they forced the Aztecs into 20, and came up with a season-high 15 steals.
Elliott led the Aztecs with 16 points and was 4-of-9 from downtown, while Marin McCue was the next highest scorer with eight points off the bench. SDSU shot just 34.0%, including 5-of-22 (22.7%) in the first half. The Aztecs were also just 6-of-21 from behind the arc.
UNLV plays the second of three straight home conference games on Thursday as the Lady Rebels host Colorado State on Thursday at 7 pm in the Cox Pavilion.
